"bumhead" wrote in message

I thought this was one of the things the states were complaining about
that they were losing sales tax on online orders.

Anyone know what is the law on this?

George (aka Bumhead)


The law is simple and straightforward. You owe the tax. If not a sales tax,
it is called a use tax on out of state purchases. If the seller does not
charge the tax, you are obligated to remit the tax to the state. Here in CT
you can do that when you submit your income tax forms with a simple
declaration.

If a business has a physical presence in your state, such as a sales office,
service facility, or anything else, they are obligated to collect the tax
for the state. Some sellers that do not have a physical presence collect
the tax anyway to avoid hassles from 45 or so different tax collectors.

If the seller is out of state to you, he may not care and is not obligated
to do the collection. Then you have to decide what to do after. I'm sure
everyone here declares the purchase as a "use tax" and pay what is due. If
you physically go across the state lines, you pay the tax due in that state
at the time of purchase.