Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrwic!mlawless From: mlawless@ncrwic.Wichita.NCR.COM (Mike Lawless) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: MAIL ORDER IN IL is DEAD. Message-ID: <5536@ncrwic.Wichita.NCR.COM> Date: 1 Sep 89 21:55:21 GMT References: <781@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM> Reply-To: mlawless@ncrwic.UUCP (Mike Lawless) Distribution: usa Organization: NCR Corporation, Wichita, KS Lines: 31 In article <781@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM> gary@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM (Gary Barr > >What really baffles me are the companies which ask for the tax ONLY if >I am from some particular state, maybe three or four out of the >possible 50. And the list seems to differ with each mail-order >company. Beats me how they determine who owes what. As I understand it, mail order businesses must collect sales tax for orders from states in which they have a retail operation. For example, if XYZ company has locations in CA, TX, IL, and NY, it would have to collect sales tax from customers in those states only. Theoretically, if I buy something mail order and don't pay sales tax, I am supposed to volunteer payment to the Kansas Department of Revenue. Does anyone know anybody who actually does that? One type of purchase where they typically get you no matter what is when you buy a car from an individual; if you cannot show an invoice showing sales tax paid, or prove it was a gift from someone, you have to pay sales tax when you register it for the first time. From what I understand, there have been efforts to require mail order companies nationwide to uniformly collect the appropriate state and local sales tax for every sale, based on where the buyer lives. This would be a nightmare even if they had only the tax rates of the 50 states to worry about, keeping track of how much tax was collected for each, filing the quarterly returns, etc. Add in the various city and county taxes, and it becomes even worse. Its enough to make me glad I'm not in the mail-order business. -- Mike Lawless, NCR E&M Wichita, Box 20 (316) 636-8666 (NCR: 654-8666) 3718 N. Rock Road, Wichita, KS 67226 Mike.Lawless@Wichita.NCR.COM {ece-csc,hubcap,gould,rtech}!ncrcae!ncrwic!Mike.Lawless {sdcsvax,cbatt,dcdwest,nosc.ARPA}!ncr-sd!ncrwic!Mike.Lawless