Heritage tax on coins in Ohio - very disappointing

I agree with your point. Heritage put out a disclaimer about new laws in Wisconsin requiring them to add state tax to my orders. So far, other out of state auction houses (ie, Great Collections) haven't. This is the same thing as buying other commodities over the internet. Most still don't add state tax unless they reside, or have a presence in the state. I think this is going to change in the near future.

 

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I certainly hope so. Because I wont be a top bidder or under bidder for any of their pieces until it changes since I have to factor in the rediculous cost of the tax now. I'll be taking all of my ancient business to CNG for now.

 

I've started factoring state tax plus buyers fee and shipping cost into my bids. I'll probably not win many auctions unless there's a special coin that I want.

 

You the man. Good advice. That should get you a few likes

 

I really didn't understand what you said.

 

I hear ya Doug Flute

 

Pay cash at coin stores

 

LakeEffect gave you good links there regarding the tax situation. Go further down to 5739.104 Refunds.

Let the State make the determination. They may rule Heritage collected an "illegal or erroneous assessment". If so, you should also receive State mandated interest on the paid tax. You need to make sure you have all documentation together to support your claim (including anything that verifies the metal content of the purchased coins).

You will need to fill out and send the State the refund form along with your documentation. Your documentation should include a professional assessment of the coins you purchased to show they are at least 50%+1 precious metal content.

The Ohio law was passed by those representing you in legislation and approved by your governor. There is no reason why you, as a citizen of Ohio, should not reap the benefits thereof. That is, if your purchase truly does qualify under the law as intended.

 

The new ruling on internet taxes is going to really hurt a lot of us, me included. I will now be paying taxes when I buy, and losing some to taxes when I sell. I don't make a huge percent on each sale, so it will really hurt.

 

Basically sales tax is sourced and taxed according to the laws of the State where the merchandise is delivered to the buyer. If you want to evade sales tax on purchases - just rent a PO box @ Mail Boxes Ect in New Hampshire or one of the other 4 States that do not impose a sales tax. Once a month have Mail Boxes Ect pack up the contents of your PO Box and ship it directly to you.

 

And NY

 

And NY

 

Whereupon you owe use tax to your actual home state.

Possibly criminal penalties for tax evasion (Al Capone).

Can they find you? Maybe... lots of states have joint agreements to share tax information to aid in compliance. Will they? Less likely. Have you ever POed somebody enough that they drop a dime for the 10% finders fee? Better tip the UPS driver...

 

(emphasis added)

I can't believe where this thread had headed (no...I really can...)! The OP posted in regards to what States regard as illegal or erroneous tax collection. Tax nexus does not negate tax exemptions! Just because a remote seller may be required to collect tax for a State to which they expedite tangible goods does not mean that they get to define the law.

The OP is not seeking forms of tax evasion! He is obviously upset over the possible illegal assessment of sales tax contrary to his State's enacted laws. And was wondering if others are finding remote sellers ignoring their own States exemptions as well.

Keeping with the actual topic here would do this community exponentially much more good than conniving tax evasion.

 

Have you looked at the tradeoffs of defining yourself as a business, so you could get an exemption on stuff bought for resale?

I got an unexpected gift last year when, out of the blue, NC decided that PMs and collectible coins (not just PM coins) were exempt from sales tax. If you're trying to flip gold at a 5% margin, that makes the difference between "yes" and "no".

 

Oh, I already have a business license, etc. I've never tried submitting a resell certificate though to try and avoid tax when buying. I may have to look into it. But it seems like it could be a huge hassle sending that to every single seller when I make a purchase... and what if they don't know how to handle it and remove the tax?

 

Then you don’t buy from them.

If you’re buying for your inventory (vs. personal collection), it’s plain silly to pay the tax when you don’t have to....

 

Yeah don't ever forget NY. Move to ny from mass. Sounded good at the time. Oops

 

I live in TX and have been buying coins at Stacks and Heritage for several years and have never seen a tax added. Until today, that is. I just won some coins on HA, got the invoice today, and see they added a 2520$ tax. That's 8.9% of the item total (excluding S&H).

I have no idea why they added a tax, or why it's so high (TX state tax is at 6.25%, and local taxes cap at 2%, so the total can't be higher than 8.25%). Needless to say I'm not very happy and emailed them to ask for clarification.

Update: they just replied to my email saying this was in error, and that they will revise all invoices for this auction to remove taxes. Better keep a close eye on it though in the future... I won't be buying if a tax is added in the future.

 

Part of me wonders if they actually send the tax added money to the states or keep it as extra profit. Of course the risk of doing that would be costly.