Under the Computer Carrier Media Remission Order, customs duty is not to be assessed on the value of the instructions or data content. However, any applicable customs duty will apply on the value of the carrier medium (for example, disk or tape) and the cost of reproducing the instructions or data onto the medium.
The GATT decision and the Remission Order do not consider the applicability of the goods and services tax (GST). The GST is payable on the full value for duty of the software package (i.e., disk and program) upon importation.
In most cases, the valuation of computer software will not be difficult. The value for duty of software that has been sold will be determined using the transaction value method.