Thank you so much turbo tax for debiting my bank account rather than my credit card to pay my taxes. Now I have no money to pay my other bills and lots of available credit on my card...
Thank you so much turbo tax for debiting my bank account rather than my credit card to pay my taxes. Now I have no money to pay my other bills and lots of available credit on my card...
Would you not pay the credit card surcharge regardless? Does it matter where the money comes from?
Thank you so much turbo tax for debiting my bank account rather than my credit card to pay my taxes. Now I have no money to pay my other bills and lots of available credit on my card...
Would you not pay the credit card surcharge regardless? Does it matter where the money comes from?
Yes. Because if I put it on a credit card I can pay it off over time. By depleting my cash reserves I am screwed! I can't pay alimony or my mortgage with a credit card.
I also have some bills set to automatically be paid via my checking account.
I like to keep a large buffer in my account for emergencies and now that buffer is gone. I was also going to pay the fed taxes in the installment plan via my checking account and now there is no money in there to pay even the first payment.
I have no realistic way to earn more money until July (more than I earn now) and I was counting on the buffer to deal with the fact that I am currently spending more than I earn. In July I can work a different shift and earn a 18% differential bonus but the first paycheck with extra monies would not arrive until late July.
Basically I went from a basic level of financial security to no financial security.
I was very leery about putting my bank info into turbo tax but it told me I had to provide the info to opt for the federal 'pay over time' plan. I never saw anything about state taxes being paid this way.
I will have to be very creative over the next few months in how I pay for things. I am lucky in that I have lots of low interest rate credit available to me but, not all bills can be paid via a credit card.
Not exactly an internet sales tax. It's just a requirement that all internet sales performed by companies that have over $1 million in revenue must also collect sales taxes for the point of delivery where appropriate. Note that technically, you're legally required to do so on your own tax forms anyway -- it's just that no one bothers and no one enforces these requirements.
Fuck that noise: if I don't run my business in bumblefuck, nor do I live there, I have no intention of complying with their internal laws. Customers can handle it themselves with their use taxes.
So how are internet sales any different than catalog sales? Is this law going to impact catalog sales as well?
They aren't. The thing is, internet sales have totally eclipsed traditional catalog sales, hence why it's actually becoming an issue.
Internet sales tax proposed.
Method to enforce existing tax code, you mean.
Fuck that noise: if I don't run my business in bumblefuck, nor do I live there, I have no intention of complying with their internal laws. Customers can handle it themselves with their use taxes.
So, do you actually pay use taxes to the State of New York for everything you purchase online?
Fuck that noise: if I don't run my business in bumblefuck, nor do I live there, I have no intention of complying with their internal laws. Customers can handle it themselves with their use taxes.
If you have over $1 million in annual revenue, you can afford to do it.
Also, if people in bumblefuck can buy your stuff, then you run your business in bumblefuck. Welcome to the Internet.
Fuck that noise: if I don't run my business in bumblefuck, nor do I live there, I have no intention of complying with their internal laws. Customers can handle it themselves with their use taxes.
If you have over $1 million in annual revenue, you can afford to do it.
Also, if people in bumblefuck can buy your stuff, then you run your business in bumblefuck. Welcome to the Internet.
We have ~$20 million and just within one state and it's fucking bizarro world dealing with the differences between one authority and another.
A. Collect a tax based on a purchase made within the state border.
B. Collect a tax based on a sale within the state border.
C. Collect a tax based on an exchange of goods for money within the state border.
A and B are mutually exclusive, if I buy something from Rym who gets the sales tax? Rym's state or mine? Under C both states would collect a sales tax because the transaction takes place in both states.
IIRC, I have no idea if this is how it's supposed to be done, but most of the services my company delivers are taxed based on the municipality where the service is rendered... but we consider some sales (like customer modem purchases where they pick them up in our office) as the location where the transaction happens.
Fuck that noise: if I don't run my business in bumblefuck, nor do I live there, I have no intention of complying with their internal laws. Customers can handle it themselves with their use taxes.
If you have over $1 million in annual revenue, you can afford to do it.
Also, if people in bumblefuck can buy your stuff, then you run your business in bumblefuck. Welcome to the Internet.
Simple solution: don't sell your stuff to people in bumblefuck.
IIRC, I have no idea if this is how it's supposed to be done, but most of the services my company delivers are taxed based on the municipality where the service is rendered... but we consider some sales (like customer modem purchases where they pick them up in our office) as the location where the transaction happens.
In theory, said customer should be required to pay appropriate use tax when they get home.
One of my favorite stories comes from a guy I used to work with lives in a Massachusetts down on the New Hampshire border. New Hampshire has no sales tax. Massachusetts has a 6.5% (though it was 5% at the time) sales tax. They used to have MA state troopers camped out on the MA side of the border looking for trucks and such with brand new big-ticket items like big screen TVs and such in them. They'd get the license plate numbers of those trucks, look up the owners' addresses, and then mail them bills for the use taxes on their newly purchased TVs.
Also to be clear: this is not as simple as it seems on the consumer or even small business or single point of sale front.
We actually pay another company that supposedly researches and updates databases with all sorts of taxation information for every state in the country every month and they still get random details or classifications wrong every time. And they are supposedly the biggest name in that business for telecom providers.
A. Collect a tax based on a purchase made within the state border.
B. Collect a tax based on a sale within the state border.
C. Collect a tax based on an exchange of goods for money within the state border.
A and B are mutually exclusive, if I buy something from Rym who gets the sales tax? Rym's state or mine? Under C both states would collect a sales tax because the transaction takes place in both states.
The issue gets a bit more sticky because we're technically not talking about sales taxes, but use taxes, which I believe have the same rate as sales taxes in most, if not all, states. So none of these options apply to out-of-state mail-order purchases as they are supposed to charge use, not sales, taxes. A use tax is sales tax alternative that is based on a purchase made outside a state border on an item that will be primarily used within the taxing state's borders.
It's not like this notion is anything that new, either. If you purchase a car outside of the state you register it in, for example, you pay your home state's sales/use tax and not the taxes for the state you purchased it in. In my case, I could theoretically drive up to New Hampshire to buy a car, but instead of having to pay zero tax on it, I'd pay the regular 6.5% Massachusetts tax when I register it in Massachusetts. In practice, however, the dealer usually collects the sales tax at the point of sale as they also typically handle all the registration paperwork for you as well.
One difference between the car vs. general internet purchase cases is that states already have a way to figure out and collect sales taxes on cars by requiring all of them to be registered. Requiring all internet purchases to be registered with the state of delivery would be a logistical nightmare for all involved, however.
The idea of a use tax bothers me greatly. It is one state forcing a sales tax on another. If state A wants its sales to be tax free state B should have no right to collect a tax on that sale.
New York has an estimated use tax that depends on your income bracket. Less than $15k is $8. I made $450 last year and I'm still paying the state of New York $8. (When the checks I ordered come in. If they make a big fuss about $8 being a little bit late, they can bite me.)
It is probably less than the sales tax would be on the things I ordered online, but if they make everybody add up the missed tax on their online purchases over a year, they are getting $0 from most people. They don't have the manpower to audit everybody.
The idea of a use tax bothers me greatly. It is one state forcing a sales tax on another. If state A wants its sales to be tax free state B should have no right to collect a tax on that sale.
That's fine. Just don't bring said item back into the taxing state. Go ahead and buy your big screen TV in New Hampshire. Just keep it in your New Hampshire vacation home instead of bringing it back home to Massachusetts.
So, do you actually pay use taxes to the State of New York for everything you purchase online?
Actually? Yes.
I'm impressed. That actually takes a lot of effort if you purchase as many things online as I suspect you do.
Honestly, I don't think states should able able to legislate or collect sales tax at all. Commerce is too pan-state for that in the modern world.
That's a different issue for various reasons. If there were no state sales/use taxes at any level, this would make things much easier, obviously. However, many states do fund a significant portion of their budgets via sales taxes, so other things (income taxes, fees, property taxes, etc.) would need to be increased to compensate. For whatever reason, many people feel that sales taxes with exemptions for necessities such as non-luxury clothing and groceries are a "fair" taxation program (again, this is subject to debate and not on-topic to this current discussion). Personally, if my income taxes were to go up by (totally making up numbers here as I haven't done the math) 1% in exchange for 0% sales tax on anything I purchase, I'd probably be okay with that.
Edit: Didn't know about NY having the estimated use tax option. That does simplify things greatly.
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I also have some bills set to automatically be paid via my checking account.
I like to keep a large buffer in my account for emergencies and now that buffer is gone. I was also going to pay the fed taxes in the installment plan via my checking account and now there is no money in there to pay even the first payment.
I have no realistic way to earn more money until July (more than I earn now) and I was counting on the buffer to deal with the fact that I am currently spending more than I earn. In July I can work a different shift and earn a 18% differential bonus but the first paycheck with extra monies would not arrive until late July.
Basically I went from a basic level of financial security to no financial security.
I was very leery about putting my bank info into turbo tax but it told me I had to provide the info to opt for the federal 'pay over time' plan. I never saw anything about state taxes being paid this way.
I will have to be very creative over the next few months in how I pay for things. I am lucky in that I have lots of low interest rate credit available to me but, not all bills can be paid via a credit card.
Also, if people in bumblefuck can buy your stuff, then you run your business in bumblefuck. Welcome to the Internet.
A. Collect a tax based on a purchase made within the state border.
B. Collect a tax based on a sale within the state border.
C. Collect a tax based on an exchange of goods for money within the state border.
A and B are mutually exclusive, if I buy something from Rym who gets the sales tax? Rym's state or mine? Under C both states would collect a sales tax because the transaction takes place in both states.
One of my favorite stories comes from a guy I used to work with lives in a Massachusetts down on the New Hampshire border. New Hampshire has no sales tax. Massachusetts has a 6.5% (though it was 5% at the time) sales tax. They used to have MA state troopers camped out on the MA side of the border looking for trucks and such with brand new big-ticket items like big screen TVs and such in them. They'd get the license plate numbers of those trucks, look up the owners' addresses, and then mail them bills for the use taxes on their newly purchased TVs.
We actually pay another company that supposedly researches and updates databases with all sorts of taxation information for every state in the country every month and they still get random details or classifications wrong every time. And they are supposedly the biggest name in that business for telecom providers.
Seems like very few people actually do.
Most People Are Supposed To Pay This Tax. Almost Nobody Actually Pays It.
Why Amazon Supports An Online Sales-Tax Bill.
It's not like this notion is anything that new, either. If you purchase a car outside of the state you register it in, for example, you pay your home state's sales/use tax and not the taxes for the state you purchased it in. In my case, I could theoretically drive up to New Hampshire to buy a car, but instead of having to pay zero tax on it, I'd pay the regular 6.5% Massachusetts tax when I register it in Massachusetts. In practice, however, the dealer usually collects the sales tax at the point of sale as they also typically handle all the registration paperwork for you as well.
One difference between the car vs. general internet purchase cases is that states already have a way to figure out and collect sales taxes on cars by requiring all of them to be registered. Requiring all internet purchases to be registered with the state of delivery would be a logistical nightmare for all involved, however.
It is probably less than the sales tax would be on the things I ordered online, but if they make everybody add up the missed tax on their online purchases over a year, they are getting $0 from most people. They don't have the manpower to audit everybody.
Edit: Didn't know about NY having the estimated use tax option. That does simplify things greatly.