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Sales tax on out of state purchases?

B

blubullett

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Modesto CA
I thought you weren't supposed to charge sales tax on out of state purchases? I could be completely wrong but I'm pretty sure I never pay tax for anything I buy on the internet except stuff from business' in California. I recently purchased a lift and got the invoice and noticed they charged me sales tax. They are located in Maine and I'm in California. The lift I got is no longer such a good deal. It isn't horrible but I could have got it cheaper somewhere else. I would appreciate it if a couple of our NAXJA vendors would chime in to say if they charge tax for out of state purchases.
 
I thought I read that Illinois is going to try and charge everybody in the state for prior internet purchases via taxes and if you have some sort of internet connection, not sure how that's going to work though, especially for people like me who refuse to shop on line..................
 
The State of Vermont tried to get me for a couple of tax free purchases I made at the bx at Hanscom AFB, and for an ebay purchase (my XJ) out of New York. In both cases, they lost out, sort of. Vermont did get a sales tax out of the jeep, but only when I registered it. Ebay didn't specify what the purchase was, so they were trying to collect the tax a second time without knowing it. Took no time at all to sort it out, but still, this was a few years ago.

With state budgets being what they are, don't be surprised about anything. Like Mass cops staking out NH liquor stores looking for Mass plates. Politicians gotta have their money.

Still, my bx purchases. Unreal.
 
mrrbby said:
The State of Vermont tried to get me for a couple of tax free purchases I made at the bx at Hanscom AFB, and for an ebay purchase (my XJ) out of New York. In both cases, they lost out, sort of. Vermont did get a sales tax out of the jeep, but only when I registered it. Ebay didn't specify what the purchase was, so they were trying to collect the tax a second time without knowing it. Took no time at all to sort it out, but still, this was a few years ago.

With state budgets being what they are, don't be surprised about anything. Like Mass cops staking out NH liquor stores looking for Mass plates. Politicians gotta have their money.

Still, my bx purchases. Unreal.
Click to expand...

I though Military bases were federal land and only subject to those rules and taxes?!
 
No sales tax for commisary and bx purchases. However, my credit card use out of state got me flagged at tax time. I didn't have to pay. Vermont likes to catch people buying big ticket items in tax free New Hampshire, and charge them Vt's sales tax. I think that I got caught up in that net. Shady.

Really sucks if you live on the border, and the closest store is out of state.

If you can't compete, legislate/regulate them out of business :D
 
blubullett said:
I thought you weren't supposed to charge sales tax on out of state purchases? I could be completely wrong but I'm pretty sure I never pay tax for anything I buy on the internet except stuff from business' in California. I recently purchased a lift and got the invoice and noticed they charged me sales tax. They are located in Maine and I'm in California. The lift I got is no longer such a good deal. It isn't horrible but I could have got it cheaper somewhere else. I would appreciate it if a couple of our NAXJA vendors would chime in to say if they charge tax for out of state purchases.
Click to expand...

What company's lift kit did you buy? If it's a California company, like Rubicon Express, you will get charged sales tax, even if you bought it from an out-of-state vendor.

The kit gets drop-shipped from the manufacturer. It doesn't get shipped from Maine.
 
It's not that simple. Vendors are not required to collect sales tax from a state where they do not have a presence in. If the vendor you bought from has an office in your state they are obligated to collect your sales tax for your state. If they do not have a presence then they are not obligated to collect the sales tax for your state but you must keep up with your state's sales tax amount and turn it in to state tax collectors. I don't think there is anything preventing out of state vendors with no nexus in your state from collecting your state's sales tax but they would have to turn in it to your state which is additional work no one wants to do unless they have to. As budgets get tighter I would expect to see more state governments getting aggressive about out of state purchases taxation. Technically the state government can audit your taxes and require you pay owed taxes on purchases made from out of state vendors.
 
johnnyc said:
What company's lift kit did you buy? If it's a California company, like Rubicon Express, you will get charged sales tax, even if you bought it from an out-of-state vendor.

The kit gets drop-shipped from the manufacturer. It doesn't get shipped from Maine.
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It is RE. I figured since I was paying a company in Maine it didn't matter who made the product. So I have to pay taxes cause it was drop shipped. Oh well. I didn't need a new oxygen sensor anyways.

I'm glad I didn't put the company's name in the first post. The guy I talked to in thier office was really helpful and I wouldn't want to chase business away from them if I was wrong.
 
mflueras said:
It's not that simple. Vendors are not required to collect sales tax from a state where they do not have a presence in. If the vendor you bought from has an office in your state they are obligated to collect your sales tax for your state. If they do not have a presence then they are not obligated to collect the sales tax for your state but you must keep up with your state's sales tax amount and turn it in to state tax collectors. I don't think there is anything preventing out of state vendors with no nexus in your state from collecting your state's sales tax but they would have to turn in it to your state which is additional work no one wants to do unless they have to. As budgets get tighter I would expect to see more state governments getting aggressive about out of state purchases taxation. Technically the state government can audit your taxes and require you pay owed taxes on purchases made from out of state vendors.
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This is what I thought. They also charged me the Maine tax rate, not CA taxes. I can guarentee they aren't sending it to CA.

At work we just ordered 250k worth of solar pannels from Texas cause it saved a bundle of money cause we didn't have to pay taxes.
 
However, in CA at least, even if the manufacturer is out of state, CA will expect you to declare any out o of state purchases at tax time, and pay sales tax on them.
 
I think we have defeated a state sales tax here in Oregon about 9 or 10 times it has been put on the ballot. They have pretty much stopped asking for it.

And yes, there are rumblings about states trying to collect sales tax from vendors without a presence in their state that sell to their state's residents. Has to be approved federally to become law is my understanding.
 
A number of States have reciprocal tax agreements with other sates. When you buy from a company, whether in person, phone, or internet, they collect the tax for your state. Your receipt is proof you paid your state's tax on your purchase.

Regardless of whether you pay the tax on-line or not, your state will ask you on your income tax return how much you spent on interstate commerce that was not taxed, and you will be expected to pay up.

Edit: Noticed the post on getting charged the wrong rate. I could contact them and straighten it out.
 
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I live in California and I've ordered products from DPG (located in Kansas) a number of times. I've never been taxed on any DPG items, JKS items, or my CSF radiator. However, I was taxed on the Rubicon Express parts I bought from them. I actually had one order with stuff from DPG, JKS, and RE on it and was only charged tax on the RE items (which were drop shipped incidentally). I know Dirk's a straight shooter and wouldn't be trying to rip anyone off by charging them out of state sales tax if he wasn't required to. There must be a reason for it and I can only assume it is due to the drop shipping of the California made parts within California.
 
If he does not have a California resale license and it drop ships from CA to CA, he is also charged sales tax and has to pass it on, if he drop ships from Ca to out of state, then he is not charged sales tax.
 
fyrfytr1717 said:
I live in California and I've ordered products from DPG (located in Kansas) a number of times. I've never been taxed on any DPG items, JKS items, or my CSF radiator. However, I was taxed on the Rubicon Express parts I bought from them. I actually had one order with stuff from DPG, JKS, and RE on it and was only charged tax on the RE items (which were drop shipped incidentally). I know Dirk's a straight shooter and wouldn't be trying to rip anyone off by charging them out of state sales tax if he wasn't required to. There must be a reason for it and I can only assume it is due to the drop shipping of the California made parts within California.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I wish I had ordered from DPG. They were the other place I was looking at. I usually try to support family owned business' but money is quite rare nowadays so I was trying to save a buck. They only beat Dirks price by a tiny bit.
 
Had some friends of mine who lived in NJ buy all their electronics, furniture, appliances, etc, $40K+ worth, in NY. Then had it delivered to NJ. They moved to PA a few years later and NJ signed an agreement with NY and they traded tax records. Lo and behold NJ tried to collect the sales tax from them. Those kind of laws are out there so keep your eyes open. I try to avoid leaving a credit card trail but it's getting harder and harder.
Oh, as for the base exchanges, they are tax exempt however if you wonder why the gas prices are 'on par' with the local gas prices and the booze prices, it's because the executives who run the exchanges, you know all those retired Generals and Admirals, want their yearly bonuses and that's where the money comes from.
 
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