[net.taxes] Do Employees Pay Sales Tax?

weemba@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (Matthew P. Wiener) (02/20/86)

I select orders for technical books in a local bookstore.  As an
employee I get books at cost.  My question is: Do I have to pay
sales tax on out-of-state books?  If I order directly from an
out-of-state publisher, I do not pay sales tax, but I do pay list
price.  The scenario I would like to be true is that the bookstore
does not sell books to me, rather that as part of the company persona
I am buying directly from the publishers, who happen to be selling to
me at a lower price and so I am exempt from sales taxes.

The most common situation is getting books from New York.

I of course already asked the store but they don't know nor have the
time to find out.

ucbvax!brahms!weemba	Matthew P Wiener/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720

smh@mhuxl.UUCP (henning) (02/22/86)

> I select orders for technical books in a local bookstore.  As an
> employee I get books at cost.  My question is: Do I have to pay
> sales tax on out-of-state books?  If I order directly from an
> out-of-state publisher, I do not pay sales tax, but I do pay list
> price.  The scenario I would like to be true is that the bookstore
> does not sell books to me, rather that as part of the company persona
> I am buying directly from the publishers, who happen to be selling to
> me at a lower price and so I am exempt from sales taxes.

If you make personal checks out to the publisher and get a personal
receipt from the publisher, then no problem.  Otherwise, unless you
are exempt, you have to pay up in Pennsylvania.  Your employer could
be liable for filing fraudulent returns if he doesn't sell to you
in a proper manner.  It is not worth the risk unless you can get
an opinion from the dept. of revenue that is in your favor.

johansen@agrigene.UUCP (02/24/86)

> > I select orders for technical books in a local bookstore.  As an
> > employee I get books at cost.  My question is: Do I have to pay
> > sales tax on out-of-state books?  If I order directly from an
> > out-of-state publisher, I do not pay sales tax, but I do pay list
> > price.  The scenario I would like to be true is that the bookstore
> > does not sell books to me, rather that as part of the company persona
> > I am buying directly from the publishers, who happen to be selling to
> > me at a lower price and so I am exempt from sales taxes.
> 
> If you make personal checks out to the publisher and get a personal
> receipt from the publisher, then no problem.  Otherwise, unless you
> are exempt, you have to pay up in Pennsylvania.  Your employer could
> be liable for filing fraudulent returns if he doesn't sell to you
> in a proper manner.  It is not worth the risk unless you can get
> an opinion from the dept. of revenue that is in your favor.

In Wisconsin there is a 'Use Tax?' which requires payment of sales tax to
the state of Wisconsin on items purchased tax-exempt from another state.

ayers@convex.UUCP (03/04/86)

>...The scenario I would like to be true is that the bookstore
>does not sell books to me, rather that as part of the company persona
>I am buying directly from the publishers, who happen to be selling to
>me at a lower price and so I am exempt from sales taxes.


The problem is that the store is not "exempt" from sales tax.  If they
take something off the shelf to use (typing paper? a book on taxes?),
they pay the state a tax that is equal to the sales tax on the item.

Or at least that's the way it's been in the two states I've been in
business in...


<Better Luck Next Time>


blues, II