Legally avoiding charging sales tax

I haven't tried this, but suppose you have the customer order the parts with
THEIR credit card? Then only charge them for assembly. Technically, you
didn't sell them any hardware at all.

On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 05:44:48 GMT, "rAD" wrote:

I haven't tried this, but suppose you have the customer order the parts with
THEIR credit card? Then only charge them for assembly. Technically, you
didn't sell them any hardware at all.


Doesn't matter,you still supplied a tangible service therefore it is
still taxable. Only sure way to find out is contact your states
Revenue Dept. Most people think it's simply "Sales Tax" when in fact
it's "Sales and Use Tax" which covers both goods and services.
BTW there are only a couple of states that have strictly "Sales Tax"

On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 05:44:48 GMT, "rAD" wrote:

I haven't tried this, but suppose you have the customer order the parts with
THEIR credit card? Then only charge them for assembly. Technically, you
didn't sell them any hardware at all.


Depends on the state you live in. Some tax labor. If you don't sell
them the parts, then you don't make any profit on the parts.

In article et,
rAD wrote:
I haven't tried this, but suppose you have the customer order the parts with
THEIR credit card? Then only charge them for assembly. Technically, you
didn't sell them any hardware at all.


Then they have to pay the tax. What's the point ?

OTOH; I've alway done small business consulting and used the fact that
I wasn't a reseller for anything to make the case that I was more
objective and always recommended solutions that were the best for the
customer. I've always been able to use the internet to get best prices
and be competitive with integrators that were tied to a brand.
I produce a bill of materials with where-to-buy-from specifics
and hand it to my client.





--
Al Dykes
-----------

In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt, Msg ID:
(Al Dykes), wrote:

In article et,
rAD wrote:
I haven't tried this, but suppose you have the customer order the parts with
THEIR credit card? Then only charge them for assembly. Technically, you
didn't sell them any hardware at all.


Then they have to pay the tax. What's the point ?

The point is you don't understand.

f the customer orders the parts they CAN avoid the sales tax.
If the business man orders the parts they CAN'T avoid the sales tax.
The sales tax is imposed at the POINT of SALE, to the consumer.
Case in point - The purchases are made on the Internet....
No reseller discounts are involved..

--
Ray

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 12:59:53 -0400, mchiper wrote:


In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt, Msg ID:
(Al Dykes), wrote:

In article et,
rAD wrote:
I haven't tried this, but suppose you have the customer order the parts with
THEIR credit card? Then only charge them for assembly. Technically, you
didn't sell them any hardware at all.


Then they have to pay the tax. What's the point ?

The point is you don't understand.

f the customer orders the parts they CAN avoid the sales tax.
If the business man orders the parts they CAN'T avoid the sales tax.
The sales tax is imposed at the POINT of SALE, to the consumer.
Case in point - The purchases are made on the Internet....
No reseller discounts are involved..

This thread is beat to death
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...om%26rnum%3D19

to quote myself

There is more that adds to the cost of parts than sales tax.

1. The sales tax paid is often offset by the shipping and handling
charge on small orders. (The parts needed to make a single computer
will be a small order) Larger orders, like a real dealer/system
builder does will have a much lower shipping cost, which will more
than make up for the sales tax difference.

2. If the mail order company has a "presence" in your state, they
still must collect sales tax.

3. If you are a real dealer that does more than one or two systems a
month, then you can get deals from REAL distributers that will allow
you to sell the parts to your customers at about the same internet
price, including sales tax, and still make a bit of a profit.

4. Your method of doing systems would be an RMA/warranty nightmare.

What is your real goal? To sell your customers a quality system at a
very good price? Sell to your customers at the lowest cost no mater
what? Or avoid sales tax whenever possible, even if there is no real
savings and the hassles go up? It's your business, but I wouldn't do
it that way, and never have.

In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt, Msg ID: m
JT datacare@localhost, wrote:


to quote myself

You are quoting a know it all ass hole.


There is more that adds to the cost of parts than sales tax.

No ****?
1. The sales tax paid is often offset by the shipping and handling
charge on small orders.
And free shipping is often in a part of slightly larger orders.
So don't be an ass hole and try to buy a single NIC card.

(The parts needed to make a single computer will be a small order)
You must build real ****.

Larger orders, like a real dealer/system
builder does will have a much lower shipping cost, which will more
than make up for the sales tax difference.

Your distributor buys bull **** quatities compared to even the SMALLEST
mail order house, and sells you (or charges you for the cost of)
his bull **** OBSOLETE inventory.

2. If the mail order company has a "presence" in your state, they
still must collect sales tax.

And if I don't have a 'presence' in my state, they don't. :-)

3. If you are a real dealer that does more than one or two systems a
month, then you can get deals from REAL distributers that will allow
you to sell the parts to your customers at about the same internet
price, including sales tax, and still make a bit of a profit.

This is "real" approximate, generalizing Bull ****.

4. Your method of doing systems would be an RMA/warranty nightmare.

RMA/warranties are nightmares.
I can't remmember anything but DOA, no matter where/how purchased.
So practice good Quality Control.. Try it before you pay the CREDIT CARD charge.
Does your "distributor" accept credi cards?

What is your real goal? To sell your customers a quality system at a
very good price?

No. My goal is to provide my customers QUALITY systems, and QUALITY service
while beating the brains out of ass holes like you (cost wise).

Sell to your customers at the lowest cost no mater what?
Yep.. No complaints..
Mostly smart people.
Glad to send you those few looking for "bleeding edge" crap.

It's your business, but I wouldn't do it that way, and never have.
The you don't have a clue, do you?
--
Ray

On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 10:00:27 -0400, mchiper wrote:


In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt, Msg ID: m
JT datacare@localhost, wrote:


to quote myself

You are quoting a know it all ass hole.


There is more that adds to the cost of parts than sales tax.

No ****?
1. The sales tax paid is often offset by the shipping and handling
charge on small orders.
And free shipping is often in a part of slightly larger orders.
So don't be an ass hole and try to buy a single NIC card.

Can do it if I need to. Do it all the time from my distributers. Shipping
is always payed for. "Free shipping" is figured into the price from
supplier. If you buy more, even if not all in the same order prices go down
from a real distributer.


(The parts needed to make a single computer will be a small order)
You must build real ****.

No, it is just that for a real distributer anything under $5000 is a small
order, and handled as such. Real **** is what you get when you mix and
match from everywhere.

Larger orders, like a real dealer/system
builder does will have a much lower shipping cost, which will more
than make up for the sales tax difference.

Your distributor buys bull **** quatities compared to even the SMALLEST
mail order house, and sells you (or charges you for the cost of)
his bull **** OBSOLETE inventory.

My distributers order by the Truck/Boat load and sell to your mail order
houses. They deal direct with Manufacturers. If they have an excess of
Obsolete stuff, they dump it to the mail order houses such as you buy your
junk from.

2. If the mail order company has a "presence" in your state, they
still must collect sales tax.

And if I don't have a 'presence' in my state, they don't. :-)

3. If you are a real dealer that does more than one or two systems a
month, then you can get deals from REAL distributers that will allow
you to sell the parts to your customers at about the same internet
price, including sales tax, and still make a bit of a profit.

This is "real" approximate, generalizing Bull ****.
Not even. With any kind of volume, which anyone with any business will get,
your costs from a distributer will always be lower than the Internet/Mail
order prices. Of course if you are only a garage operation that does only
one or two systems a month, then you will not get very good prices. If you
are doing 2 systems a week and some accessorys/repairs, you will get your
parts cheaper from a distributer (provided you are a real business with
tax-id, business bank account, etc.) If you do more, your price drops, and
it is based on estimated annual sales, not just one order. If it is a real
business, you should have no problem getting to the quantities to beat any
internet/mail order company on the same items.

4. Your method of doing systems would be an RMA/warranty nightmare.

RMA/warranties are nightmares.
I can't remmember anything but DOA, no matter where/how purchased.
So practice good Quality Control.. Try it before you pay the CREDIT CARD charge.
Does your "distributor" accept credi cards?

If you see lots of DOA from where you buy parts, there is a problem with
that source. My DOA rate is about 2%, but then I don't go by price alone.
DOA is a problem that is made worse if you get parts from multiple sources.
Company A says ram was fine. Company B says Motherboard was fine. They
don't work together. A real distributer will handle the problem. They have
a fair handle on what works with what, and you won't have buck passing. All
major distributers will do Credit card, Company check, Electronic Fund
Transfers, and when you are a customer long enough, or big enough, Net 30.

Good quality control gets it out the door working. There are still those
systems where something breaks in less than a year. You do warranty you
work for a year like a real company don't you? Do your customers have all
the ordering information, or do they rely on you for that? What do you do
when the system motherboard starts having problems at 3 months, and your
customer doesn't remember where they bought the parts from?

What is your real goal? To sell your customers a quality system at a
very good price?

No. My goal is to provide my customers QUALITY systems, and QUALITY service
while beating the brains out of ass holes like you (cost wise).
If you that is your goal, then you have a lot to learn, as you will have a
hard time matching my price and quality, and your service will never be
able to make the grade.

Sell to your customers at the lowest cost no mater what?
Yep.. No complaints..
Mostly smart people.
Glad to send you those few looking for "bleeding edge" crap.
Bleeding edge is not what we are talking about. Even in the value area, you
method of operation is for no-it-alls that don't mind the hassles and don't
know much at all. People that think they are smart, and getting over, but
really just making it tougher on themselves.


It's your business, but I wouldn't do it that way, and never have.
The you don't have a clue, do you?
Been doing it long enough to have more clues than you.

PS why does it take you so long to respond? Had to wait to get a working
computer again?

sounds a bit like AOL in the UK. because AOL is USA based and there only
selling a service (not a physical product) then they get past UK VAT (tax).

tim


"mchiper" wrote in message
...

In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt, Msg ID:

(Al Dykes), wrote:

In article et,
rAD wrote:
I haven't tried this, but suppose you have the customer order the parts
with
THEIR credit card? Then only charge them for assembly. Technically, you
didn't sell them any hardware at all.


Then they have to pay the tax. What's the point ?

The point is you don't understand.

f the customer orders the parts they CAN avoid the sales tax.
If the business man orders the parts they CAN'T avoid the sales tax.
The sales tax is imposed at the POINT of SALE, to the consumer.
Case in point - The purchases are made on the Internet....
No reseller discounts are involved..

--
Ray

sigh a resellers license and sale tax ID number solves this dilemma. I don't pay tax on hardware purchases immediately, I charge
the customer the equivalent to the tax I will be charged 1/4 ly.




"rAD" wrote in message nk.net...
I haven't tried this, but suppose you have the customer order the parts with
THEIR credit card? Then only charge them for assembly. Technically, you
didn't sell them any hardware at all.