New Taxes / Fees on orders.....

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Look up “use tax”. Technically, anything you buy across state lines, where a state sales tax would not be imposed on the seller, the buyer is supposed to pay according to their local tax structure. But no one does, as @Ryanbrs stated.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Look up “use tax”. Technically, anything you buy across state lines, where a state sales tax would not be imposed on the seller, the buyer is supposed to pay according to their local tax structure. But no one does, as @Ryanbrs stated.

I pay use tax to Idaho on the materials I use to fabricate anything I sell. I keep records to support the taxes I pay. There is no sales tax on the items I sell in Idaho only use tax. Idaho also does not add a sales tax to labor only the materials used in a construction job.

Washington has a B&O tax as well as sales and use. I only collect sales tax on direct sales to residents in Washington and I have to collect and report the amount to each county the work is preformed in. That is some record keeping as well as a large tax table. Any sales I make to home centers, home builders, contractors is a wholesale transaction and they must provide a current reseller number before I can sell to them tax free. I record the retail sales, wholesale sales, and interstate sales differently on the Washington State tax forms since our company is a Washington Corporation and my business is located in Washington.

I have even made retail sales into California and the state tax commission was not interested in registering my company and collecting taxes since it was only a couple of transactions of a smaller amount. It took weeks for the California tax commission to answer my phone call (before internet). In Oregon I only sell through a licensed Oregon contractor as a wholesale only transaction. In that case I can deliver the product on my own truck but can only advise the unloading and installation without actual physical assistance or I then become a sub-contractor and need an Oregon state contractors license. Oregon is another state that suffers from the good old boy system and the contractors board requires so many hours of "class" before they will issue a license. It just so happens that the contractors board members own all the "class" training areas and make a good side living fleecing other contractors. A clear conflict of interest in Oregon but the board members are too connected to take on at a state level.

Again any state would love to have you give them taxes even if you are not required to and they will find creative ways to spend it on items beside roads and required maintenance.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Now I got to go on a rant about taxes. I'm getting tired of politicians saying I live in a high tax state because the people of CA demand a certain standard of living. NOOOO! I didn't demand any of it, you politicians imposed it on me. I didn't get to vote on the 12 cent increase to every gallon of gas. I didn't get to vote on the yearly increase to my property taxes. I never got to vote on the salaries and pensions promised to the state worker. AHHH!! CA is killing me, but I love my state lol.

ok (deep breathes) rant over.

In CA we get taxed or fee'd for something new every time we turn around. Good motivator to move to another state.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

Sounds like you are up to speed on WA taxes @Lowell Lemon!

My reference the use tax is limited to my experience with the State of Iowa. If I sell to someone in Iowa and I ship to them, I pay (collect) tax based on my locale (so, state + city/local option taxes, if any). If I hand-deliver it to them, I am supposed to collect tax based on where the physical exchange took place. So if I bring it to their house, it's their locale. If I deliver it to them another location, it's whatever the taxes are in that location.

Then, if I buy anything locally and I buy it exempt (like if I have a Tax-exempt account at Lowes or Menards) and then I use it for myself, I'm supposed to pay the Use Tax for that item that I didn't pay point-of-sale tax on. Or even, if I buy something from BRS or any other online retailer that does not collect point-of-sale tax, I'm supposed to pay Use Tax on that item.

I have a client that got burned by this. They bought a tank from Miracles directly for use in their office (from Canada, so obviously, no tax was collected by them) and they ended up having to pay Use Tax after being audited. They also give away items to customers and they got nailed for Use Tax on that - in this case they are a dental office and the would give away drink cups, toothbrushes, floss, etc...all of that stuff was purchased tax-exempt by them and given away so there wasn't even a sale made, but it was all considered to be "used" by them instead of re-sold with tax collected, so that fell under the Use Tax provision.

 

[siggy]

Purchase a Share in a property in a state with little or no sales tax, then deliver to your home, It's more common than you think and in this hobby it might just be worth it.

 

[Ryanbrs]

@Ryanbrs'

Unless the state of Washington can afford to send a team to your location you will not be audited. Oregon has an agreement with Washington to allow Oregon purchasers to buy tax free from Washington businesses by just presenting an Oregon drivers license. So I do not see them having a legal leg to stand on if challenged in court. Also you cannot enforce state laws over state lines period that is established federal law. As a Washington business owner and seller I know the number of employees in Washington States Tax offices is rather low due to their poor management in multiple other areas of the state budget. Just try to get them to answer the phone or Emails in a timely manner. The state service offices are run on a skeleton crews that are not to interested in working for a living.

We already have the highest gasoline taxes in the country and most of us on the state line vote with our money and shop in Idaho or Oregon for fuel and don't give Olympia a dime. How do you think they will be able to enforce that across state lines without agreement from the border states? The dirty little secret is they do not have the legal athority to collect taxes across state lines period. They also do not have enough tax enforcement officers to cover our own state let alone the state of California. This is really an Olympia pipe dream and you should tell them nuts since your customer list is protected and they would have to get a court order in California to allow them access as well as enforcement across state lines. The case you had with MN illustrates the wasted effort the state made to "collect" imagined taxes from you and they lost money in the process. You should have called the local police and had them escorted from your business location. They simply have no legal standing to be in California trying collect taxes for MN and a judge in California would have told them so. Unless you have a physical location or make deliveries into the state with your own trucks you owe MN or WA nothing period. I sell across state lines every day of the week and I follow each states requirements. I have passed every audit with flying colors. I keep careful records and only allow access by each state to that infomation that concerns that state only.

If you cave into Washington they will take your time and money believe me! Our state government is an extreme example of the principals of anti business interest running amok. It has already cost Washinton the manufacturing plants for several Boeing aircraft as well as the coporate headquarters now located in Chicago. We have a political group here that ignores the needs of the "little people" so they can continue to waste tax payer dollars any way they see fit. Our last good governer was Gary Locke but his party has run the budget into the red every year since he left.

Please do not allow these political pirates to hold your business hostage until federal law is enacted to allow the collection of taxes for internet sales. Just watch Microsoft mount a legal challenge if Washington State tries to tax its customers around the world. You own them nothing and the law is currently on your side. Please stand your ground and I will encourage others in the state to vote against those who dreamed up this mess. This is the result of legal pot use in our state! They have had a windfall of money from pot sales and have already wasted it without meeting current fiscal obligations. They will do the same with your time and money necessary to illegally collect taxes on internet sales. This is a clear case of state government overreach peroid. Let them fight it out in your California courts or in Nevada since you warehouse there. Hire an attorney to look into their "request" before you comply.

I appreciate the feedback and I share many of your view points, thats why when I was first presented with this I said "BS" and called our legal team. I didn't like the answer they gave me so I researched the issue myself, didn't like that either and then contacted a legal team which specializes in this area. Even though I didn't like what any of them have to say, they all say it is in our and our customers best interest to comply because it appears WA is going after this more aggressively than ever before, both companies and individuals. Keep in mind that everything we knew about b&o and sales tax just changed, the new laws are designed to encourage lawsuits to reaffirm their position.

They are attempting to make a point here and generate a brand new permanent stream of revenue. They may go to great lengths to do that and protect the right to do it. I actually anticipate they will be sending bills to every resident that ends up on the list of out of state online purchases, regardless of purchase size. While I understand some people may not care I am pretty confident that most people would prefer we do not send their purchase behavior to the WA state government. I understand it would likely be more profitable for BRS to not charge the tax and just send the info the to state and doing it this way we may lose some very valued customers. However the core of what we do is treat people the way we want to be treated. In this case it is open , honest and lawful. I will be curious to see how our competitors comply.

 

[Ryanbrs]

dup post

 

[Tiger-Paws]

01/09/2018 5:50 pm CST

I just received (today) a $489.99 Ethereal 130w LED & ICV6 Controller Package from BRS outside of Dallas Texas and I was NOT charged any sales tax.

If I was going to be charged a Sales Tax (any tax) I would not have purchased the item from BRS or anyone else who was going to charge me a tax.

This is not a comment on the services BRS offers, they have always been first rate but I will buy from China before paying sales tax when I am purchasing an item across state lines.

Just my very humble opinion.

 

[KMench]

Simple solution fellas, move to Delaware! Sales tax free

 

[jimmyzshack]

it's the same for amazon and all 3rd party sellers shipping to WA. I'm sure before hand the law was you were suppose to claim it on your state taxes when you filed.

Based on changes in Washington state tax laws, Amazon will calculate, collect, and remit sales tax for all orders shipped to customers in Washington state beginning January 1, 2018.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

We are all able to vote with our feet and money. I remember the national 55mph speed limit and the limited affect it had on the actual speed traveled by the majority of Americans. Like the prohibition this will cost Washington state plenty of actual good will and maybe even cost them in a class action suite by damaged parties. Time will tell and it may force a political change.

 

[Undertaker]

I live in Tennessee, and as of right now I am not affected by this sales tax thing. But, if and when it does take effect here I will not like it, but, there are pros and cons to everything. to have the convenience of not having to drive 40 miles to my LFS is well worth the sales tax i will pay buying from BRS. How I look at it I am still saving money and time. Plus there is excellent customer service dealing with BRS, and for that alone, in my opinion, is worth sales tax that I am going to anyway.

 

[Ryanbrs]

*Breaking news *

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...internet-sales-tax-gets-u-s-high-court-review

I think there is close to zero chance they will hold up quill

 

[jduong916]

Kinda funny that the Republican justices are behind over turning Quill. You'd think it'd be the other way around.

 

[jduong916]

According to the Quill ruling it would seem BRS doesn't need to collect sales tax on behalf of Washington as there is no physical presence.

 

[siggy]

x

 

[Tiger-Paws]

U.S. Supreme Court to Review Bid to Collect Internet Sales Tax

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...internet-sales-tax-gets-u-s-high-court-review

Here we go again....

 

[Ryanbrs]

U.S. Supreme Court to Review Bid to Collect Internet Sales Tax

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...internet-sales-tax-gets-u-s-high-court-review

Here we go again....

I'd personally bet the farm the tax free internet era is going to be done in June.

Almost half of the court, including three conservative judges, have already implied they would vote against the 25-year-old Quill decision. At least partially based on the fact that, it was a different retail world then and technology didn't exist for businesses to effectively tax nearly 10,000 tax jurisdictions. Internet sales grow every year and there is now expensive software that allows you to accurately collect taxes so they are likely to vote differently than they did 25 years ago. As a person who shops on the internet, this sucks. As a person who owns an online business, this is going to be a nightmare to implement and stay on top of. I just can't imagine trying to keep 50 different state taxing entities satisfied. I hope and pray this does end up being state only and not every last city and county tax.

 

[Crimson]

Simple solution fellas, move to Delaware! Sales tax free

I live in Jersey, where do you think I bought my OLED tv from? That's right, a Best Buy in Delaware. 30 min drive, bridge toll and some gas still was a lot cheaper than paying tax. I can thank the crazy Du Pont's for that

 

[George Willings]

Internet purchases are not like you going to a local shop or store to buy something. When you buy something over the internet you are still physically in your home state, so the internet store has to charge you your states sales tax. BRS is just following a federal mandate that states that internet stores will charge the state sale tax reflected by the customers state. You can thank your home state for enforcing that mandate. It does suck, but it is life.