Quote:
Originally Posted by Jman
It's a shakedown, plain and simple. I get that part. Wouldn't be the first time the State of Florida did something questionable. 
But to be clear, sales tax is levied on the seller, not the buyer. Who pays to the state? The seller. It is up to the seller whether or not they want to collect it explicitly from the buyer. For example, some vendors with walk in customers--coffee shops, etc.--might list their sales prices, then charge the tax amount, so a $1.00 item costs $1.0X when you finally pay for it. Others list their prices, and just send a check for X% of sales to the state. One explicitly collects from customers, the other implicitly, but in each case, it is the SELLER that pays the money to the state.
But I get Florida's angle. Do they have Cubans in state government?  They're pretty familiar with mob tactics, I've heard. |
You are wrong as far as Florida is concerned but may be correct about New York or New Jersey... I will consult with DD.
[RANT]Here sales tax is due on the sale of taxable goods or services as defined by our state laws or constitution. That sales is required to be paid by the person buying the merchandise or service. The person making the sale becomes an agent of the state to collect the sales tax and accepts the payment of the tax from the buyer and remits the tax collected to the state.
It is the person making the purchase that must pay the tax on the merchandise or sale by payment of tax to an agent or by submitting a voucher and paying themselves if the vendor is not an agent for sales tax collection.
The laws covering what is taxed and how it is taxed and all the things surrounding the issues are as clouded and skrewed up as the lawyers we have elected have been able to make them. As a Florida Sales Tax Agent who must file a monthly report I can attest to this.
I can also speak to the expense of dealing with the attorneys for the state and the auditors since businesses like mine were targeted to insure compliance. There is nothing like having three state auditors in your office going over every receipt for a screw or pop rivet for almost a month to get this to sink in. One of the rules about sales tax is IN Florida... is that if I use one screw in making a repair or even a paper towel to clean off a face of a sign with Windex then the entire labor bill is taxable... So on a $400 repair would net the state .075% of my labor or $30. So I buy a lot of screws personally, pay the sales tax on them upon the sale, do not include them in my inventory and give them to my customers. Then no materials are used in the repair and no sales tax is due.
Switching from cawfee to water.
[/RANT]
BTW - If I preface my post with [RANT]
and end my post with the [/RANT] - there is more than a 50% chance I will continue to teakettle if given the impetus.
