OT Amazon to begin charging state sales tax

Are you talking about sales tax rate or school/real estate tax rate? I'm very familiar with the latter, the former is less common.

Usually when you live in one town but have an address for the city next to it, the town has a different zip code than the city. (That's my circumstance as well.) It is very rare for cities large enough to impose a sales tax to have the same zip codes as communities outside that city's legal boundary.

My mother's house, in a different state, also has a different postal address city/town/village than what is recorded on the property deed, and a different zip code. Neither jurisdiction is large enough to have imposed their own sales tax. They do have different school taxes.

Reply to
Peter
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A database that is for one (you yourself say) small area and answering only one question. Not really the same as one state, many counties, untold cities, and bunches of smaller taxing districts.. and then do the same for 50 other states. I am not saying it can't be done, I am just saying that the burden to the company is a few orders of magnitude different, including upkeep on your DBs. I

Reply to
Kurt Ullman

I don't think I've made any significant purchases of taxable goods in any country that has VAT, but AIUI the tax rate may vary from one kind of item to another and the tax rate is not necessarily published in the store or at the cash register -- the tax is already included in the displayed price.

A student from Zambia told me that their sales taxes (varying rates) are included in the displayed price but the receipts show the tax paid on each item.

Perce

Reply to
Percival P. Cassidy

The shopping cart software I use can be configured to add a pre-set percentage for each STATE, but that is not accurate enough. I drive 5 miles north to Montgomery Co. and there is no METRO tax of 1% like Harris County. Sales tax by State is easy, by all the little municipalities, it's not.

Now that I've collected taxes from the: "45 states and the District of Columbia [that] impose sales and use taxes on the retail sale"* . What the hell am I supposed to do, file 46 extra returns every quarter? I don't think so. Would I have to get a sales tax certificate in each State I sell stuff to?

I'm not doing it. Texas residents are charged 8.25% because that is the rate at my physical location. If the other states want me to collect taxes for them, there will have to be an incentive. It would take considerable time, money, and effort to do that.

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Reply to
G. Morgan

Nancy Young wrote in news:4ece5b8b$0$28478$a8266bb1 @newsreader.readnews.com:

I believe most states will adjust that line if there is no evidence to back up a zero amount. I know NY and NJ would.

Reply to
Han

Exactly.

Reply to
G. Morgan

"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote in news:jaln3k$q34$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

That's the way it is in Europe as well. I still find it disconcerting here that the price you get quoted for an item is NOT the final price, since it doesn't include taxes and fees. That is especially cumbersome for hotels etc, where there may be lodging taxes on top of everything else. Talkinf about taxation without representation!!!

Reply to
Han

You've obviously not seen the "back-end" of shopping cart software. There is no provision on any I seen/worked with of that lets you base tax on the buyers exact location (only State). This is not a simple implementation from a tech. viewpoint at all. Tax has to calculated in real-time, not by some guy reading off a spreadsheet.

Plus, how is a one-man operation going to keep up with filing tax returns in 45+ States? I'm not selling IN their state, just shipping TO the state.

I'm not going out of my way to collect taxes for other states, not my responsibility.

Reply to
G. Morgan

Not entirely unworkable, but not as easy as typing a few lines of code either.

Still is the matter of getting the tax to the States, unless they make a clearinghouse of some sort. How is the one-man shop (or any non-giant like Amazon) going to file quarterly returns to states he/she does not have a sales/use tax permit in?

Reply to
G. Morgan

Just along the border between Indy and Carmel/Fishers there are three zips that cross the border (46240, 46256, 46055). Heck there is one zip code that crosses Hancock, Hamilton, and Madison Counties. It isn't the communities that count, it is the house that stuff is being delivered to.

Reply to
Kurt Ullman

I know. The people saying it can be done will come up with all kinds of computer necessary scenarios, like putting a man on the moon or walking in outer space. They obviously are nuts. 50 sales tax rates? No way.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

The states (at least for now) are not going after the one man operation. They are going after the ones selling hundreds of millions of dollars in product. How does Sears do it with their catalog sales? It is not that hard. It is done now by many stores that have large operations and a presence in many states.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

BS. It is done already by many retailers that have catalog operations. Sears, Monkey Ward, etc. .

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Careful - you're showing your age there. Wards has been out of business for close to 20 years now.

Reply to
Robert Neville

The difference is that the European countries didn't eliminate all other taxes at the same time. The idea behind the "Fair Tax" is that all of the hidden taxes get eliminated so the end cost to the consumer doesn't change (much). It'll never happen because it will make government waste evident - every day.

No one. That's the point.

Reply to
krw

When you show that you're capable of reading, I'll stop calling you an imbecile. Truth hurts, too bad.

Reply to
krw

How could they possibly adjust the amount on a form and still have a form that can hold up in a fraud case? You would be requiring people to sign a fraudulent document.

How do you supply "evidence of a zero amount"? "OK, I have zero evidence of the actual amount!"

...not that I would put either past those two cesspools.

Reply to
krw

The *STATES* will sue Amazon. The STATES collect taxes for the lower-level taxing authorities. They don't have to figure it out, businesses do. It's unworkable (and constantly getting worse).

Reply to
krw

Sales tax. I don't think Amazon is being asked to collect real estate tax. ;-)

He lived in a town outside the city but had a city address (and, of course, zip code). His sales tax *should* have been charged at the town rate, regardless of his city street address. It was very difficult to get that through to anyone, though.

I actually lived between him and the city, in the same subdivision, yet had a town address (and zip code, obviously). There is no rationalizing the way the USPS works.

Different issues. BTW, it doesn't take a "large city" to have a different sales tax rate. It can even vary within a municipal entity.

Reply to
krw

Everyone here, dufus. Not everyone is as stupid as you advertise.

...just stating the obvious. Sorry if it hurts your feelings.

Reply to
krw

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