Is there a way to avoid paying tax on Amazon?
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MY COVER HAS BEEN BLOWN. And yeah, I've got prime, which is what initially drew my attention to the whole paying-tax-on-things. Persona 5 LE is going to be 8 bucks in tax, which takes a little chunk out of the 20% off, but hey, it's better than paying full tilt+tax I suppose. IIRC Texas tax rate is somewhere around 8-9% and I've recently been put in charge of handling all the bills for my family so I've only just noticed this whole "tax" thing. I'll have to remember to always carry just a bit more than I expect to spend.
I just learned this was a thing the other day when filing my retired father's taxes. He was super concerned he was going to have to pay some huge tax, but nope. He's under the magical income number. Woohoo!
Don't live in a state that Amazon has a physical presence. Sales tax is a State tax, so when you're commercing with a business that doesn't have a presence in your state, the state has leverage to enforce the tax.
While it's true Texas has a fairly high sales tax rate (at least compared to where I came from), it has the benefit of no state income tax. Plus you don't pay sales tax on groceries.
Last edited by grossaffe,
Huh. I had no idea taxes on food was a thing in other states. Interesting. Seems like there's a lot of stuff to learn on the matter.
How is tax calculated? Don't lecture me on it, just keep it simple for me. I tried to pre order nintendo switch with Zelda on best buy, it said total was like $391.81 something. That is almost more than the PS4 Pro is worth. 
That's 20% in EU
There is different tax between the states, no?
It fall under taxes list, each kind of product has is own tax. (ex. I have 20% taxe on physical game, but nothing on dematerialised game; around 17% on meat, 0% on rice)
Amazon is supposed to respect the taxes list of your state not the one where the warehouse is.
And the gouvernement decide about the differant taxe ratio.
They can change it without notifying us.
I just don't get it. Here we don't have tax on food products in super markets, but at mcdonalds, Burger king and wendys, there is tax, but not at the chinese, jamacian, spanish or other places... Besdies that, i don't really know how tax is calculated. But for some reason i have the idea of "8 Cents for every dollar" Which i'm not sure why it comes to mind at all.
Tax only seem to be a huge difference when spending lots of mony at once. But is about all it is, if i buy a dollar sandwich and add 8cents is not a big deal until you spend like maybe $300 and now is like a extra $25 or something.
Tax only seem to be a huge difference when spending lots of mony at once. But is about all it is, if i buy a dollar sandwich and add 8cents is not a big deal until you spend like maybe $300 and now is like a extra $25 or something.
Each country or state (for USA) has his own way to tax.
They establish taxes with rules they think fair.
ex.
This product is really needed and in big quantity: we should put low tax, allowing a maximum of people to get it. (that's the case of rice in my country)
This product is not needed, but people consume it in big quantity: lets tax it, so we can make a fair amount of money as we can justify the taxe by the product not being a first need.
Taxes allow your country to get money (what they do with it after, their choice), so it's under the rule of the market. Too much tax and no one will buy it, not enough and they will loose money.
They establish taxes with rules they think fair.
ex.
This product is really needed and in big quantity: we should put low tax, allowing a maximum of people to get it. (that's the case of rice in my country)
This product is not needed, but people consume it in big quantity: lets tax it, so we can make a fair amount of money as we can justify the taxe by the product not being a first need.
Taxes allow your country to get money (what they do with it after, their choice), so it's under the rule of the market. Too much tax and no one will buy it, not enough and they will loose money.
Last edited by Molina,
I looked up my state's sales tax just to be sure, it is 6%, but for purchases made in Philadelphia, they add an extra 2% local tax, 1% local for Allegheny County. Never go on a shopping spree in Philly, I now learned.
@Chary
Haven't read the whole thread, but it seems like there is a lot of misconception there. I buy thousands of dollars worth of stuff on Amazon and I understand how taxing works, so I'll try to explain them in simple bullet points
- Tax is determined from your shipping address. If you are in a state that gets charged tax, then you'll whatever % your state does. If your shipping address is, let's say, Oregon, which has no sales tax, you won't be charged.
- Tax online vs physical stores were a hot topic in the US like 5 years ago or so. Ultimately, it was decided that, if a state has a physical presence (Amazon warehouse) it will charge tax. Therefore, if you see someone from a taxable state that didn't get taxed, it means that state doesn't have an amazon warehouse.
- Besides amazon themselves, third party sellers on Amazon follow the same rule (usually.. Some don't bother and just charge everyone.. I think). Those third party sellers usually decide in one state. So unless you happen to be in the same state the seller is from the tax should be zero.
- Many resellers have their items fulfilled by Amazon themselves. When that's the case, the rules for the sellers apply, not amazon. Meaning, if you live in California and the seller is from New York and has the amazon fulfillment option, even if it gets shipped from a California warehouse, you still wouldn't be taxed. (Don't quote me on this point though, it's been a while but I'm fairly certain that's the case)
---
Now on to your actual question. Is there a way to avoid this? Based in the above, only 2 things come to mind:
- If by any chance you have another address in another state, it might be worth checking that.
- Check resellers. Depending in the item, they might be selling something at the same price amazon is selling it, if not lower. Heck, if it's something expensive, even a higher price than amazon might be worth it if it means paying no tax.
Hope that helps
Haven't read the whole thread, but it seems like there is a lot of misconception there. I buy thousands of dollars worth of stuff on Amazon and I understand how taxing works, so I'll try to explain them in simple bullet points
- Tax is determined from your shipping address. If you are in a state that gets charged tax, then you'll whatever % your state does. If your shipping address is, let's say, Oregon, which has no sales tax, you won't be charged.
- Tax online vs physical stores were a hot topic in the US like 5 years ago or so. Ultimately, it was decided that, if a state has a physical presence (Amazon warehouse) it will charge tax. Therefore, if you see someone from a taxable state that didn't get taxed, it means that state doesn't have an amazon warehouse.
- Besides amazon themselves, third party sellers on Amazon follow the same rule (usually.. Some don't bother and just charge everyone.. I think). Those third party sellers usually decide in one state. So unless you happen to be in the same state the seller is from the tax should be zero.
- Many resellers have their items fulfilled by Amazon themselves. When that's the case, the rules for the sellers apply, not amazon. Meaning, if you live in California and the seller is from New York and has the amazon fulfillment option, even if it gets shipped from a California warehouse, you still wouldn't be taxed. (Don't quote me on this point though, it's been a while but I'm fairly certain that's the case)
---
Now on to your actual question. Is there a way to avoid this? Based in the above, only 2 things come to mind:
- If by any chance you have another address in another state, it might be worth checking that.
- Check resellers. Depending in the item, they might be selling something at the same price amazon is selling it, if not lower. Heck, if it's something expensive, even a higher price than amazon might be worth it if it means paying no tax.
Hope that helps
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France has 3 different taxes : 20% for everything, except books and first necessity food which are at 5.5%, and 10% for house's work (building/extending a house).
In France, we never worry about taxes, all the displayed prices already have them in it.
You only pay what you see, and there's no way to not pay the tax (except if you are a professional resellers intermediate like shops, only the end user is paying the tax to prevent the State from earning it multiple times for the same item)
In France, amazon display the Switch at 299€, you pay 299€ that's all.
The 20% taxes are already inside the 299€ price.
When nintendo decide the switch is 299, it's that price everywhere in europe, whatever the taxes applied in each countries even if different.
Apparently it's working differently in USA due to different taxes in each states?
If we buy something outside of europe, say in USA, we have additional taxes to pay at arrival in the country as it was a tax-less price. They don't care where the seller is based and if their country or state is tax-less or not.
In France, we never worry about taxes, all the displayed prices already have them in it.
You only pay what you see, and there's no way to not pay the tax (except if you are a professional resellers intermediate like shops, only the end user is paying the tax to prevent the State from earning it multiple times for the same item)
In France, amazon display the Switch at 299€, you pay 299€ that's all.
The 20% taxes are already inside the 299€ price.
When nintendo decide the switch is 299, it's that price everywhere in europe, whatever the taxes applied in each countries even if different.
Apparently it's working differently in USA due to different taxes in each states?
If we buy something outside of europe, say in USA, we have additional taxes to pay at arrival in the country as it was a tax-less price. They don't care where the seller is based and if their country or state is tax-less or not.
Last edited by Cyan,
Taxes are never included in the listed price in America, so you never really know what you'll pay until your credit card is out.
D
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Yes, pirating is illegal. Taking something without paying is illegal.
Tax evasion is illegal. Shoplifting is illegal. Murder is illegal.
Ya know, just to name a few
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Only if GBATemp wants to pay us.
wink wink nudge nudge getwhatI'msayinggiveusmoney?
On topic, as mentioned above sales tax is dependent on shipping address, not billing address, so unless you wanted to use a mail forwarding service or ship it to a friend and have them ship it to you or something, there's no much you can do to avoid it.
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