Englishtart

Thank you for checking into that for me Chris Hubby is already there, and we know exactly which area we will be moving too, I will ask him to make enquiries, if the 90 day thing is going to be the factor, we may even consider staying here a couple extra weeks, but i'm hoping we won't have too

Bob

In ME and MA, there's a spot on the tax return for listing out of state purchases where you're supposed to then pay any taxes...don't know anyone who fills it in though...

Michael

Cars are about the only issue if it is purchased out of state. Many states have a user tax when you register an out of state car within the state. Sometimes there is a time limt that you owned the car when you wouldn't be liable for the tax and others don't have a time limit.

I don't know of anywhere that it makes a difference purchasing things from a different county within the state.

At one time, California asked individuals for the amount of purchases from out of state when they filed their state tax return so they could tax them on that amount. Everyone always answered $0 so they repealed that law.

meauxna

The selling state doesn't necessarily charge you differently. It's not their job to collect.

I live in Oregon, which has zero sales tax. We border Washington state, which has one.
People from Washington are not charged sales tax when making a purchase in Oregon, but they are supposed to report it in Washington and pay the tax. I know it sounds like 'who'd be dumb enough to do that?' but Washington state has apparently been cracking down on it (ex: they cruise the mall parking lot near the border and record car tag numbers).

http://dor.wa.gov/content/findtaxesandrates/usetax/
Goods are purchased in another state that does not have a sales tax or a state with a sales tax lower than Washington’s. For example, items you purchase in Oregon that are used in Washington are subject to use tax.

This varies by state & jurisdiction.


Maddeningly enough for Washingtonians, if *I* go there and purchase something that is not for 'use' in the state (like clothing or durable goods I'm taking home to Oregon), I can show my driving license for proof of residence and be exempted from the sales tax at the point of purchase.

meauxna

oops, we posted at the same time; check mine out~!

The Horticulturalist

Now I'm wondering if I could do that if I go shopping in alamaba (or any other state for that matter), I'll need to make some enquiries.

Michael

I don't know why they make it so difficult. In California, they just charge the user tax when you register the car. Years back there was a time limit as to how long you owned the car before you owed the tax but now they always collect it when you register an out of state car.

Some people will drive their car for a year in California before registering it to get a lower tax (tax is based on the value at the time of registering) but that doesn't save much money.

robin1234

On the New York State return, they give you two alternative ways of calculating how much tax you owe on out-of-state purchases. You can either itemise all out-of-state purchases, and pay the NYS tax due. Or, you can look up your income level in a table, and just pay the notional amount. In my case it was $40 for 2008, $44 for 2009. I paid that amount. To me, it is worth paying that amount to avoid the threat of them looking into your records and determining that you avoided tax that was due.

We do not buy much on the internet anymore that is out-of-state & does not charge NYS tax (both L.L. Bean & Lands' End now charge NYS sales tax on online sales, presumably because both now have shops in NYS) But, we do buy wine in New Hampshire when we are passing through. So to me, the $44 was a reasonable bargain.

In the NYS Tax Instructions, they give this example (from memory.. this is not an exact quote.) "You live in Albany, NY. While visiting Massachusetts, you buy a book in a bookstore, primarilly for use when you get home to Albany. You owe us NYS sales tax on the purchase of the book." So, my assumption is, if you had read the book while still in Massachusetts, and got no further use out of the book when you returned home to NYS, you would NOT have owed NYS sales tax on it.

md95065

Not sure exactly what law you think they repealed but California use tax definitely still exists and can be reported on line 95 of the CA Form 540.

See the State Board of Equalization web site for details ...

celticgrid

I wasn't aware of that. Thanks, I'll remember for next year, though at the levels we purchase at, and the rules as outlined below, the true answer for 2009 as to purchases not charging tax was most probably zero!

I think the law says something about any retailer that does more than $10,000 in business in NYS has to collect the NY state tax from their customers, so I'd bet that places like L.L. Bean and Lands' End come under that grouping, even if they didn't have shops here.

Not sure what the situation is legally...will go check...hang on.

Aha! Seems they are deemed to have a presence if there is one link, somewhere on the internet, that is itself related to a NYS address. That includes affiliate sites or even adverts or reviews. The state has sure got them wrapped up with that definition.

celticgrid

Suddenly realised that all NYS have to do is set up their own web page and put a link to an online retailer on it and...voila! One retailer liable to collect NYS tax and hand it over.

JAJ

Seller won't care, usually, but see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_tax

chrisfromusa

No problems English

Yeah just don't take my word for the 90 day thing. It may or may not vary in SC, and may vary from state to state. But I hope he gets the info you need, and hope it's not an arm and a leg! :

Michael

Oh, I thought they repealed that since I don't remember Turbo Tax asking that question for several years.

md95065

TurboTax is probably just programmed to automatically enter a big fat zero on that line