Amazon going to tax NE residents.

[newfalguy101]

One the side of Law, order and ethics.  How about you?
The largest difference between state and fed reported gross income was $100,000.  It took me a couple hours to write and test the SQL scripts which did the comparison, so it wasn't a case of "thousands of dollars chasing hundreds of dollars", as someone with little knowledge of the subject implied. 
The difference threshold could be any amount.  My first run using $250 found over 10,000 thousand returns.  Using $1,000 found over 1,000 returns, IIRC, and they were sent letters. Using $10,000 found over a hundred, which included the $100,000 cheater.  No one makes an accidental $100,000 mistake. 

Currently the NE tax collections are down $700 MILLION and the Dept is under staffed and over worked.  They can't afford to pay new hires the current salary businesses pay so hiring quality programmers is hard. Keeping them is equally hard.


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So in theory, what would be cost effective to pursue??  1,000??  10,000???  500??

Still spending thousands to chase hundreds.   

I understand that there are hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of use tax dollars unreported, I also understand that the dollars are spread out over hundreds of thousands of tax payers, and it costs money to find those tax returns, it costs money to audit those returns, and it will cost thousands to pursue legal action against said tax payers.

[jFader]

so.... taxation isn't theft?

Taxation is ABSOLUTELY theft!

[RobertH]

Taxation is ABSOLUTELY theft!

did you miss my sarcasm?

[GreyGeek]

No offense to your situation but what I was implying was government entities aren't typically ran efficiently.  And as a business owner I have had experience dealing with the Department of Revenue and had a friend that was a programmer at the Department of banking.

Contrary to popular opinion state employees cannot make up rules on the fly as they do their jobs.  They are legally bound to follow the letter of the laws when dealing with the public.  You know that from dealings with the rules for obtaining a CHP.


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[GreyGeek]

Taxation is ABSOLUTELY theft!

Only without representation.  You get what you vote for, if who you vote for is honest.


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[Phantom]

if who you vote for is honest.

When does that ever happen ?   

[Dave1215]

When does that ever happen ?   

It happens more often if good people get out and support good candidates.  I can give a few examples at the local level that it happens, I also know the NFOA supported some good candidates at the State level that got in, and I believe General Bacon who is a Congressman-Elect for Nebraska is a good example.   So it does happen if we get involved.

[Kendahl]

Contrary to popular opinion state employees cannot make up rules on the fly as they do their jobs.  They are legally bound to follow the letter of the laws when dealing with the public.

Somebody forgot to tell that to the state employees who undercalculated prison sentences.

[jarelj]

Amazon is worried about getting sued because they're a fulfillment and 3rd party sales service rather than a traditional business who owns most of their own inventory.  If I'm sitting in Nebraska selling Beanie Babies that I'm drop-shipping from AliExpress in China, and someone in South Dakota is selling the same Beanie Babies, also on Amazon, and someone in Nebraska buys one of said Beanie Babies from Amazon, the NE Attorney General is inclined to say Amazon has a "presence" in the state (me) and should be withholding taxes, even if the merchant who fulfills the order is in South Dakota.  These lawsuits were brewing in several states already so Amazon just took the proactive step to implement it before the lawsuits came to fruition because it was cheaper than waiting for the suits, since the costs will be borne by the merchants and not by Amazon.  Amazon is not a "good corporate citizen", they are just looking out for their own bottom line.

[GreyGeek]

Somebody forgot to tell that to the state employees who undercalculated prison sentences.

From what I read they were trying to implement the legislature's desire to reduce prison populations and misinterpreted the regs.

By the way, I heard from a good source this evening that the NE budget deficit  has risen to over $1 BILLION!  No longer at $700M.  It may go even higher.  That's about $500 for every man, woman and child in the state.   Even newly arrived Muslim refugees are qualifying for $700/mo SSI (which is federal but NE gets back less than half of of every dollar it sends to the Feds)


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[webtrekker]

So... seems it isn't just Amazon... while starting my taxes with TurboTax I come across this section ---

Nebraska use tax is a tax paid while in Nebraska on purchases of items or services outside Nebraska for use in Nebraska. The Nebraska use tax is 5.5% (.055) plus any applicable local rate.

You owe Nebraska use tax if:
 - you did not pay use tax on those items or services that are subject to the tax
 - you paid use tax at a lower rate than the required use tax rate for the area where you live

Let us know if you bought something outside Nebraska while in Nebraska without paying a sales tax.  You'll need to pay taxes on these items (this is called a use tax) Examples include: Purchases made in another state and brought back into Nebraska

So... If I buy something over in Iowa and bring it back into Nebraska, then I have to track those purchases and pay a "use tax".  For example, at the beginning of school season, Iowa has their "no tax" on school supplies days... well... not if you live in the "Tax-ME-State" ... 

[Dan W]

What about purchases made in another state and delivered to a 3rd state? Or maybe I was not In Lincoln when I bought that last minute birthday gift.

For instance I bought an Amazon gift for my Mother in Arizona while visiting my daughter in Denver...still shows up on my Amazon order history in my account. Are they going to geolocate all my purchases?


BTW you can request an order history report at this link 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/b2b/reports

ETA I believe gift cards are exempt from sales tax and they are in the report too

[m morton]

ETA I believe gift cards are exempt from sales tax and they are in the report too

as long as the state does not try to dubble dip the taxes . once  when you buy a card then and tax again to use them. not saying they won't try lol ...  but they won't get away with it

[CrazyGolfNut]

BTW you can request an order history report at this link 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/b2b/reports

ETA I believe gift cards are exempt from sales tax and they are in the report too

Interesting report.  One problem I see is that when you return something for credit, the report does not show that. If NE is going to collect for back taxes, they may try and collect for an item that you returned.

[Dan W]

Interesting report.  One problem I see is that when you return something for credit, the report does not show that. If NE is going to collect for back taxes, they may try and collect for an item that you returned.

Another interesting note... Amazon only taxed items they fulfilled on an order today of  a Blu Ray player and an HDMI cable ( taxed the $6 cable but not the $60 item) I will monitor how that is reported. I would like the Amazon report to be accurate enough to rely on for tax filing purposes

 

[abbafandr]

Amazon also has developed software that figures internet sales tax from any location.  They will be happy to let any business use it... for a fee every time it is used.

That also explains why they are not opposed to taxing internet sales.

[Dan W]

More light reading on Amazon sales tax policies

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_bc_nav?ie=UTF8&nodeId=202029700

[RageTherapy]

so.... taxation isn't theft?

Of course not, silly! The government has a metaphysical right to take a little somethin-somethin' for each transaction between two entities so that wonderful government programs have can funded and very useful members of the bureaucracy can be paid.