Paying taxes on horns off ebay

[JayW]

as long as you do not reside in the same state I do not see a problem. I have never payed sales tax on something i bought off of ebay, or ordered from outside of my state in fact. I may be mistaken, but it is the sellers responsibility to collect sales tax..?? (any IRS agents want to chime in?)

[JayW]

my understanding of it is.... if you purchase something from out of state and have it shipped then you do not pay sales tax (unless the states has a recipricol tax agreement, which i believe to be uncommon) I know mnay people who have "driven" to the store and purchased a certain instrument...then had the store ship the horn to their residence out of state and thus have avoided paying sales tax.

[Tubaryan12]

Even if you reside in the same state you should not pay sales tax UNLESS the person you are buying from is a licenced buisness in that state.

Or unless you live in a state like Ohio where they expect the residents to also pay Ohio state taxes on items bought from other states! Needless to say...ahem...I havent purchased ANYTHING on the internet or from a seller out of state.

[Tubaryan12]

I thought double taxation was illegal. How can they justify this?

Not double. If the tax in the other state is less than that of Ohio you must pay the difference. If you were charged no state tax (like on an out of state ebay purchase) you have to pay Ohio state tax.

[Joe Baker]

I think all states have what's called a "use tax", equal to the state sales tax. Technically you're supposed to pay use tax on items bought out of state. In practice, almost no one does. There's no tracking of merchandise bought from other states, so no one's going to know you owe the use tax.

A purchase from an individual who doesn't sell the item as a business is a "casual sale", and typically does not require payment of sales tax; I'm not sure whether you're supposed to pay use tax on casual sales.
_________________________________
Joe Baker, who has never, ever payed use tax on anything.

[oldbandnerd]

I live in Viginia . I just bought a new euphonium from Tuba Exchange in Durham ,N.C. .They are about a 3hours drive from. I wanted to go to the store and purchase it but They owner told me he would have to chrarge me the N.C. sales tax. A whopping 7% !!!! He took me order by phone and shipped it to me . I saved myself ove $70 in taxes by doing that !!!
I thought about going to the store, testing a bunch of euph's and when I had decided what I wanted I would just go out to my car and order it on my cell phone,pay for it on my credit/debit card and then walk back in and pick it up.....no sales taxes !!!


Anything to save a buck !!!

[Rick F]

Euphdude,

Did you see that the price on the YEP-641 has been dropped? I play on a 641 myself. They are excellent horns... better than the 321 for sure. Here's the link. I see you posted to it before.

viewtopic.php?p=49113#49113

[Paul S]

UNLESS the person you are buying from is a licenced buisness in that state. Private sales between citizens are not taxed.

Well say that the euphonium my son is looking at is from a company, like CIC music in Ohio. Does the sales tax apply then?

Ohio sales tax is only applied to Ohio resident purchasers or those who physically enter Ohio to make the purchase inside the state. If you reside outside of Ohio and make the purchase via "mail-order" "telephone" internet" and have it shipped to another state, you are not subject to Ohio taxation.

Ohio is trying hard to close even the smallest taxation loopholes but I believe I am up to date with this.

[OldBandsman]

I've bought a few things on eBay and I would be flat unwilling to deal with any seller who does not reply to my questions. Especially so for major purchases. I've seen notes from time to time that some postings are scams.

FWIW

[oldbandnerd]

It's a good thing I did not waste my time driving down there !!! I did not know that.


Anyway.........I got my Weril H980 silver on manday....sales tax free !!!! Save myself over $70 to boot.


Thanks for the info . I will remeber that when I buy next horn ,20 or 30 years from now .

[Uncle Buck]

I think this is not the ideal forum for getting/giving advice on tax issues. For one thing, sales and use tax is entirely a state issue, so the laws vary from state to state. At least one statement from this thread, "Private sales between citizens are not taxed." is completely untrue. As a general rule (although some states may be different), sales and use tax laws do not differentiate between "commercial" and "private" sellers.

If you want a good answer, contact your state tax or revenue agency. All you'll get here is speculation, maybe mixed in with a bit of truth here and there (but impossible to know when).

[MaryAnn]

Couple comments...
1. ditto on the 941 euph. It is almost never necessary to buy new.
2. if the seller has not responded to either phone or email, raise the "suspicious flag."

MA

[Paul S]

I do agree that the best thing to do is to check with your seller and also with your local taxation code. Every state is indeed different.

I think many of us might be shocked to actually know what our state taxation and internet sales laws are.

As of this May 2005, Ohio actually will have a law making it illegal to conduct an online auction unless you have an auctioneer’s license from the state. As written, this also applies to selling on Ebay from Ohio and is being altered, but only to grant a small exception if you sell something on Ebay you did not purchase with intent to resell there. This will be a wake up call and might be enjoyable to watch some legislators do some quick rewrites when the phones ring in May.

Ohio also does expect individual Ohio residents to collect sales tax for an in-Ohio sale and report it for any sale (internet included) no matter how small the sale, even if the seller or the buyer only has a vacation home or any kind of business interest in Ohio at all, and resides primarily outside Ohio. There are sections about paying the primary resident state tax first and then the difference if greater to Ohio and it does get deeper and deeper from there.

I do have a business here in Ohio and although it is agricultural based with certain exemptions, I still have to turn in my taxation forms, signed exemption certificates from every customer, and I receive taxation law updates from the state.

I still do stand by the fact that currently, if you are a non-Ohio resident and purchase an item from a seller in Ohio and have it shipped to a location outside Ohio you owe no tax in Ohio.

Your own state might want something from you though depending if the seller has any kind of business interest in your state too. Also if you do drive to pick it up in Ohio you are considered an over the counter customer and then liable for Ohio tax.

The talk of going to a national consumption tax is interesting but I can not imagine all of the states willing to give up any portion of their pies in that regard unless they think it will mean more for them from somewhere too. Since State rights take precedent, the Federal government will have to offer something really sweet to the States to get them to go along. I also think we are going to see more and more interest by states to find ways to get their portion of cross state (internet, catalog, telephone) sales in the coming years.

[Chuck(G)]

I think all states have what's called a "use tax", equal to the state sales tax.

Believe it or not, not all states have a sales tax. Oregon doesn't (and we don't pump our own gas, either). Income tax, however, is another matter...

Chuck "who can remember when California's 2% sales tax was a "temporary" measure"(G)

[Joe Baker]

Oh, so you ducks & beavers up there call that a state?
______________________________
Joe Baker, who'll take a sales tax over an income tax ANY day!

[Chuck(G)]

Oh, so you ducks & beavers up there call that a state?
______________________________
Joe Baker, who'll take a sales tax over an income tax ANY day!

Oh, c'mon! How can you cal yourself a state without being under the fallout from a genuine active volcano?

[Rick Denney]

Hello I am the father of a son who wants to purchase a euphonium.

Most states require you to pay "use tax" on things that you buy. When you buy in the state, the seller collects the tax for you and sends it to the state. That's what we call a "sales" tax.

Many states have exceptions for "occasional sales" that relieve, for example, someone operating a garage sale from collecting sales tax.

My thinking is this: If you don't tell them you bought something, how are they gonna know?

It's not an issue for the seller on ebay, unless he is required by your state to collect sales tax. That would be between him and the State of Arkansas, but it usually requires having a place of business in the state. He's already said he only collects sales tax from Ohio residents.

Rick "thinking that it's between you and the State of Arkansas" Denney

[corbasse]

I live in Viginia . .... They owner told me he would have to chrarge me the N.C. sales tax. A whopping 7% !!!!...

I'm moving there asap!! Over here it's 21%

[Paul S]

Oh, so you ducks & beavers up there call that a state?
______________________________
Joe Baker, who'll take a sales tax over an income tax ANY day!

Oh, c'mon! How can you cal yourself a state without being under the fallout from a genuine active volcano?

Luckily we in Ohio do still have our Southern Ohio coal power plants and Davis-Besse up North (when it is not corroding down its containment) to help get the same feeling...

(yes I know it is cooling tower condensation as I actually spent two years as a nuclear engineering major before coming to terms that kinetics, thermodynamics and I would never be best of buddies).

Ohio also makes for an enjoyable state where it was 60 degrees on Monday and snowing heavily and 12 degrees last night.

Paul, who does not mind taxes when the schools work, roads are driveable and it is safe to shop in the city after dark, Sidey

[TubaRay]

Paul, who does not mind taxes when the schools work, roads are driveable and it is safe to shop in the city after dark, Sidey

Do you know of such a place? I know places where it is safe to shop in the city after dark. The other items are much less plentiful.