Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire More questions about sales tax....

The thread on Bass Pro Shops sales tax prompts a question from me.

It's well-established that when a company has a "bricks & mortar" presence in a state, it must charge sales tax for all mail order and Internet sales to customers in that state.

What if the little guy -- you or me -- manufacturers a product and travels to different states to sell it at shows? I'm sure some folks here at the 'fire do that. Here are the questions:

1. Does that give us a "bricks & mortar" presence in that state for mail order sales? (I'm thinking the answer to that one is NO.)

2. Does the seller have to register to collect and remit the sales tax, even though he may be in the state just one time, and has no plans to make sales in that state again? (I'm thinking the answer to that is YES, but isn't that a lot of trouble?)

3. Regarding Q2, why can't the seller calculate his sales tax obligation, and pay it without going to the trouble of filing the sales tax "license" paperwork, and what would happen if that's what he did?

4. What is the sales tax practice of the hundreds of people who travel from show to show every year, selling their shooting sticks, gun slings, turkey calls, knives and various other products?

5. Do YOU sell anything at shows or other events in states other than your state of residence? If so, how do you handle sales tax?

6. Last question: is local sales tax an issue in these cases?

I'm asking because by next year I'll be making occasional sales of a product at shows and at speaking engagements in various states. I may be there only one time per year, maybe not even that.

Thanks.

Steve

My wife is a crafter that sells her items at shows around the country at selected shows and yes, she has to register and collect sales tax in all the states she sells in. Some have a special bracket but all expect her to keep records and pay taxes on sales in their state.

And we're not talking lots of money here; at a good show she might sell 3-4K worth of material; at say 6% tax that amounts to a couple of hundred buck for the state. Part of her arrangements to the show organizer is to show proof of a sales tax number for that particular jurisdiction.

You have to do your homework on that one. Every state is different so you have to check with them. In Idaho, even people having yard sales are supposed to register and collect tax, although it's largely ignored.

They also have a line on the state income tax form to report untaxed internet purchases so they can tax you after the fact. That's ignored even more often than yard sales.

First rule of dealing with government. What they don't know can't hurt you.
Second rule of dealing with government. It's easier to get forgiveness then it is to get permission.
Third rule of dealing with government. Government will hang you with your own records. Cash sales go into your pocket and all records go into the campfire.

Jim

Here's what my sister-in-law, an artist, does. She paints little pictures, selling about $6,000 annually. I asked her if she collects and remits sales tax on the paintings she sells, and she said no, "I'm not good with numbers." Neither does she file anything about it on her tax return. So, she just pockets all of it. Without that, she's pretty well off, so that's $6,000 in gravy.

So, here's someone with untaxed, unreported earnings. Did I also mention that she's a liberal, advocating higher taxes on income.

If she toed the line and paid the sales tax to her state, that would knock off about $400. If she claimed it as income on her state return, that would cut her earnings by another $300. Then, if she claimed it on her federal return, she'd pay $900 in self-employment tax, plus another $2000 in income tax. That's a grand total of roughly $3,600 (not counting possible local sales tax of a percentage or two) of her $6000. To be legal, she gets to keep only about $2,400.

So, here's a far left liberal woman advocating that you and I pay higher tax rates, who is unwilling to pay the taxes she owes even at her current rate. So, in her speech she advocates the liberal line for higher taxes, but in her action she's advocating for keeping income under the table, personally paying less than she owes, and saying taxes are presently too high.

What's wrong with that picture? For starters, this: you could never convince her that taxes are already too high.

Steve

Many years ago I learned from a former Father-in-Law that the cheapest way to get a job done was to pay cash. There's no record of cash sales. What the person I'm paying cash to does with and about that money is none of my business, like it's none of his business how I came by that cash.

Jim

Those of us who live in states with both sales and income taxes are getting screwed. We can deduct either sales or income taxes from our fed taxes, but not both. We have to pay more in fed taxes than what we should. The states like to keep both because it sort of hides how much we actually pay them, but they're shafting us as a result.

I've brought this up here and other places many times but no one seems to care. A serious drive to force the states to choose one tax or the other would save money for everyone who itemizes. Or better yet, force the feds to allow BOTH taxes to be deductible...but hell hasn't frozen over yet.

Turn her in for tax evasion & I bet her opinion changes.

DK

You just described 99% of the Liberal Dem's

Remember that after Obama was elected a number of liberal congressmen and appointees were found to be tax evaders.

Steve,

Great post. One can only Imagine what would happen to her if the campfire was monitored by .gov

My bet is that she doesn't even realize that she should be paying 60% of her sales in various taxes -- she's be doing the same thing if the tax bill was only 10%.

If she did realize she's evading 60% taxes, she'd say that proves corporations should be paying higher taxes so that her tax bill would be lowered. Never mind the fact that if that happened, her income from investments would go down. And the sales from her paintings would go down because her customers would have less disposable income.

Still, you can't prove to her that it's people who pay taxes, not corporations. People in this nation have no concept of how much they pay in taxes. If they did, things would change in a hurry.

Steve

Still, you can't prove to her that it's people who pay taxes, not corporations. People in this nation have no concept of how much they pay in taxes. If they did, things would change in a hurry.

nail on the head !!!