In article r0SHi.6226$6B2.4314@trndny04, Nova wrote:
Robert Bonomi wrote:
In article , dpb wrote:

Doug Miller wrote:

In article , dpb wrote:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/sta...sofpurcat.html

No business ID, no sale.

"Business identification" can be as simple as a business card that you

made on

your home PC, and a cell phone number.


None of the branches I have seen (and I think
that holds for web/mail order sales as well) are set up to collect sales
tax -- ergo, no business id to show exemption, no sale.

That apparently varies from one state to the next: the Grainger store
here in
Indianapolis is certainly set up to collect sales tax.

It's been a few years since was where there was a branch so could have
changed, or it could be an overall policy change.

The info at the web site still indicates business tax ID which typically
indicates the necessary info for them to justify not collecting same...


*NOT* True. The only stuff that sales tax is not collected on is stuff
that is purchased "for resale". Material sold to a business, for that
business's own use -is- taxable, and the seller must collect tax on it.

You have to prove a "sales tax permit/id" to escape paying sales tax on
'for resale' items. This is a very different thing from a business 'tax id'
number.


As a retail business operator in New York State I have to track sales
tax "exempt" purchases for in-house use and pay the appropriate tax due.
This applies to out of state/internet purchases, purchases made on
an Indian reservation. etc. as well. Sales tax is considered an end
user tax and the end user is ultimately responsible for paying the tax
if it was not collected by the seller.

Technically, on things like out-of-state purchases, one _doesn't_ pay "sales
tax", but 'use tax', which, by a strange turn of affairs, is exactly
the same rate as the sales tax. They are separate and distinct items in
statute and state tax regs.

On in-state purchases for "in-house use", one _should_ be paying the sales
tax at the time of purchase. NYS may allow 'no tax' purchase, and belated
tax submission by the purchaser, to 'make good' on in-house consumption --
Several jurisdictions that I am aware of do _not_; and one gets in significant
hot water if something purchased 'exempt, for resale' is used in-house.