Question on U.S. State sales tax

My state (Pennsylvania) currently does not charge sales tax for coins.

I'm looking at buying a coin from a shop in California, where apparently, they charge 7.75% sales tax.

Can I ask them to waive it since my state does not require me to pay sales tax?

Edit: I Googled it and found that I had asked a similar question about Heritage back in April. I'm not sure there was a consensus, but I got the overall gist that, since Heritage does not have a presence in PA, they can't charge me sales tax. Therefore, I think that I wouldn't have to pay the CA sale tax...?

@Treashunt ? @Conder101 ?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I would assume so...I live in Oregon where we have no sales tax. Whenever I have purchased coins online I have never paid a sales tax. One of the dealers I use is in California.

 

You shouldn't have to pay the sales tax because you reside 'out of state'. If you lived within CA, or if the concern had a business interest in PA, then you would have to pay the tax......

 

You can ask but the business would still have to pay the tax. So they would be taking a hit on their profit. I live in California and have passed on auctions on Ebay and other places because of the sales tax requirement. I empathized with the sellers, but couldn't in good conscience pay the ridiculous amount they are required to collect from customers.

 

My thinking

 

I don't think this is true at all. As far as I know, a seller in any given state is only responsible for collecting sales tax on sales in that state, and that specifically excludes online transactions where the product is shipped out of state.

If an online seller in another state claimed they had to collect their state's sales tax on my order, I would assume that they're trying to scam me out of more money. It just doesn't work that way.

If I buy a (non-coin) item in Maryland and pay 6% sales tax, then bring it back home where the sales tax is 7.5%, I'm supposed to remit the extra 1.5% to my state as use tax. But if I buy coins in Maryland and pay 6% sales tax, then bring them home where they aren't taxable, I cannot claim any credit on my taxes to get back that 6%.

 

Till the Goobers set up some sort of system to all encompass things, I'm livin' large.....

 

The wife buys sewing supplies from some outfit in San Diego, and they blatantly post that there is no sales tax charged to NY customers.

 

Sellers from states without sales tax on coins and bullion are going to clean up. I love that the California Sales Tax on coins is only on sales under $1500. I guess that one favors the rich. I couldn't imagine paying 7% sales tax on bullion - that's more than the profit the seller makes legitimately!

 

Correct 100% Amazon was not in Md. No sales tax now they have a warehouse here tax is charged. Same for mail order Bass pro shop, Cabelas if they have a store in state you pay taxes.

 

If no physical presence in your state, no taxes.

 

The laws are different from state to state. There has been talk on the coin forums about some states requiring that sales tax be charged. It sounded like if the dealer did not collect the tax, the dealer had to pay it. There was also talk of some state that backed off on requiring sales tax on coins. It's probably possible to look up the state laws online.

 

" The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that states can only require retailers to collect their sales taxes if the businesses have a physical presence in the state."

 

Bottom line: buy mostly at local coin shows, where tax is almost never charged. Of course, it may be factored in the selling price I suppose.

 

That's what the one or two sellers I've asked have said. I wasn't presumptuous, er, diligent enough to ask for their sales-tax reporting records.

 

I misread the OPs statement regarding where he was located. You are correct, if the buyer is not located in the state with the sales tax, there shouldn't be any tax attached to an out of state purchase. However, as I pointed out in my post, it was unfortunate for the sellers in my state because they are missing out on purchases from those of us that live here. I can get the same product somewhere else and not have to pay the additional charge for tax. I have thought about getting around it by having a family member purchase it for me from Texas, paying them, and then having them ship it to me. Normally, I wouldn't try to circumvent established financial rules, but I cannot stomach the thought of Uncle Jerry getting any more of my hard earned cash than he deserves.

 

So the consensus is that, since there is no sales tax on coins in my state, I do not have to pay CA sales tax.

Agree: @CamaroDMD, @green18, @-jeffB, @TheFinn (?), @BooksB4Coins, @Hommer, @Histman

Disagree: ?

Depends on the state(s): @ldhair

If anyone has input to disagree, I would honestly like to hear it. Thanks, all.

 

The seller only charges sales tax if:
1) you are a resident of the state where they are located;
2) or if they have an office in your state.

In your instance for #2, they would not charge either way

 

There's no Amazon store in Louisiana but they collect 10% sales tax anyway. Better to do business with their marketplace sellers who are not compelled to collect the tax.

When you think about it, a sales tax on coins is silly anyway... your bank teller doesn't charge you tax on that roll of coins you buy to search. Go ahead and keep thinking it's not the same thing.

 

They will not charge tax unless they have an office in NY.