# Is there a way to avoid paying tax on Amazon?



## Chary (Jan 19, 2017)

Ethics of tax and fraud and evil-doing and whatever aside, is there any way to avoid paying nearly 10% extra on the crap I order on Amazon? Going to order a $600+ monitor soon, a Switch down the line, and numerous other expensive junk, and I _really_ don't want to pay taxes on this stuff if I can avoid it. I'm a stickler for my money, and right now I'm debating pre-ordering Fire Emblem Echoes off Amazon because there's a $3 tax. I know it seems petty--but think of how much that adds up to in a year, purchase after purchase.

Sometimes, items aren't taxed. I assume that's because the seller or that specific Amazon warehouse, I'm unsure, reside in Oregon, or one of the other very few states that have no sales tax. I've tried setting my billing address to one in Oregon, but alas it didn't negate the tax. Whether the tax happens or not seems to be incredibly random. Do they determine the tax based on where the credit card's address is linked to, or where the item ships out from? And are there any little tricks I can do to not pay the tax at all?

come at me, government


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## SickPuppy (Jan 19, 2017)

tax evasion is a serious crime


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## proflayton123 (Jan 19, 2017)

I'm not sure on the tax rate in US, but it is 20% in the U.K.


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## zoogie (Jan 19, 2017)

SickPuppy said:


> tax evasion is a serious crime


What the .......
She said "avoid" not evade.
http://www.bizfilings.com/toolkit/sbg/tax-info/fed-taxes/tax-avoidance-and-tax-evasion.aspx

@Chary you just have to a seller that isn't based in your state. Amazon fulfillment usually disqualifies you from avoiding tax since they're based everywhere. (a distribution site counts as a physical presence)
Don't know if this will help:
https://www.rather-be-shopping.com/blog/2015/09/21/states-that-collect-amazon-sales-tax/


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## Chary (Jan 19, 2017)

proflayton123 said:


> I'm not sure on the tax rate in US, but it is 20% in the U.K.


Well that's horrifying.



zoogie said:


> helpful snip


Aha. So it is based upon seller. Ah well. At least now I know I can search out sellers that don't offer tax when it comes to non-Amazon-fulfilled items. Thanks.

Also it notes that Jet was bought out by Walmart on that site, what a bummer :/


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## Polarise (Jan 19, 2017)

With the 3DS and Wii U you could type the zip code 99551, (in alaska) and not pay tax. I don't know about Amazon.


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## Joe88 (Jan 19, 2017)

Order from newegg instead, as long as you don't live in TN, NJ, or CA you won't get charged tax


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## Armadillo (Jan 19, 2017)

Can't help, but



Chary said:


> Well that's horrifying.



It's not too bad. We don't have to worry about paying for medical insurance or hoping X is covered even if we do. So expense wise, it probably all works out much the same in the end.

I'd rather the higher rate and have things like the nhs, than cut it much lower and lose them.


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## ComeTurismO (Jan 20, 2017)

If you're a person of Aboriginal Status, you're legally allowed to get a tax exemption up here in Canada. I exempt taxes a lot for customers who are Native Canadian. Sold a PS4 for 372.92 to 329.99 on Boxing Day.


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## WiiUBricker (Jan 20, 2017)

Maybe you should ask @Donald_Trump .

Just kidding, I couldn't resist


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## Blood Fetish (Jan 20, 2017)

If you don't care about ethics or the law then why don't you just shoplift what you want?


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## Chary (Jan 20, 2017)

Blood Fetish said:


> If you don't care about ethics or the law then why don't you just shoplift what you want?


Beeecause that's blatantly illegal? In the OP I kind of made it obvious that there's plenty of items on Amazon that are tax free and I wanted to know what the trick was. The rest of it is sarcasm.

As was said before 


zoogie said:


> She said "avoid" not evade.
> http://www.bizfilings.com/toolkit/sbg/tax-info/fed-taxes/tax-avoidance-and-tax-evasion.aspx


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## Supster131 (Jan 20, 2017)

There is a way, and I've used to several times. The great part is, it's legal!
I don't know if this works in other states, but if the item is being shipped from another state, you aren't charged tax. Say I'm ordering a PS4 or something, but it's being shipped from Nevada, I won't be charged due to it being outside of state. However, if that PS4 is available in a Californian warehouse, then I will be charged tax. It really depends on item to item and the availability of it in your state's warehouse or not.


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## driverdis (Jan 20, 2017)

Polarise said:


> With the 3DS and Wii U you could type the zip code 99551, (in alaska) and not pay tax. I don't know about Amazon.



I use 99501 in Alaska for Wii U and 3DS eShops. I do not think I am doing anything wrong as Nintendo does not have a brick and mortar presence in the state I live in.


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## Blood Fetish (Jan 20, 2017)

That's still illegal if you don't pay taxes on the item.


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## Polarise (Jan 20, 2017)

Blood Fetish said:


> That's still illegal if you don't pay taxes on the item.


What's even more illegal? I use freeShop...


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## RustInPeace (Jan 20, 2017)

Regrettably I never knew Chary was a woman until now. Anyways...get Prime? You get the 20% discount on physical new games for 2 weeks of release. Paid $77 for the S/M double pack steelbook instead of what would've been $90. I never thought about tax being a hindrance, I give a little margin of tax and shipping without sometimes calculating the exact value. So for N3DS XL, always had $215 ready because shipping and tax typically made it around $212 or so. I'm stingy with my money, similarly enough, just got be sure you have a tiny bit more than you think it costs, or calculate tax and shipping ahead of time and have the exact amount ready upon purchase. I don't think it's nationwide, here in Pennsylvania the sales tax is 6%, I'm pretty sure it is, hence the N3DS example, $6-7 for shipping, $6 tax, $199 MSRP


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## driverdis (Jan 20, 2017)

Blood Fetish said:


> That's still illegal if you don't pay taxes on the item.



I make less than the minimum for dependents under 65 and not blind so I do not have any income tax, so I am not sure how I would be paying sales tax on stuff since I do not need to file anything.


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## kolewan (Jan 20, 2017)

ComeTurismO said:


> If you're a person of Aboriginal Status, you're legally allowed to get a tax exemption up here in Canada. I exempt taxes a lot for customers who are Native Canadian. Sold a PS4 for 372.92 to 329.99 on Boxing Day.



Not all natives get many tax breaks -- like me. There's varying levels and you shouldn't just pass that info off as "fact".


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## Arecaidian Fox (Jan 20, 2017)

When I lived in Idaho I never paid a cent for sales tax on Amazon. Now that I'm out here in Washington, I've been hit with that a couple times. I was thinking about setting up a VPN to spoof my location or some such (maybe Alaska  ) to see if that changed the situation, but I have not gotten around to it yet.


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## invaderyoyo (Jan 20, 2017)

Move to New Hampshire.


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## Chary (Jan 20, 2017)

RustInPeace said:


> Regrettably I never knew Chary was a woman until now. Anyways...get Prime? You get the 20% discount on physical new games for 2 weeks of release. Paid $77 for the S/M double pack steelbook instead of what would've been $90. I never thought about tax being a hindrance, I give a little margin of tax and shipping without sometimes calculating the exact value. So for N3DS XL, always had $215 ready because shipping and tax typically made it around $212 or so. I'm stingy with my money, similarly enough, just got be sure you have a tiny bit more than you think it costs, or calculate tax and shipping ahead of time and have the exact amount ready upon purchase. I don't think it's nationwide, here in Pennsylvania the sales tax is 6%, I'm pretty sure it is, hence the N3DS example, $6-7 for shipping, $6 tax, $199 MSRP


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.



driverdis said:


> I make less than the minimum for dependents under 65 and not blind so I do not have any income tax, so I am not sure how I would be paying sales tax on stuff since I do not need to file anything.


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!


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## grossaffe (Jan 20, 2017)

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.



Chary said:


> 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.


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.


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## Chary (Jan 20, 2017)

grossaffe said:


> 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.


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.


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## Sonic Angel Knight (Jan 20, 2017)

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.


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## Molina (Jan 20, 2017)

Chary said:


> Well that's horrifying.


That's 20% in EU 



Sonic Angel Knight said:


> How is tax calculated?



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.


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## Sonic Angel Knight (Jan 20, 2017)

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.


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## Molina (Jan 20, 2017)

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.


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## nastys (Jan 20, 2017)

Molina said:


> That's 20% in EU


Not the whole EU. It's 22% (with some exceptions) in Italy.........


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## RustInPeace (Jan 20, 2017)

Molina said:


> Each country or state (for USA) has his own way to tax.
> 
> They establish taxes with rules they think fair.



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.


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## Madridi (Jan 20, 2017)

@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


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## Cyan (Jan 20, 2017)

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.


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## Blood Fetish (Jan 20, 2017)

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.


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## Deleted User (Jan 20, 2017)

Polarise said:


> What's even more illegal? I use freeShop...


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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## Depravo (Jan 20, 2017)

You're a video game reporter. Aren't these items considered 'business expenses'?


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## Tom Bombadildo (Jan 21, 2017)

Depravo said:


> You're a video game reporter. Aren't these items considered 'business expenses'?


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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