3 ms·
In Colorado you're already asked when filing state taxes what the value of the goods you bought online that haven't been taxed yet, so the onus is on the filer
by jxcl 8y ago
In Colorado you're already asked when filing state taxes what the value of the goods you bought online that haven't been taxed yet, so the onus is on the filer to look up receipts from the year for tax purposes.
Amazon already collects tax in Colorado, but a few smaller retailers will send you a letter at the end of the year totaling up your untaxed purchases. Since different counties and localities collect different rates, it's hard to get the total tax right at the time of sale.
- ghaff 8y ago>In Colorado you're already asked when filing state taxes what the value of the goods you bought online that haven't been taxed yet Many states do this. I imagine that relatively few individuals (as opposed to businesses) actually comply.
- macintux 8y agoI assumed all of them do it, but maybe not. I’ve been complying with this in Indiana for years, but I agree that I’m almost certainly unusual in that regard.
- blang 8y agoPeople rarely comply, unless they are tax lawyers that fear the IRS wants to put them up as a trophy: https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/04/16/177384487/most-people-are-supposed-to-pay-this-tax https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/04/16/177384487/most...
- planteen 8y agoI also live in Colorado and only got one such letter last year after a lot of online shopping. It was from B&H and was wrong, though the dollar amount wasn't very high. I placed an order where one item was back ordered, so separate shipments came. They said tax was owed on the back ordered item twice. But, as you said, Amazon already collects tax at time of sale which was the bulk of my purchases.
- himom 8y agoIt’s called an use tax. It’s equivalent to a sales tax, reporting is required but voluntary. Not paying use taxes on internet purchases is tax evasion. Here’s what CA’s state tax collectors have to say: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/use-tax.shtml https://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/use-tax.shtml https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/use-tax.htm https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/use-tax.htm
- paulie_a 8y agoWisconsin does the same and I will be honest have simply lied and put an insignificant random number.
- anonymous5133 8y agoIt is not hard to get the right rates. All you need to do is have a master file with all zip codes with the corresponding rate to charge. The difficult part is filing out the returns and dealing with potential audits.
- mgkimsal 8y agoZIP codes don't align with taxing authorities 100%. You also have different types of products that have different rates - no standard "master file with all the zip codes" is going to express all that other stuff. Yes, it is hard to 'get the right rates' 100% of the time.
- tzs 8y ago> It is not hard to get the right rates. All you need to do is have a master file with all zip codes with the corresponding rate to charge. If you are specifically talking about Colorado, you may be right. I'm not familiar with how Colorado does sales tax. In general, though, zip code is not sufficient. Even if use zip+4 it might not be sufficient. For example, in Washington, people who live in zip 98027-5444 on Renton Issaquah RD SE in the address range 9100-9199 pay 8.6% if their address is even, and 10% if their address is odd. A tax district boundary runs right down the middle of their road. See this comment from a few months ago explaining in detail how you find the sales tax on a sale in Washington: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16196591 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16196591
- s73v3r_ 8y agoJust about every state requires this. No one does it, and it's simply not feasible for any state to go after taxpayers for this.