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Having to pay White Flash Sales Tax

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Date: 2/5/2007 11:02:51 PM
Author: Bunnifer

Date: 2/5/2007 10:48:32 PM
Author: taman25thc02
***I see where I might have confused people. Texas has no state tax. Only federal so thats not the issue at stake. The discount I was referring to was the bank wire vs credit discount.


My problem is if I lived in another state(without state tax) I wouldn''t pay White Flash sales tax on my purchase. I live in Texas therefore I pay taxes on anything I buy online that has a location in Texas. So my question was is paying the extra 500 dollars in Sales tax immediately upon checkout worth it to get it from White Flash vs. Blue Nile? In your opinions. I know ultimately its up to me but I want some other voices to chime in.


In the end I''m not saving the extra money that alot of people go online to save but I''m right by the store as well. I''m not sure if you can visit their actual location over here or not. It''s an office building. But being a soon to be college grad, is it worth the money. I''m looking at a ACA Hearts and Arrows and brilliance is a big factor to me. Blue NIle does not show me any such graphs of their diamonds.

All I think Kenny is saying is that, either way (whether you decide to purchase from WF or BN), you will be required to pay either a sales tax (if you buy from WF) or be required to report and pay a use tax (if you buy from BN). A purchaser is required to pay a use tax (usually equal to the rate of sales tax) on all purchases bought out-of-state if the purchaser were to pay sales tax if the purchase had been made in-state. This is generally done to protect in-state businesses from unfair competition from out-of-state vendors.

In other words, suppose you bought a diamond from BN and because it was an out-of-state purchase, you were not charged sales tax. If you would have paid sales tax on the diamond you purchased from BN (which you would have), you are required to report and pay the use tax on the diamond, which is equal to TX sales tax rate of 6.25%.

That''s all.

ETA - I think TX does have sales tax ... http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/taxinfo/sales/faq_use.html#use2
right bunnifer.
look at it this way, if sales tax is charged when you walk in to an establishment to make a purchase, then you should be paying (or reporting) those taxes. just because you didn''t walk in to the store doesn''t mean your exempt from paying.

tx does have sales tax
 
One other thing I'll add.

I have a friend who works for the IRS.
She says they are getting smarter about finding tax evaders.
They now use programs that look for this very type of post to find people who avoid tax.
BTW, they CAN find you based on what you post; you are not as anonymous as you think.
Privacy from the government, especially in the post 9-11 Bush era, is a fallacy.

If the IRS does this I imagine the states can too.

If you are going to evade tax I'd not admit it on a public forum.
Actually, come to think about it, yes, go ahead and admit tax evasion on public forums.
The more the evaders are caught and prosecuted the more the tax rates can go down for the honest people.

It is like insurance fraud, it drives up the premiums for the rest of us.
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are you saying that if one buys groceries across the border and there is no food tax in that state, that all grocery receipts need to be kept, and the cost of groceries should be claimed and a use tax paid to the home state?
 
Date: 2/5/2007 11:10:18 PM
Author: denverappraiser
Cehrabehra,

California imposed the Use Tax in 1935. It''s still owed by California residents even if there is no income tax owed or even if no income tax return is required.

Here''s what the state of California has to say about it.

http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/faqusetax.htm


Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver
thanks neil :) we were young poor and broke with little opportunity to purchase out of state last we were living there.... but we are planning to move back next year so this info is good to know!!!! (now I can''t claim ignorance haha)
 
obviously, i''m waaay late with all of this
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but...

i WOULD absolutely pay $500 extra. not because a stone from wf will necessarily be better than one from bn but because it is so important to be able to choose what is best for you.
hey, you may find a k/si that is perfect! or you may realize that you can''t settle for anything less than d/vvs. it is worth it to compare the differences.
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I''d make an appt. with WF and pay the sales tax to buy a stone from them. totally worth it to me.

It has always been my understanding and proven by links above that even if you purchase out of your state where the vendor does not charge you sales tax, you are still supposed to claim it and pay it when doing your taxes. So, even if you buy from BN and they don''t charge you sales tax b/c your in TX, you are still obligated to pay TX sales tax on the item come tax time. Like others have said, most people don''t b/c they are evading or just don''t know they are supposed to (which I think is very common). the gov''t will probably get around to doing something about it someday but at the rate they do anything I''d be surprised if it''s anytime soon.
 
Date: 2/5/2007 11:11:19 PM
Author: belle

Date: 2/5/2007 11:02:51 PM
Author: Bunnifer


Date: 2/5/2007 10:48:32 PM
Author: taman25thc02
***I see where I might have confused people. Texas has no state tax. Only federal so thats not the issue at stake. The discount I was referring to was the bank wire vs credit discount.


My problem is if I lived in another state(without state tax) I wouldn''t pay White Flash sales tax on my purchase. I live in Texas therefore I pay taxes on anything I buy online that has a location in Texas. So my question was is paying the extra 500 dollars in Sales tax immediately upon checkout worth it to get it from White Flash vs. Blue Nile? In your opinions. I know ultimately its up to me but I want some other voices to chime in.


In the end I''m not saving the extra money that alot of people go online to save but I''m right by the store as well. I''m not sure if you can visit their actual location over here or not. It''s an office building. But being a soon to be college grad, is it worth the money. I''m looking at a ACA Hearts and Arrows and brilliance is a big factor to me. Blue NIle does not show me any such graphs of their diamonds.

All I think Kenny is saying is that, either way (whether you decide to purchase from WF or BN), you will be required to pay either a sales tax (if you buy from WF) or be required to report and pay a use tax (if you buy from BN). A purchaser is required to pay a use tax (usually equal to the rate of sales tax) on all purchases bought out-of-state if the purchaser were to pay sales tax if the purchase had been made in-state. This is generally done to protect in-state businesses from unfair competition from out-of-state vendors.

In other words, suppose you bought a diamond from BN and because it was an out-of-state purchase, you were not charged sales tax. If you would have paid sales tax on the diamond you purchased from BN (which you would have), you are required to report and pay the use tax on the diamond, which is equal to TX sales tax rate of 6.25%.

That''s all.

ETA - I think TX does have sales tax ... http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/taxinfo/sales/faq_use.html#use2
right bunnifer.
look at it this way, if sales tax is charged when you walk in to an establishment to make a purchase, then you should be paying (or reporting) those taxes. just because you didn''t walk in to the store doesn''t mean your exempt from paying.

tx does have sales tax
it might not make you exempt, but if you are say here on the oregon/washington border.... if I purchase something from blue nile I don''t pay sales tax on it... but if I walk over the bridge (assuming seattle and not vancouver was across the bridge lo) and into the store, I would pay washington sales tax. Now.... there is also some sort of exemption that you can prove you''re an oregon res and not pay in washington - I think there''s some kind of deal like that because I hear car dealerships all the time saying - oregon residents no sales tax. I wonder if it applies if I was in seattle and bought a BN diamond straight from them....
 
Date: 2/5/2007 11:18:14 PM
Author: Cehrabehra

it might not make you exempt, but if you are say here on the oregon/washington border.... if I purchase something from blue nile I don''t pay sales tax on it... but if I walk over the bridge (assuming seattle and not vancouver was across the bridge lo) and into the store, I would pay washington sales tax. Now.... there is also some sort of exemption that you can prove you''re an oregon res and not pay in washington - I think there''s some kind of deal like that because I hear car dealerships all the time saying - oregon residents no sales tax. I wonder if it applies if I was in seattle and bought a BN diamond straight from them....
i think that is probably a sales pitch and not a law. we pay sales tax here in my state but there are advertisers on all the time saying ''pay no sales tax''. of course you are still charged the sales tax (you have to be by law) but that amount is ''discounted'' from your final purchase.
 
Date: 2/5/2007 10:43:56 PM
Author: denverappraiser

Sales tax is imposed by various states, counties, water districts and the like on the consumers who live in their taxing area, not on the merchants. Every state that has a sales also has a use tax for exactly the same amount and residents of those states who buy things where the required tax has not been collected are expected to fill out a tax form and remit the taxes themselves. Customers who buy things from merchants within their own state aren’t required to do this because the merchant is required to do it on their behalf. The taxable obligation by the resident remains the same either way.




Here’s the form used by the Texas department of revenue to report these taxes with a fairly clear explanation of when they require it’s use.

http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxforms/01-156.pdfThere are several states, including California, that have this as a line item on their annual state tax return.



Neil Beaty

GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA

Professional Appraisals in Denver


i don''t want to threadjack but when you purchase out of state and don''t pay sales tax. who then gets the $ once you pay it on your taxes. the state you bought it from who would have collected a tax had you purchased it there in person (assuming the state has a sales tax) or the state you live in...
 
Date: 2/5/2007 11:14:00 PM
Author: kenny
One other thing I''ll add.

I have a friend who works for the IRS.
She says they are getting smarter about finding tax evaders.
They now use programs that look for this very type of post to find people who avoid tax.
BTW, they CAN find you based on what you post; you are not as anonymous as you think.
Privacy from the government, especially in the post 9-11 Bush era, is a fallacy.

If the IRS does this I imagine the states can too.

If you are going to evade tax I''d not admit it on a public forum.
Actually, come to think about it, yes, go ahead and admit tax evasion on public forums.
The more the evaders are caught and prosecuted the more the tax rates can go down for the honest people.

It is like insurance fraud, it drives up the premiums for the rest of us.
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Actually, tax rates at the federal level are set by Congress and have little to do with the number of tax evaders caught and more to do with budgets, revenues and expenditures, and politics--not necessarily in that order! I wouldn''t worry too much about your "rates" going down because of IRS audit work.
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I would also be shocked, given this era of tax cuts and declining revenues, that government taxation agencies would have the resources to patrol the internet hunting down leads on tax evaders.
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What I think is funny is that some people are generalizing about this, and each STATE is DIFFERENT in how they handle the out-of-state purchase tax! Unless you know all 50 states laws, all you can say is that you may have to pay some tax to your state depending on your own state laws!
 
Date: 2/5/2007 11:36:57 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
What I think is funny is that some people are generalizing about this, and each STATE is DIFFERENT in how they handle the out-of-state purchase tax! Unless you know all 50 states laws, all you can say is that you may have to pay some tax to your state depending on your own state laws!

True DS.

In the State we live in, if we purchase items from out of State over the Net, we''re supposed to tally up the value of all items and declare the value on our State Income Taxes when we file. Our State then assesses a "use tax" on goods and services purchased from out of State.

Many States have similar rules. Although some States are getting more aggessive about following up on out of State purchases, it''s mainly up to the honesty of each filer to declare what you did or did not buy. To declare and pay or remain silent and not pay the "use tax" to your home State. Remaining silent is not without risks.
 
It''s definitely worth $500 to get...an upgrade policy, more detailed information about your diamond, etc. compared to BN. However, do you have any friends or relatives you trust that could order the ring for you in another state? That might be another way to get around it.
 
I know it is a completely different thing I will be doing importing but I think you are lucky. I will have to pay 17.5% VAT and Customs Duty of 5% on top of a vendors price and it is still cheaper than buying in the UK although I could not even get an ideal cut diamond over here of the same standard as those the vendors here sell.
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Date: 2/6/2007 7:01:39 AM
Author: Pyramid
I know it is a completely different thing I will be doing importing but I think you are lucky. I will have to pay 17.5% VAT and Customs Duty of 5% on top of a vendors price and it is still cheaper than buying in the UK although I could not even get an ideal cut diamond over here of the same standard as those the vendors here sell.
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Pyramid I called the Inland Revenue people about duty and vat and they quoted me 2.5% import and 17.5% for VAT. Have you already bought your ring or is the 22.5% an estimate?

Maisie
 
Maisiebelle

No I haven''t bought yet, but that will be right, I am quoting from memory, I remember hearing once 5% but also remember hearing 2.5% and believe now I did find out it was 2.5%, ofcourse the Inland Revenue know for certain. Still a lot more than they have to pay in the USA though.
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I can understand though for a student who wrote this thread $500 is quite a lot of money.
 
Date: 2/6/2007 7:23:01 AM
Author: Pyramid
Maisiebelle

No I haven''t bought yet, but that will be right, I am quoting from memory, I remember hearing once 5% but also remember hearing 2.5% and believe now I did find out it was 2.5%, ofcourse the Inland Revenue know for certain. Still a lot more than they have to pay in the USA though.
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I can understand though for a student who wrote this thread $500 is quite a lot of money.
I was really relieved when I rang the IR as someone had told me it was 30%!! I agree its a lot more than they have to pay in the US but, as you said, you can''t get anything of good enough quality here. I am happy to pay the taxes as I am still saving a lot buying from WF.

I agree that $500 is a lot for a student to pay but I am a firm believer in doing as the law requires. It just wouldn''t be worth the trouble they might end up in.

When I get my ring I won''t be able to pick it up from fedex until I pay the duty on it. BUT even if I wasn''t charged by them I would still contact the IR and pay it. Thats just me, I have one heck of a conscience!
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In Colorado, the department of revenue here collects sales tax for the state, most of the counties, most of the cities, bus districts, school districts and pretty much every other agency in the state with a sales/use tax. There are hundreds of agencies with overlapping borders and differing rules on what is taxable and what is not at a particular address. They seem to be pretty good at keeping this all straight and the money submitted to Denver by the merchants statewide still ends up in the coffers of the correct agency. I suspect the other state taxmen have similar skills. Given the amount of money at stake, it doesn’t seem at all unlikely that the various states could arrange to cooperate in this. Even if you include the non-state regions like DC and Guam there are fewer than 60 agencies who collectively stand to gain billions of dollars in uncollected revenue. As has been pointed out, there are a few of these that don’t impose this particular tax so the number that would need work together is actually a little less than this.


My observation is that every state I’ve wanted to look up posts their rules and forms online for all to see. Most even try to make them easy to read because there’s so much public misunderstanding on this issue. Obviously this is a much better source of information than an internet advice forum or a vendor’s website, even if it produces an unpopular answer. Google ‘use tax’ or ‘sales tax’ and your own state revenue department’s name. A FAQ about this usually pops up as the first or second response.


Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver
 
I am coming in late here... but the original "discount" comment was in reference to the bank wire discount offered by WF. The comment was not made in reference to a "tax discount." The bank wire discount and the paying of state tax are two separate things.

That said... I would totally belly up the $500 at the time of purchase so that I could personally select my stone from WF!
 
Date: 2/6/2007 7:49:16 AM
Author: Joolskie
I am coming in late here... but the original 'discount' comment was in reference to the bank wire discount offered by WF. The comment was not made in reference to a 'tax discount.' The bank wire discount and the paying of state tax are two separate things.

That said... I would totally belly up the $500 at the time of purchase so that I could personally select my stone from WF!
Oooh me too! I just wish I was brave enough to fly from the UK to the US and I would come and choose my diamond in person!!
 
Maisiebelle

I feel the same way as you. Yes Fedex collects it, but I would also pay it if they didn''t.

The 30% used to be real about 2 years ago, there are threads here about a dispute that went on for most of a year where they charged another tax. I will see if I can find the link.
 
Here's the original question.


Date: 2/5/2007 10:11:32 PM
Author:taman25thc02
Can anyone tell me whether it would be worth it to still use white flash considering I do not get the sales tax discount? I actually live about 30 min. away from their headquarters location in Houston, Texas. It comes out to about $500 in tax which while not entirely significant, is a good chunk of money for a college student. The diamond I'm looking at will run about 5800 with the bank wire discount + tax. My other option is blue nile. I like the hearts and arrows diamond offered by White Flash but the Sales tax is hard to get over.
It looks to me like Texas sales tax is the issue.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver
 
Date: 2/6/2007 8:08:13 AM
Author: Pyramid
Maisiebelle They called the additional charge an ''ad valoreum duty''


https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/whiteflash-are-fantastic-plus-important-uk-tax-info.16926/

I notice the Government site link is no longer but the first poster mentions how it went up 1% every month. I could not buy at that time but if I had wanted to that would have been a pain. Glad that duty has lifted now.
Blimey! That wouldn''t have been funny! I''m glad its gone too!
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Date: 2/6/2007 7:56:31 AM
Author: Maisiebelle

Date: 2/6/2007 7:49:16 AM
Author: Joolskie
I am coming in late here... but the original ''discount'' comment was in reference to the bank wire discount offered by WF. The comment was not made in reference to a ''tax discount.'' The bank wire discount and the paying of state tax are two separate things.

That said... I would totally belly up the $500 at the time of purchase so that I could personally select my stone from WF!
Oooh me too! I just wish I was brave enough to fly from the UK to the US and I would come and choose my diamond in person!!
you''ve got a couple of months to work up to it.
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come on over maisie, it will be FUN
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Bell stop it immediately!!!! I can''t........................... can I?
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of course you can! and you should!
we should make a plan
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I really want to but if I do it would cost approx £600 for flights and accomodation. Plus I wouldn''t get my discount if I came and got it in person. But I really want to come.....
 
Date: 2/6/2007 11:01:37 AM
Author: Maisiebelle
I really want to but if I do it would cost approx £600 for flights and accomodation. Plus I wouldn''t get my discount if I came and got it in person. But I really want to come.....
you definitely don''t want to overspend just to come out here.
but if you do...
we''ll have to make a good time of it!
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we better give taman his thread back now
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Absolutely - Party time!!

Maybe when we upgrade.....

Sorry Taman
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