In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Sales Tax
NNEMAGA
Member Posts: 2 ✭
Maybe I'm just starting to pay closer attention but to me it sure seems like a whole bunch of people are beginning to charge sales tax! That used to be rare but, now it seems more common. When I try to locate their brick and mortar stores or even an online store I can't find them. Is it illegal for someone to charge out of state sales tax to a customer and then not pay it to the state where the customer resides? Is there anyway to verify that the person charging the sales tax is authorized to do so and/or actually paying it to the customer's state? I have more questions on the subject but, I think I've made my point!
Comments
You're not the first, and I suppose that you won't be the last. I guess that we can do this again, but I'm growing tired of it.
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/comment/11221229#Comment_11221229
“Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s...”
I don't think you were supposed to notice.
I can understand that Mark. Maybe the "search" box should be highlighted. Also, I agree that some retailers are using the sales tax to boost profits. That's just the world we live in now. ☹️
The sales tax issue on internet sales came from a Supreme Court decision in 2018. You may be required to collect tax even if you ate not in a state but ship to a state with a sales tax if you meet that states sales threshold.
Many states are getting pretty aggressive on this issue so I suspect many sellers are collecting the tax to not have any problems with the state.
Here is link with info
https://www.streamlinedsalestax.org/news-details/2020/10/28/article---you-may-be-required-to-collect-sales-tax-in-states-where-you-have-no-physical-presence
Sales tax on internet sales is coming, like it or not.
Peeps gota have free stuff.
Notice auction companies in NC have started taxing dead peoples belongings
I understand that states want their money. My concern is are all of these people who are collecting it really giving it to the states? I don't believe they are! I think some are stealing it! I also believe that if a "Seller" requires sales tax then it should be prominently advertised in their auction, not a small little notification but, something that is hard to miss. Also, I thought it was responsibility of a buyer to pay sales tax on an item that is purchased from a person/company that is not located within their state? I think there should be accountability.
Back when I was selling cameras and equipment all over the eastern US, I had an Ohio business license and had to collect Ohio sales tax for sales in Ohio. Once when I was at a camera show in Indiana, a county tax agent came to the show and demanded that every dealer there had to have an Indiana sales license and collect IN taxes, or pack up and leave. I bought the license, and got on with my life. This was back in the 1980's
That was the only state that pulled that trick, and is one of the reasons that I used to see license plate frames on IN cars that said "INDIANA LAND OF TAXES".
Bubba, both Arizona and Nevada do that also. Had to buy the license and pay the tax whenever I went to gun shows in either state. Arizona was especially strident about it, sending me collection notices in the mail after each show. A tax person went around to every table at the Phoenix shows and checked your business name on a list. If you were delinquent, they had you arrested. No kidding.
NNEMAGA, you are mistaken: It is not THEIR money. They want YOUR money.
Everything changed.....everyone needs to be aware. ALL INTERNET SALES ARE TAXABLE NOW. It happened in 2018 when the Wayfair corp. went to the supreme courts and the court decided that the prior limitations aren't relevant any longer.
I haven't had the time or energy, plus the lingo of these things makes me zone out rather than absorb what I'm reading, so here is a link to help sort things out.
Gun Broker has plans to integrate the Tax Cloud program for sellers to use so they can sort this out.
For now, I've been asking for the buyer's transfer FFL to send over their tax ID so I can show any auditor that I shipped things to businesses, hoping that this will stop some of the craziness.
It is a regressive tax, but I have never lived in a state or municipality that did not charge it.
I understand your concern but why waste your life energy over something you have zero control over. Tax avoidance is an art, tax evasion is a crime. There may be an issue with sellers collecting tax and not turning it into the proper state but there is little you can do about it.
LF just an FYI from what my state tax auditors want for sales to businesses when you are collecting sales tax. They want a form called a resale certificate. This is a certificate that the business buying from you certifies that they are reselling the item. In my state just getting a copy of the buyers tax ID was not suffcient.
I have had a few friends who own businesses get audited and the tax ID form was not allowable and they had to pay the sales tax on the items they sold without the resale certificate. If they had the state resell certificate the responsiblity to collect tax is shifted to the buyer's business.
Also had some friends get caught because after Wayfair some states have intiated a level of sales in their state that triggers the requirement for you to collect tax in that state. One friend told me the limit if one state was sales over $20,000, once you went over that you had to collect sales tax for that state. If you fall into that catagory then you have to use the resell certificate from that state.
The Wayfair decision has made doing online sales for a small business very costly and complicated.
Been sales tax audited a couple times.
All items coming into NC wheather it comes by plane, train, or automobile must have sales taxpaid on it. Most people don't but there may be a reckoning coming soon.
I have not ordered anything off the net that doesn't get IL state sales tax, except GB .
Washington State has had their FFLs confiscate WA State Sales Tax on FFL transferred Items for years.
Pretty much any business that has a licence of some sort to do business in the receiving state has been mandated by that state to charge sales tax for items shipped into it.
Local business have objected to external entities without a license in the receiving state being able to sell into that state without charging sales tax, and pressure was put on the Federal Government to implement ways to protect these local businesses. It is viewed as leveling the playing field, and to some extent it has merit, as prior the customer was required to pay the sales tax but never did and states never went after them.
Brad Steele
Yes, you can ask the seller for his Tax Identification Number issued by your state; it is a 9 digit number. You have the right to ask for it before you bid on item; he has the right to ignore you or tell you to buzz off.
I actually did that for LL BEAN. They gave me the number, & I verified it with my state's tax office. Not everyone will be that forthcoming.
Neal
Didn't you mean progressive tax?
What bugs me is the stupid people who say the increase in the Sales Tax is just "inflation". NO! The increase in prices take care of that. When we moved to California we were shocked at the FOUR percent Sales Tax. But then many things were too cheap to tax. (Remember the 5 & 10 stores?) & food to go at fast food places weren't taxed at all. You now pay more in tax for a hot dog or a coke than they cost back then. Still the idiots vote to increase the tax.
I remember my uncles wanted Kentucky to impose a "temporary" Sales tax to give them a WW II veterans bonus. I wonder how many times they repaid that bonus?
No, regressive. If it were progressive, the more you spend the greater the percentage would be. It is regressive in that it is much harder on lower income folks than the more affluent. It is a greater percentage of their income. It should also not be charged on food and medicine for example (also ammo in my view).
Are you also concerned about the small local mom and pop restaurant, hardware store, photographer, lawn care, pest control company, auto repair shop, plumbers and electricians, etc.? Do you ask them to prominently advertise their sales tax rate before you order? Do you ask them if they are stealing those sales taxes and remitting them? If so, I would bet you are real popular with them. Questioning a person's honesty and integrity is different in person than on the internet, isn't it?
It is only the responsibility of the buyer to pay sales tax (typically called "use tax") to their resident state if the seller does not collect the sales tax for the State in which the seller is located. I am glad to see that you want to know for sure if the sales tax is being remitted. While you are at it, contact the IRS and the state income tax department to see if the seller is also paying income tax on the profit. They will be glad to assist you in this endeavor.
There was a time here in Wisc. where no tax was applied to food nor clothing. No longer. But still only 5 1/2%.
Technically, the only legal requirement is that the business pay the sales tax to the state. It is not required that the business collect it from buyers. A business could legally sell without collecting a cent - as long as he antes up and pays the whole amount to the state. Not many businesses would do such a thing, but I do see on occasion businesses having "We Pay The Tax!" sales events as an incentive.
That is correct. That is what we do with our concession business. It is easier when trying to get orders out to increase our sales price to include the tax. That way we sell at a whole dollar price instead of having to deal with loose change on each order.
Taxes are for the little people who works and consume goods,now if you have billions with off shore tax corporations, with trusts,shell companies and The Isle of man or Panama tax havens then not so much. When The NWO comes it will tax all ,rich or poor. Just watch,the party will be over.
serf