Comments on: Do You Buy Online To Avoid Paying Sales Tax?

By: ummm...

ummm... — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:42:31 +0000

As much as I already pay in taxes I say screw use tax! I have to make a living just like those in the government using tax dollars for everything under the sun except what its supposed to be used for. I’ll never report it.

By: Savvy Steward

Savvy Steward — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 00:19:21 +0000

For me, most of the use tax comes from purchases on Amazon. So when I go to file my taxes, I total up all my purchases made on Amazon.com.

By: Stephanie @ PoorerThanYou

Stephanie @ PoorerThanYou — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 18:50:09 +0000

I just paid my New York State use tax – $5. I grumbled a bit, but I don’t really blame New York for trying to take their cut.

By: Tinyhands

Tinyhands — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 15:06:16 +0000

I’m in the same category as DanyO: I shop by price. If (online price + shipping)

By: Debt Hater

Debt Hater — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 22:51:56 +0000

I didn’t know about this, except for alcohol and great big purchases like a car. I bought my first car (and the second one that I own now) in DE where there is no sales tax rather than in NY where I lived, but where the tax would be huge.
I also just bought some shoes online just to avoid the sales tax (it’s 9.25% in TN which adds up!).
Well… just call me a tax evader! I’m going to keep buying things in DE and bringing them back home with me and I ain’t claiming nothing!

By: DanyO

DanyO — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 17:27:59 +0000

When I shop online, it’s to save money, period. Whether I save on taxes, or base price, if the bottom line is cheaper than I get at the mall, I buy online.

By: sfordinarygirl

sfordinarygirl — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:53:45 +0000

I buy online to avoid paying sales tax. It’s expensive in some parts of the Bay Area. It’s like 8.75% sales tax in some parts. I bidded on an auction and didn’t find out until after the I won that the seller was charging sales tax! I had the seller cancel my bid and give it to the next higher buyer. He’s the first one on ebay to charge sales tax in the same state.

By: jim

jim — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 15:16:08 +0000

You’re supposed to use the reply!

By: My Financial Journey

My Financial Journey — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 12:55:27 +0000

@samewriter – Now just upgrade to bigger appliances like plasma tvs, repeat a couple hundred times, and you got yourself a business

I had a similar return arbitrage experience with my rewards card. One wal-mart is treated as grocery so I get 5% back and the other is considered retail so I get 1% back. Note I did it the wrong way (bought $2000 of PS3s at 1% rewards and returned to 5% store costing me about $80 in rewards points)

By: wanzman

wanzman — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:42:22 +0000

Often times, if I am buying something online and the company is not offering free shipping, any savings I would get from avoiding the applicable taxes are usually wiped out by the shipping charges. Sometimes the shipping is even alot more than the tax, expecially on less expensive items.

As for transporting alcohol over state lines, I have definitely been guilty of that several times, mainly because the state where I live (Oklahoma) only allows 3.2 beer….so tons of people cross the border to Kansas or Texas for the REAL BEER. What ever happened to America being a free country?

By: samerwriter

samerwriter — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:30:58 +0000

I solve that dilemma by living in Oregon, which has no sales tax (though we make up for it with income tax…)

When I go to Washington and buy something, I can ask for a sales tax waiver form. They check my drivers license, make me sign something saying I live in Oregon, and then I don’t pay sales tax.

How’s this for a scam… An acquaintance of mine bought a $400 iPod at Fry’s in Oregon, then returned it without a receipt in California (it hadn’t been opened). Even though he told the return desk at Fry’s that he hadn’t paid sales tax, they still refunded him the iPod’s value PLUS sales tax. In fact despite his objections they claimed they were not able to refund his money *without* also refunding sales tax. That he never paid.

By: broknowrchlatr

broknowrchlatr — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:09:52 +0000

I buy a lot of stuff on ebay. Then, when it comes to tax time, I put in a rough estimate number for use tax (in the State section of Turbo tax). To be honest, this may be a slightly low estimate. I am never exactly sure and don’t want to overpay.

By: Dustin

Dustin — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:01:47 +0000

On a slightly different topic…

Around the holidays here the city (Vancouver, WA) put up ads saying, ‘Shop Vancouver’ since I guess a ton of people jump the border to Oregon to do their shopping and it is enough of a problem to have self-help ads to stop it.

For me the shopping is better in Oregon and typically closer too since I live very close to the border, thus I normally skip over. I doubt knowing about the use tax will make me actually put it on my taxes.

By: Blaine Moore (First Time Home Owner)

Blaine Moore (First Time Home Owner) — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 20:07:53 +0000

I buy things online as a conveniance or because it is cheaper, not to get around sales taxes. I not only know about the use tax, but I paid my use tax on my taxes this year. It added about $20 to my tax bill.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:32:06 +0000

This is interesting. I live just a few miles from the state line and actually work in a different state so nearly everything I purchase is from the other state than I reside in. I never really thought about it since the sales tax is 6% in both states, so I’m not really buying anything without paying taxes.

The only thing I wonder about is alcohol like you said. We usually go grocery shopping at the store across the border, but I didn’t know that bottle of Merlot I brought home could land me in the slammer