Customs Value in Australia: What Your Declared Value Must Include (2026)

Your declared customs value is rarely your invoice total. In Australia it is usually the transaction value: the price paid or payable for the goods, less overseas freight, overseas insurance and certain Australian costs, plus six kinds of cost the invoice may not show, converted to Australian dollars at the rate for the day of export. Get it right and you pay duty only on what the law counts, which on a freight-inclusive invoice can be less than the invoice suggests. Leave out a mould, a royalty or export packing and the value is understated, and the ABF names undervaluation as a compliance focus.

	Customs value in one table
Starting point	The price paid or payable in the sale for import into Australia
Comes out	Overseas freight and insurance · Australian freight and insurance · post-import work · Australian broker and public-authority costs · qualifying finance interest
Goes in, if not already in the price	Production assists · packing · foreign inland freight and insurance · commissions other than buying commission · royalties and licence fees · resale proceeds flowing to the vendor
Currency	Australian dollars at the rate for the day of exportation
No sale?	Transaction value falls away: identical, similar, deductive, computed, then fall-back value
The A$1,000 limit	Tested on a consignment’s customs value, not its delivered cost
GST value	Customs value + duty + transport and insurance to Australia + any wine tax
If it’s wrong	The duty shortfall is a debt, the false-statement offences are strict liability, and a voluntary disclosure made in time protects you

(General information for FY 2026–27, not advice for your circumstances. Law read on 30 October 2026 from Customs Act 1901 Compilation No. 194; ABF pages and fact sheets, the ATO’s GST pages and LCR 2018/1 read the same day. Duty and GST arithmetic here assumes a 5% rate for illustration; your rate depends on the tariff classification and origin of your goods. The A$75,000 GST registration threshold is not indexed and may change.)

1. What is customs value in Australia?

Customs value is the figure used to work out customs duty and the GST payable at the border, and under section 159 of the Customs Act 1901 it is the goods’ transaction value wherever that can be determined. Section 161 defines transaction value as the adjusted price in the import sales transaction, plus price related costs not already counted in that price.

Customs value = price paid or payable − amounts that come out (section 3 below) + price related costs not already in the price (section 2 below)

Three terms do the work:

• Import sales transaction. The contract of sale for the importation of the goods into Australia. Where there are two or more, it is the last one made before the goods came under customs control. Connected arrangements that increase the goods’ value before import, or that form a single transaction with the sale, are swept in.
• Price. All payments made or to be made, directly or indirectly, by or on behalf of the purchaser: to the vendor, to a person related to the vendor (unless the ABF is satisfied the vendor gets no benefit), or to anyone else for the vendor’s benefit. Goods or services you supply as part of the consideration count. A discount already received lowers the price; a rebate you have not yet received does not. Australian duty and GST are not part of it.
• Day of exportation. Foreign-currency amounts convert at the rate “prevailing on the day of export of the goods (not on the day the goods arrive in Australia)”, as the ABF puts it, under section 161J.

If nothing was sold for the trip to Australia

This is where overseas sellers part company with ordinary importers. If you buy from a factory for shipment to Australia, that purchase is normally your import sales transaction. But the ABF’s valuation guidelines say that “if goods are not sold, it follows there can be no import sales transaction”. Their examples include goods sent on consignment, goods imported by intermediaries for sale on behalf of the supplier, branch transfers and other cases where the goods remain the supplier’s property.

Stock you make yourself, or move from your own warehouse to a 3PL or fulfilment centre in Australia, can fall into that gap. An invoice you raise to yourself does not create a sale. Section 159 then moves through the other methods in order, which the ABF summarises as:

1. Identical goods value: the price of identical goods sold for export to Australia.
2. Similar goods value: the same, for similar goods.
3. Deductive value: worked back from sales in Australia, adjusted for costs between the place of export and the first sale.
4. Computed value: the cost of producing the goods, plus general expenses, other costs and profit.
5. Fall-back value: determined by the ABF using those methods and other relevant information.

Fall-back value cannot rest on “arbitrary or fictitious values” (section 161G). The ABF’s own sample-goods example does accept a documented value that the evidence shows is realistic, so a “value for customs” line is not worthless. It simply has to be supportable.

A sale from a related company is still a sale, but if the ABF considers the relationship may have influenced the price it can notify you and give you at least 28 days to respond (section 161H).

2. What must your declared value include on top of the invoice price?

Six kinds of cost, called “price related costs” in section 154, must be added to the extent they are not already in the price: production assists, packing, foreign inland freight and insurance, commissions other than buying commission, royalties and licence fees, and resale proceeds that flow to the vendor.

Add	What it catches	Seller example
Production assists	Materials, components, tools, dies and moulds you supply free or at reduced cost, plus design, art and engineering work undertaken outside Australia	A mould you paid for, printed gift boxes sent to the factory, artwork from an overseas designer
Packing	Materials and labour to prepare the goods for export or put them in their imported condition, including fumigating, cleaning, coating and wrapping	Export cartons, or wrapping and repacking you pay for before the goods leave
Foreign inland freight and insurance	Transport and insurance in the foreign country before the place of export	An ex-works purchase where you pay the truck to the port
Commission or brokerage	Anything other than a genuine buying commission	A selling agent’s commission on top of the supplier’s price
Royalties and licence fees	Those paid to the vendor or another person under the import sales transaction	A character or brand licence fee tied to these goods
Resale proceeds	Any part of later use, resale or disposal proceeds accruing to the vendor	A percentage of Australian sales payable to your supplier

Four details catch people out:

• Who you pay doesn’t matter. The ABF’s guidelines say price related costs “can be paid to any party, not just to the vendor”.
• Australian materials count; Australian design work doesn’t. The ABF’s assists fact sheet says Australian-sourced fabric sent to an overseas factory forms part of the customs value. Design and engineering work counts only if undertaken outside Australia.
• Tooling is apportioned. The tooling share that belongs to this shipment is what goes in, not necessarily the whole mould in the first container. Keep the working.
• Not every royalty goes in. Section 154 excludes royalties that do not relate to the goods in their imported condition, that are only incidentally related, that are merely for the right to reproduce the goods in Australia, or that are for post-import assembly or technical assistance. This is fact-specific, and the licence wording matters.

A worked declaration

Hannah runs a UK company and buys licensed drink bottles from a factory in Ningbo for a Sydney 3PL. Her CIF Sydney invoice is A$42,000, with A$3,500 of sea freight and insurance shown separately. Outside the invoice she pays a A$2,000 mould share apportioned to this shipment, sends A$900 of printed gift boxes to the factory free of charge, owes her licensor a A$1,600 royalty on these units and pays a Ningbo buying agent A$800.

	A$
Invoice total (CIF Sydney)	42,000
Less overseas freight and insurance	−3,500
Adjusted price	38,500
Plus mould share (production assist)	+2,000
Plus gift boxes (production assist)	+900
Plus royalty (assumed to be caught)	+1,600
Buying commission	not added
Customs value	43,000

Had she declared only the A$38,500, the value would be A$4,500 short. At a 5% duty rate that is A$225 of duty (A$4,500 × 5%) and A$472.50 of GST ((A$4,500 + A$225) × 10%). The 5% assumes no preference is claimed. A Free rate under a trade agreement removes the duty line, as our import duty guide explains, but the value still drives the GST and still has to be right.

3. What stays out of customs value?

Under section 161(2), overseas freight and insurance from the place of export to Australia come out of the price, along with Australian inland freight and insurance, post-import assembly and technical assistance, Australian administrative costs and qualifying finance interest. A genuine buying commission is outside the additions in section 154.

This is the part that saves money, because duty, unlike GST, is not claimed back on your BAS. On Hannah’s shipment, leaving the freight in would cost A$175 of duty she never owed (A$3,500 × 5%), and adding the buying agent’s fee another A$40 (A$800 × 5%). That is A$215 on one shipment.

The exclusions come with conditions:

• Show the amounts separately. If the ABF is not satisfied of an amount that would be deducted, section 160 lets it refuse the method or use it with no deduction. Ask suppliers on CIF or DDP terms to itemise freight and insurance.
• The place of export sets the freight line. For goods packed into a container in the exporting country, it is where they were packed; otherwise, for sea or air, generally the first place they were loaded for export. Transport before that line goes in; transport after it stays out. So haulage of a container loaded at the factory generally sits on the “out” side, while loose cartons trucked to a depot for packing sit on the “in” side.
• A buying commission has to be real. Under section 155 the agent must represent you in the purchase, and the ABF must be satisfied the agent does not produce, supply, transport or trade in the goods, act for the supplier, or take commission from anyone else on the deal.
• Interest and post-import costs need evidence. Interest must arise under a written arrangement and be distinguished from the price. Post-import costs must be quantifiable by reference to the sale.
• Free doesn’t mean zero. The ABF’s fact sheet says all imported goods must be assigned a customs value, including gifts, bonus goods, samples and promotional goods.

4. Is there an Australian customs value limit, and how does GST value differ?

The limit is A$1,000. The ABF says that for most goods with a value of A$1,000 or less there are no duties, taxes or charges to pay at the border, and the ATO frames the test as a consignment with a customs value exceeding A$1,000. GST value is a different, larger number: customs value plus duty plus transport and insurance to Australia.

At or under the line, goods arriving as air or sea cargo clear on a Self-Assessed Clearance declaration. Over it, a consignment needs a full Import Declaration (N10), and all duties, taxes and charges are payable. Tobacco and alcohol are charged at any value. The test looks at the consignment, so the ATO’s two necklaces sharing a parcel, with a combined customs value of A$1,400, are taxed at the border.

	Customs value	Value of the taxable importation
Used for	Duty and the A$1,000 line	GST at 10%
Goods price, adjusted	In	In
Transport and insurance to Australia	Out	In
Customs duty	Out	In
Wine tax, if any	Out	In

Because the line is customs value, the invoice total can mislead in either direction:

• Under the line, though the customer paid more. A A$1,100 delivered price that includes A$150 of freight and insurance has a customs value of A$950.
• Over the line, though the invoice is under it. An A$980 ex-works invoice, plus A$30 of truck to the port and A$40 of export packing paid by the buyer, has a customs value of A$1,050. At 5%, with A$90 of sea freight, duty is A$52.50, the GST base is A$1,192.50 and GST is A$119.25, plus the border charges.

A sale to an Australian consumer works differently under the line. The ATO says customs value decides whether GST applies, not how much: its Jeans Co example charges GST on the whole A$350 price even though the customs value is A$300. The seller or marketplace collects that GST at the checkout if registered or required to be, and the A$75,000 turnover test may apply. Our guide to GST on low value imported goods covers who is responsible, and import GST covers the border side.

5. What happens if your declared value is wrong, and how do you fix it?

An understated value means short-paid duty and GST, and the ABF lists undervaluation as “a key area of compliance focus”, including failure to include production assist costs. The duty shortfall is a debt owed by the goods’ owner, and the false-statement offences in sections 243T and 243U are strict liability, so fault does not have to be proved.

What the law and the ABF’s published scheme provide:

• The debt. Unpaid duty is payable by the owner of the goods. The ABF generally has four years to demand it, with no such limit where the debt arose from fraud or evasion (section 165).
• Duty lost. Under section 243T, a false or misleading statement that causes a duty shortfall is punishable on conviction by a fine up to the greater of 60 penalty units and the shortfall.
• No duty lost. Section 243U still applies, at up to 60 penalty units for each statement. A Free duty rate does not make a wrong value safe.
• Infringement notices. The ABF’s scheme guide sets the notice for a company at 45 penalty units or 75% of the duty shortfall, whichever is greater; for an individual, 15 penalty units or 25%. A Commonwealth penalty unit is A$364 for offences on or after 1 July 2026, which puts 45 units at A$16,380. The ABF decides the treatment case by case, and its options run from education and warning letters to infringements and prosecution.
• Your broker doesn’t absorb it. Under section 243T(3A), giving someone false information for inclusion in a statement counts as causing that statement to be made. The figure you hand your forwarder is your figure.
• Records. The owner must keep the commercial documents that support an entry for five years after it is entered for home consumption (section 240).

Rounding the value up to be safe is not the answer either. It overpays duty, and the declaration is still wrong.

The fix is a voluntary disclosure. The ABF accepts one by amending the declaration in the Integrated Cargo System or in writing, and a full, truthful and voluntary disclosure protects you from the section 243T and 243U offences. It stops being voluntary once the ABF has exercised powers to verify the statement, served an infringement notice or started proceedings, and any short-paid duty has to be paid. The ABF also recognises a written notice of intention while you prepare the detail.

The best fix comes first. Before the first shipment, the ABF’s Valuation Advice service can give a ruling on a specific customs value question, which suits a royalty, a related-party price or a no-sale shipment.

Where it’s worth getting help

The rules are public, the ABF’s fact sheets are readable, and a licensed customs broker lodges the declaration. If you buy one product from an unrelated factory on FOB terms and supply nothing to it, your declared value is close to your invoice and a broker is all you need.

The harder calls are these:

• Is there a sale at all for the stock you are moving into a 3PL or fulfilment centre, and which method and evidence support the value if there isn’t?
• What sits outside the invoice: moulds, inserts, artwork, licence fees, supplier profit shares?
• Which freight and fees can come out, and does the paperwork prove them?
• Does the value agree across the file: the Import Declaration, the import GST credit on your BAS, and the importer named on the entry?

That is the difference between one clean costing sheet before the first container and a disclosure project across years of declarations later, with the time and interruption that brings. As registered tax agents we work alongside your broker, so the value, the importer and the BAS line up the first time and you can get on with selling.

If you’d like it looked at properly, our initial assessment scopes it in about twelve questions, without needing a meeting. If the shipment is coming from the US, the US import guide runs the numbers on a full consignment.

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FY 2026–27. General information, not tax or customs advice for your circumstances. Customs value depends on your contracts and facts, and the worked examples use an illustrative 5% duty rate. Legislation is as at Customs Act 1901 Compilation No. 194 (compilation date 29 September 2026); the later amending Act that commenced on 27 October 2026 does not touch the sections cited here. The ABF’s valuation guidelines were published in 2015, so check them against the current Act; the infringement figures are from its November 2024 guide, and penalty unit values are indexed. Confirm current settings before relying on them.