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Long story, usually buy from my FLGS, but time is of the essence here. Would got the the WarStore next, but I know they don't have the product in stock and they would need to order from GW (see: last sentence). So I went directly to the GW Website.

I was all set to check out when I noticed they were charging me for Sales Tax.

Now I know that online sales tax is a murky area. This has been my understanding in the past:
An online retailer did not have to charge sales tax unless they were selling to someone in the same state as they were based in or had some sort of presence.

I live in a state that no longer has a GW presence (the only GW shop closed down a couple of years ago).

I've since done some basic research on FindLaw.com and have come to understand the following:
I'm in AZ. GW is in MD (I think). They can charge MD sales tax, but I have no obligation to pay it, not being in MD. In theory I would have to pay AZ sales tax (though apparently its reclassified as a "use tax"), but I would have to remit it directly to AZ, not going through the retailer (GW).

I'm pretty confident I don't have to pay MD sales tax. I'm also pretty certain GW isn't sending the sales tax they want to charge me to AZ.

So 3 questions:
Am I mistaken, and am I in fact obligated to pay a MD sales tax?
If not, then what is GW doing with this sales tax? Unnecessarily sending it to the MD Treasury, or pocketing it?
If I'm not obligated to pay MD sales tax, and tomorrow when I talk to the rep, and he says that charging MD sales tax is company policy, do I have some viable remedy to not pay MD sales tax?

And how much are we actually talking about?

States are getting much more aggressive about collecting sales tax from online retailers. Some states only require a physical presence in the state (retail store, shipping center, office). Amazon.com was forced to drop their affiliate programs with residents of New York state or be forced to pay NY tax. Could be that GW's relationship with independent retailers could obligate them to collect AZ taxes.

Uriels_Flame wrote:And how much are we actually talking about?

Seriously?

Are you suggesting that it doesn't matter that a retailer may be inappropriately charging sales tax as long as it's an insignificant amount? That's what I'm inferring from your question.

I apologize if I try to avoid paying money I don't have to. It really shouldn't matter how much money we're talking about here. To use the old chestnut, it's the principle of the thing. Plus, when viewing this practice in the aggregate, it can amount to a significant sum for a single consumer or all consumers.

If there's some new law or statute in effect, then fine, I'll pay it. If not, then I shouldn't have to pay it.

It does not matter.

You'll either pay it and receive your product or you won't and you'll wait.

Don't apologize, either. They'll just come after you.

100th post, btw!

RanTheCid wrote:States are getting much more aggressive about collecting sales tax from online retailers. Some states only require a physical presence in the state (retail store, shipping center, office). Amazon.com was forced to drop their affiliate programs with residents of New York state or be forced to pay NY tax. Could be that GW's relationship with independent retailers could obligate them to collect AZ taxes.

Hmmm... Thanks for the response. I knew that the internet sales tax holiday has been coming to a close. I know that GW interactions with local FLGS's would be enough to make them accountable to AZ courts, but sales tax... I suppose it's possible. I'll look more into AZ law. What doesn't make sense is the rate that GW wants to charge me.

In Tucson (in AZ, sales tax is partially determined by city) the rate is 8.1%.
The base rate for AZ sales tax is 5.6%
Maryland Sales Tax is 6% (still assuming that MD is applicable)

The rate that GW wants to charge me is 10.77%

So I can't figure out where this 10% rate is coming from. If its a combination of two states' rates then I can't figure how it adds up. Alternatively, it could be a different state altogether's rate. Either way, I can't find out anything about their sales tax policy on the GW website.


EDIT: Oh, and I just entered a valid CA address into the checkout page. I know CA has a higher tax rate, and after refreshing the Sales Tax rate remained unchanged. Yes, a little OCD, I know.

dvdhwk wrote:The rate that GW wants to charge me is 10.77%

Now THATS interesting and worth noting.

If my google-fu isn't weak, then apparently the state with the highest sales tax is Tennessee at 9.4% (average of rates discounting such things as local area taxes increases or decreases).

I am going to call GW myself tomorrow and ask them what rubric they use to charge sales tax like this. If they cannot explain to the consumer why they are charging such high tax rates, then it may be best to contact your local consumer protection agency. Every state has one of these public agencies and if there is a case to be made, they LOVE to pursue such instances of potential fraud of unexplained surcharges.

Case in point about consumer protection agencies and exactly how cool they are. My buddy Cort Jensen is a lead CPA attorney in the state of Montana. When Newwave Miniatures decided to rip people off left and right during the earlier part of this decade, he brought forth a case to the CPA of Georgia (Georgia apparently is a sister state of Montana somehow in CPA terms) and not much after this Newwave's online fraud presence was no more.

If nothing else, then the local CPA attorney can explain why it is the surcharges are so high.

DVDHWK: I also live in Arizona and recently purchased 68$ worth of product at the Online Store and was only charged 10$ for Shipping, that's it. The order was 5 Necron Immortals and a tub of Sand Base. Total was 68$ + 10$ shipping. I was not charged any tax. Invoice showed no tax as well.

OMG - I cannot believe my job is joining to help in this discussion. I am a sales and use tax accountant and can help out here.

1) GW can register to collect sales and use taxes in any state they want to. With that said, normally companies only reguister in states that they have a presence in. Presence can be a brick and mortar location OR having sales people inside the state. I suspect GW has a sales force presence inside AZ and that has caused them to register.
2) AZ has a different rate depending on whether the sale was an intrastate transaction (the sales originated in AZ or GW has a warehouse that shipped the stuff to you in AZ), then the rate would be 8.1%. If it was and Interstate transaction and this is the most likely one (no peice of the transaction was in AZ except the ship to destination), they should have charged 7.6%. I have no clue why they charged 10.77%. Just a peice of triva, one of the highest sales tax rates in the country is the New Orleans Airport at 10.75%. The TN rates are deceptive because they have some max tax caps on the local rates. Still you would have to spend more than 2500 bucks to hit those caps and I doubt you are buying that much from GW!!!

I am sure this is more than you wanted to know, but there it is

The Wraith

I think we have talked about this in the past.

GW charges you a sales tax if they have a presence (GW Store) in the state that you live in. If they do not have a store, it will show a sales tax, but when you purchase the item(s) it will not charge you for it.

So my question for you dvdhwk, did you purchase the items and it charged you taxes, or did it just say that it was going to charge you taxes?

the_wraith wrote:OMG - I cannot believe my job is joining to help in this discussion. I am a sales and use tax accountant and can help out here.

1) GW can register to collect sales and use taxes in any state they want to. With that said, normally companies only reguister in states that they have a presence in. Presence can be a brick and mortar location OR having sales people inside the state. I suspect GW has a sales force presence inside AZ and that has caused them to register.
2) AZ has a different rate depending on whether the sale was an intrastate transaction (the sales originated in AZ or GW has a warehouse that shipped the stuff to you in AZ), then the rate would be 8.1%. If it was and Interstate transaction and this is the most likely one (no peice of the transaction was in AZ except the ship to destination), they should have charged 7.6%. I have no clue why they charged 10.77%. Just a peice of triva, one of the highest sales tax rates in the country is the New Orleans Airport at 10.75%. The TN rates are deceptive because they have some max tax caps on the local rates. Still you would have to spend more than 2500 bucks to hit those caps and I doubt you are buying that much from GW!!!

I am sure this is more than you wanted to know, but there it is

The Wraith

I feel like you somehow earned a reward for combining real-life with nerdery. You should make a Space Marine Librarian/Accountant figure of yourself or something.

If you overpaid sales tax, then you should be able to deduct the overage...

JohnHwangDD wrote:If you overpaid sales tax, then you should be able to deduct the overage...

All taxes (except federal income taxes, obviously) are deductible on your federal income taxes.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/26/usc_sec_26_00000164----000-.html

when i moved away from chicago, cook county had just raised it's sales tax making it the highest in the nation according to the news at over 10%. perhaps your % matches that one.

I don't want to start a new thread, and it relates....

The Warstore claims that they cannot sell GW online because GW policy. But you can buy discounted GW stuff at Amazon? What gives?

When looking at sales tax rates you not only have to look at the state sales taxes, but also the county and municipality sales tax rates as well. And this will vary from state to state as to whether they allow counties and municipalities to have separate add-on taxes.

The best thing to do is to call GW and ask them their formula for their sales taxes. (I give about a 10% chance of the person on their end either knowing the answer and even less on giving the correct answer.)

Another possibility is that over the past several years many states have entered into internet sales compacts where they allow collection of sales taxes, etc. on goods coming into/out of them.

While I am a tax attorney, sales and use is not something I have dealt with much in my career.