Firearms sales tax court rulings?

[Son of Dorn]

Couple gun shops I've been looking at online have banners on their home pages informing us buyers that due to "court rulings", they will now be requiring sales tax on purchases unless you have a tax exemption certificate or are buying it for resale. According to their info page, the sales tax for buyers in GA is 8%.

Anyone know what "court rulings" these might be? No doubt it's something blibberingly democrat, I expect.

 

[6.5SH]

The same rulings that affected Amazon and every other online retailer.

Selling Goods Online

Before the Internet most sales of goods tended to be local (or at least across bordering states such as New Jersey and New York). Nowadays, anyone with a computer co

www.nolo.com

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-12-24/most-states-now-tax-online-purchases

 

[vinniedelpino]

Yep. That's from the wayfair case back in 2018.

It sucks. Some small retailers don't have to charge tax on online purchases. Each state has its own threshold and it's based on the volume of sales in dollars and the number of transactions they have with out of state buyers. It varies by state and it's a bitch to keep track of.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

If you buy online from Gunbroker, they now collect the sales tax.

So your LGS should not collect on transfers from GB. But you might want to print your 'receipt' to show that tax was collected.

Sirhr

 

[Son of Dorn]

Yep. That's from the wayfair case back in 2018.

It sucks. Some small retailers don't have to charge tax on online purchases. Each state has its own threshold and it's based on the volume of sales in dollars and the number of transactions they have with out of state buyers. It varies by state and it's a bitch to keep track of.

Funny, if it was from 2018, they seemed quite mum about it until the other day...

I presumed it was some Illinois-related crap since I don't recall getting charged extra tax like that before now. Of course, it could STILL be some Illinois-related crap...

 

[vinniedelpino]

Funny, if it was from 2018, they seemed quite mum about it until the other day...

I presumed it was some Illinois-related crap since I don't recall getting charged extra tax like that before now. Of course, it could STILL be some Illinois-related crap...

Might be that they just reached the threshold for your state. For Georgia it's $100k in sales or 200 transactions, whichever comes first.

In other words, if a TN gun shop has less than $100k in sales (or 200 transactions) to GA customers in a calendar year, they don't have to charge sales tax to GA buyers. Once they cross that threshold, they have to collect and remit sales tax.

 

[Son of Dorn]

Might be that they just reached the threshold for your state. For Georgia it's $100k in sales or 200 transactions, whichever comes first.

In other words, if a TN gun shop has less than $100k in sales (or 200 transactions) to GA customers in a calendar year, they don't have to charge sales tax to GA buyers. Once they cross that threshold, they have to collect and remit sales tax.

Could be that. Well since their firearms are somewhat pricier at times and are mostly in the vintage/CNR category, I expect neither would be too difficult to reach.

Although as I said, they made no mention whatsoever that I remember until a few days ago and then they put it in big red letters on their home page.

Welp, at least I didn't commit to purchasing anything yet and didn't have to stare at my receipt in horror at being cheated of additional cash.

 

[RUTGERS95]

it's bullshit!

 

[6.5SH]

Could be they wanted to be more upfront about it or got peepee slapped for not charging it until caught.

 

[vinniedelpino]

Could be they wanted to be more upfront about it or got peepee slapped for not charging it until caught.

My money's on the pee pee slap.

It happens all the time. There are so many hoops to jump through it can be hard to stay above board for a small business.

 

[Son of Dorn]

Could be they wanted to be more upfront about it or got peepee slapped for not charging it until caught.

Well it's Illinois so probably a mix of the two. Having a gun shop in a state with such all manner of anti-gunners probably does you no favors.

 

[Son of Dorn]

it's bullshit!

Yes, it is, but like most forms of shit, it does tend to be an inconvenience when unwanted.

 

[Holliday]

My money's on the pee pee slap.

It happens all the time. There are so many hoops to jump through it can be hard to stay above board for a small business.

I never had a hard time with the ruling. It’s the insane compliance issues.

 

[vinniedelpino]

I never had a hard time with the ruling. It’s the insane compliance issues.

Add the whole "marketplace facilitator" thing into the mix and it can make your head spin.

I get confused sometimes and I do this shit for a living. 50 states with 50 different sales tax guidelines, different thresholds for each state and different filing frequencies.

Unless you have you an accounting department it's a huge PITA. It really screws small businesses.

Taxjar and Avalara help, but setting everything up is a huge pain in the ass too.