Washington State sale tax now on internet purchases

[silverton_ford]

That's it, yes.   

Cory

Is is both? Does it show up at check out or are you surprised later on?

Hi 2112,

The surprise was during checkout with PayPal after an eBay Buy-It-Now.  It was painful.  I expect internet sales could drop because people will want to find other ways to save money and not pay the tax.  I have friends and family in Oregon that I might be using their addresses, depending who I am going to see next.

Cory

Cory,
Any Washington Shelby guys can visit my shop in Oregon anytime!

[6s1640]

Does it apply to private sellers or used parts ??....EH??....

Hi Craig,

My purchase was a used item from an out of state business.  But because eBay/PayPal processed the purchased, they may be the entity responsible for collecting the sales tax.  They exceed all the thresholds for not collecting, thus they have to register, collect, and submit retail sales tax to Washington State.  The business may be completely left out of the sales tax transaction. Which might mean, all purchases from private, small and large businesses will be taxed.   

Cory

[ITHERTZ]

What about buying a used car from either a private seller or dealer in WA and taking delivery out of state?  Taxed twice???

[1967 eight barrel]

Tony.. <Snicker>

[6s1640]

What about buying a used car from either a private seller or dealer in WA and taking delivery out of state?  Taxed twice???

The Washington DMV has got you covered.  They don't care anymore what you paid for it or where you made the transaction.  If you register the car in Washington, they look your new purchase up in a price guide and you are then stuck with the relevant tax.  The best way is to have the seller gift the vehicle to you and avoid all the sales tax.  I as far as I know, this still can be done, but that could have changed too.

Best of luck

Cory

[Wedgeman]

In Washington State you can only gift a car to someone ..one time..

[kjspeed]

Florida has been this way for a while, but it's selectively enforced. ALL out of state purchases from a business or an individual to a business or individual in Florida are covered by a Sales and Use Tax (Section 212.06[8] Florida Statutes) and the amount is based on your local tax rate. The base rate in Florida is 6% but some counties are more. If you paid tax to the seller and it was equal to or more than your local rate, you don't owe Florida anything. If you did not pay tax to the seller, or if you paid less than your local tax rate, you are supposed to fill out a form within 30 days and send the form and the money (minus whatever tax you paid to the seller) to Tallahassee.

For automobiles, the same rules apply except that the sales tax is collected when you register it. The tax is based on the amount shown on the sales receipt/bill of sale/title.

There is an exception; if the item you purchased out of state was not brought into the state for at least 6 months after the purchase, then you don't owe the tax.

How do I know this? I purchased about $300 worth of promotional pens from a company in Texas twice and they didn't charge me sales tax. I never really noticed. Several months later I received a letter from Tallahassee informing me that they routinely audit shipments into Florida and identified me as having purchased items from out of state and I owed Florida the tax plus a penalty (10% per month up to 50% max). They kindly agreed to waive the penalty if I paid within 30 days, but they did not identify the purchase or purchases that triggered the audit. After going through 36 months of records I ended up sending them about $42 and that was that.

I guess that is the price you pay for not having a state income tax? 

[tesgt350]

The States may have made a deal with Ebay, Pay pal, Amazon that if they collect the Tax, they get to keep a percentage of it.  Way back in the early 80's when I owned "Tallahassee Mustang's, Inc." I got to keep 1.5% of the Tax I collected but that went away a long time ago.  When I owned MUSTANG F/X, Inc. I had to turn in the full Tax I collect on anything I sold in Florida.