Quite the heated responses coming up here...
Would you be more likely to buy new gear out of state if there was no sales tax
There is a retailer that advertises in the Absolute Sound that you can buy gear from him without paying sales tax. He is located in Delaware where they don't have sales tax. Being from California that would save me 9.5 percent off the top and that is without even negotiating. I don't know if he charges for shipping or not but it seems like it could be beneficial.
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davehrab... True. I have had to declare "internet" purchases from out of state for as long as I can remember. And I have. To the best of my ability. I do not maintain records of everything I have bought online; 99.5% of what I buy is from within the state I reside in, and the state gets its due from me. Except for the clock with the horse in it's stomach....I mean the horse with the clock in it's stomach.... (The Honeymooners) |
I've lived in Southern California for 76 of my 77 years on the planet. I can say without a doubt ... California charges taxes for merely existing. If the state legislators could charge California citizens for oxygen intake they would. The last time gasoline reached a low, the state added an additional 7.5 cents per gallon tax and passed the country's first carbon tax on energy producers. The result? Gasoline jumped a dollar per gallon over night. Now, with oil going under $30 per gallon, we are still paying almost three bucks per gallon at the pump. Pay a tax on out of state Internet purchases? Who ... me??? |
I live in Connecticut which has one of the most repressive tax systems in the country. Seventy-six new taxes were added a couple of years ago, additional taxes were imposed this year, and there are more to come. All this while the Democrat politicians' unchecked spending is driving the state into bankruptcy. General Electric has been forced out of the state by the upcoming new business taxes. Buying out of state to avoid taxes is not a "violation" in Connecticut: It is an obligation. |
Lobbyists for retail corporations have argued in Congress for imposing interstate sales taxes on internet purchases as a way to force internet shoppers back into stores--they claim this unfair advantage is reducing corporate profits--even though they have also lobbied for and have successfully rigged the tax code to pay almost nothing in federal taxes. Don't feel as if you are cheating anyone--it is mainstreet America that continues to be oppressed and cheated. You deserve a tax break, as well. |
Enforcing that law would be like getting blood out of a stone! /www.aei.org/publication/states-already-can-tax-out-of-state-purchases-but-rarely-enforce-those-laws/ |
AFAIK charging tax on goods bought in another state is against federal law. States charge instead the same tax naming it differently. For instance my state, Illinois, charges "Use Tax" which is tax for using goods bought out of state. Since I don't want to investigate what was bought with or without tax - I elected option to pay flat fee proportional to income. This option can be selected only if there was no big items bought without a tax. Out of State tax can be very messy. Some stores charge tax for items sold to another state illegally, because they have to be authorized, by the other state to collect this tax. |
After reading per Al's directions all I can say is....what?! The secret is now in the open. First I have ever seen or heard of this fact. Seems very, very few know of it or pay taxes based on it. One more reason to move from my tax heavy state which will happen soon. I suppose next we will need to pay tax on used goods sold privately such as audio gear. Please don't tell me......I shut my eyes and ears on this one :) |
I could not find anything saying it is our responsibility to total up our purchases and somehow pay at tax time.Bill, Google "sales and use tax" (with the quotes) plus the name of your state. That will lead you to an informational pdf on the subject issued by your state tax authority. We buy stuff on Amazon etc...with no tax, but must keep track of all these purchases and somehow pay the tax to state we reside in.BTW, as you are probably aware most of the major online retailers make it very easy to print out a summary of purchases one has made from them during the course of a calendar year. Under My Account/Order History or some such link. Best regards, -- Al |
In fact someone I know bought furniture on line from an out of state vendor- spent 5 figures. Sure enough, about a year or so later he got a tax bill for use tax from his own state. Admittedly,,this is the first and only instance of such an occurrence I've heard of, but to doubters, technically, you buy in state, the vendor collects the tax and send it to,the state and if you buy out of state, you collect the tax for your home state and send it to your home state. |
Grannyring, since I don't use Turbo Tax, a question--are you referring just to Federal taxes? This is a state tax issue. My accountant's worksheet he sends me has a line item about out-of-state purchases for which I didn't pay tax, and my NJ returns had a spot for it and the detailed explanation and admission I mentioned in the tax form instructions. Sure wasn't a secret there. |
jafreeman107 posts01-22-2016 4:54pmSales tax is legalized robbery. It exists because it is an efficient collection engine. It also slows down consumerism.Actually Sales tax is the tax the business actually pays regardless if one has or hasn't income. Indeed robbery. I do NOT support it in any form or spelling. It basically sucks. |
Turbo tax and others do not prompt for input of these figures and they would if needed.Sorry - I don't know which version of TurboTax or TaxCut you've used but whatever I've used for about the past 20 years it has always asked in the State Tax section if I have anything to declare for that. We do have that darned Use Tax here and sooner or later you have to decide if you're going to really be a real part of your larger community (a.k.a. the State). Amazon does add in state tax for us (since they certainly have at least one address in the state) and they do it for practically everywhere I know of. If they aren't tacking on your state tax then maybe they don't feel the need to have a warehouse or any other office or facility there? |
Bill (Grannyring), you have not misunderstood what has been said. If your state charges sales tax for in-state purchases, its residents are almost certainly also liable for use tax on out-of-state purchases of items and services that would be subject to the tax if purchased in-state. See the second page of the link I provided earlier. As rcprince mentioned, however, enforcement of those laws by the states is certainly problematical for them. In the case of Amazon specifically, their presence in many states requires them to collect sales tax for sales to residents of those states (consistent with Dave’s comment above). And I believe that the huge scale of their operations has prompted some states to try (successfully in some cases) to get them to collect sales taxes in some states they don’t have a presence in. I have no knowledge of Turbo Tax, as I don’t use it or anything similar, but in my state (Connecticut) the income tax form includes a line item and an associated worksheet for computation and reporting of the use tax that is due. If one knowingly makes a false entry on that line, perhaps such as zero, one is signing a fraudulent return. Also, the state has in the past published online the names of particularly notorious use tax scofflaws it has identified and pursued. Best regards, -- Al |
Am I hearing, rather reading you guys correctly. We buy stuff on Amazon etc...with no tax, but must keep track of all these purchases and somehow pay the tax to state we reside in. I must not be understanding this correctly as this sounds, well....a tad unthinkable. I am not aware of anyone actually doing this. Surely I have misunderstood some here. |
Most manufactures will not allow a dealer to sell an item if there is a dealer in the state you live in. They have ways of getting around that like selling an item as a demo. There is no tax when you buy out of state. You can be a Dudley-Do - Right and pay the tax to the state of your residence when you do your taxes! |
I have a friend of mine that is a Mcintosh collector and every couple years he buys a piece or 2 to ad to his collection. He always buys out of state to avoid the sales tax. He say's there is no paper trail when you buy outside out of state. He said the only problem he ever has is that some Mcintosh dealers will not sell out of state. He says sometimes he has to make several calls to find a retailer that will sell to him. |
Al has used the correct word ... it's a Use Tax and is due the state Here in CT this is the way the law reads From the CT State Revenue Dept. "The Customer’s Responsibility"
My general understanding is If a out of state seller or vendor has no physical presence in the state that the sale is being made to ... the seller/vendor is not require to collect the tax But if the seller or vender has any physical presence in that state that the sale is being made to in the form of a outlet .. store ..warehouse or even a office ... then the seller is required to collect the tax Again that is from the CT State Revenue Department Al thanks again for the clarity ... |
+1 to Al's post. The State of NJ has in the past acknowledged that it is difficult for them to enforce the use tax laws, and in essence in its tax materials has (in the past at least) tried to get on our conscience by saying it's the right thing to report your out-of-state purchases and pay the use tax. |
There's no violation of any laws.Yes there is. For example, according to this reference provided by the State of Pennsylvania's Department of Revenue, "all states that impose sales tax also impose use tax," use tax being applicable to purchases of items or services that would be subject to sales tax in the purchaser's home state but for which sales tax is not collected by the seller. In many states purchases subject to use tax must be declared on the purchaser's state income tax return each year, and the use tax must be paid in conjunction with that return. Regards, -- Al |
You can buy just about anything new from anybody in any state and not pay the taxes directly to the out of state seller But it is absolutely your responsibility and obligation to report to your state any and all out of your state purchases in a specific calendar year that you did not pay taxes on to the out of seller so your home state can send you a bill for the amount of taxes due on those purchases If you don't you are in defiance of the law How many ads have you seen that say if you are a resident in the same state as the on line seller is you have to add/pay that states sales taxes to the purchase Are you a law violator for the sake of your hobby ????? |
