I love that California only charges sales tax on sales under $1500. So, only the wealthy don't have to pay sales tax for coins/currency/bullion. The kid saving his allowance to buy a Franklin Half gets the shaft.
The kid saving his allowance needs to learn effective money management techniques. Specifically, how to effectively buy off lobby his duly elected representatives.
Hmmm...I guess they are only reporting their credit card sales. When I used to live in NY, most cash transactions for things like home maintenance resulted in the sales tax being waived.
I always wondered how that worked. How do coin shops report sales? I have a couple dealers and they only hand-write receipts. They both tell me specifially that they only charge tax when I use a credit card. I don't care as it saves me a few bucks, but I am guessing it is also a way to not have to report income, and saves them money. Just goes to show how stupid it is to tax coins in the first place, and I don't blame the dealers for operating this way. To hell with taxes!
Tennessee law requires tax to be collected on coins, currency and bullion. However, at coin shows tax is generally not collected. Nor is it collected at flea markets most of the time. The law says flea market dealers are supposed to collect the tax (on everything). But the last sentence of the law says if the flea market dealer does not collect it, it is the responsibility of the buyer to send the tax to the state. Ha! Ha! Ha! I wish we as shop dealers were treated like flea market dealers. We get audited on sales tax collections but flea market dealers get a free ride, probably because no state employee wants to work on the weekend.
I don’t know what the law is here in NJ, but my local coin shops only charge tax on credit card payments. One of the shops ONLY accepts cash payments (on any purchase, even if it is supplies). I wonder what that shop reports to the tax collector?
Or are they “charging sales tax” to offset the fees charged by credit card companies? I ask this question only because it makes no sense to me why something would be taxable only based on the method of payment.
Not sure how your example (a coin shop doing business off the books) is any different from a hardware store or clothing store or grocery store doing the same thing. Gotta pay for those roads and police and armed forces one way or another, and saying "make someone else pay for it" isn't very neighborly.
It is possible that's what some shops are calling it instead of saying I'm going to charge you the CC fee. That said I'm sure plenty of them aren't exactly reporting everything
Yup. As a resident of CA, I find it strange that a state that looks after the poor better than most states would grant a tax exemption that favors wealthier collectors. The supposed logic behind the $1500 exemption is that $1500 and up purchases are investments, whereas cheaper purchases are hobby activities. There are a number of workarounds on the law. At shows, even CA-based dealers will often skip the tax for a cash transaction. Out-of-state dealers will often write a receipt that makes it look as though the transaction occurred out of state. Then there is the partial "wash transaction". Dealer sells you $1500 or more on the invoice, but then immediately buys back part of the merchandise. The $1500 limit is a per transaction limit, not a per coin limit. So it's sometimes possible to lay away coins until the $1500 limit is reached. Then an invoice is done. It's bricks and mortar coin shops that have to follow the law most closely. They are too easily inspected and have too much at risk to try iffy workarounds. There have been a couple of time in auctions where I won over $1000, but less than $1500, worth of coins and had exhausted my list of coins of interest. So I scrambled to go through the catalog to see if there were any yet to be auctioned that might be of some interest and that would nudge me over the $1500 mark. That's how I acquired my only bust half and sitting liberty dime. I don't collect either series, but am glad to have these two coins. Cal
Coins and bullion are exempt from sales tax here in Pennsylvania FOR NOW. Each state has it's own laws on sales tax. Our lobbying arm here in PA got the exemption passed a number of years ago. If you are concerned in your state, join and support an organization that can carry your opinion to your state capitol.
Once again, I'm the oddball collector. I have no problem at all with the fact that Oklahoma taxes collectables. I would much rather pay it on a luxury item such as coins than on a necessity such as food.
If people are only charging tax with credit card payments, it is because they are breaking the law. Cash sales are easier to hide. But that's doesn't mean they shouldn't do the right thing. Credit card payments have a paper trail that can be tracked, which is why they charge the tax on that.
1. I don't mind paying taxes. But that doesn't mean I want coins taxed. 2. The government should learn to spend less, not invent money grabbing schemes. 3. The idea of taxing its own currency is absurd anyway, even if it is considered a hobby.
In CA I've never been explicitly charged sales tax when buying a coin, but occasionally the dealer (local coin shop or at a coin show) will say verbally "that'll be $88, tax included".
You’re probably right in many cases, but my line of work has shown that even a paper trail doesn’t always discourage folks from doing silly things.
Missouri is tax free on coins and bullion. I don’t know about currency - never purchased any — I only spend it.
And if you live in a state that levies a sales tax on either coins, or bullion, or both, you will NEVER see an ANA convention in your state. And if your state STARTS levying one, they will LOSE whatever ANA conventions have been scheduled there, as Pennsylvania (host of 2 of the next 3) has been told in no uncertain terms. The ANA builds a sales tax escape clause into all its site contracts.
