ques on taxes for vendors

[janinegirly]

curious if anyone can share experiences on this. if "hypothetically" you''d like to avoid taxes, have any of you suggested paying cash up front? how do you approach this and how do vendors react (band,DJ, flowers etc).

thanks..and this is only hypothetical of course.

 

[tanyak]

Is that something you can avoid though? When I met with my vendors (florist, cake, DJ, caterer/wedding site), they automatically included the state sales tax in the estimate. I never thought to try to negotiate it. Although, when I think about it, we didn''t pay any taxes to our DJ - it was a straight fee.

Good question!

 

[jasper]

Some states have sales tax on goods, but not on labor. Some states do not have sales tax at all. (I assume that neither of you are that lucky.) And some vendors are honestly unaware that they need to charge (and pay) sales tax on what they provide.

While I applaud negotiating with a vendor to make a good deal for everybody involved, and personally think that most states' so-called "use taxes" are actually unconstitional tariffs, I do not think it is a good idea to even hypothetically ask a vendor to break the sales tax law in their jurisdiction. When I received a bid from a vendor that did not include sales tax, though all of his competitors did include sales tax, I took it as a sign that he was not experienced enough. I asked him to check whether he should be charging sales tax, and I found another vendor.

By the way, I am not a lawyer. I do not know how (or if) one can challenge the constitutionality of a so-called "use tax".

-- Jasper

 

[laine]

I agree that asking a vendor to discount sales tax seems a little shady. What about asking for a cash discount? Or do most people pay in cash anyway?

 

[janinegirly]

well i know it appears shady, but many vendors suggest it as well. where i live there are obscene taxes, so i have no guilt there! of course I agree that I''d rather not be the one to suggest it, and would rather just have a cash discount.

anyway, i''m specifically talking about the band--have others received quotes but then been told later (in contract) that tax is additional? if that''s common practice, fine, but if most bands'' fees are all inclusive of tax, then i''d like to push my band a little on this. every $ helps.

 

[Michelle101]

Honestly, it depends on the vendor.

Photographers,off-site hair dressers, DJ''s or other private business owners would probably be willing to knock off the tax if you pay in cash.

Reception halls, professional dress salons, and the like, probably not.

I don''t think it hurts asking if there''s a discount for paying in cash. About 1/2 of my wedding vendors aren''t charging me anything additional for tax because we''re paying in cash. I don''t lose sleep over it - I have no control over how the vendors report their taxes even if we do pay extra.

 

[sarie_j]

I made my first payment to the photographer in cash which he said worked out great for him - no income to report - and for me as he wouldn''t charge me taxes which would have tacked on an additional couple hundred bucks -- He is the only one to suggest this, so you may try making your deposit in cash and seeing what happends -- Definitely get a receipt though, cash is cash after all and not very easily traced --

 

[janinegirly]

suggested "cash" to the band and he immediately said, "no problem and that way you avoid taxes".

so he was the one who said the words, not me! never hurts to ask...