Buying And Selling Online With Tax Laws Getting Crazy

[kmmcrafts]

This little clip I copied from a business news site I follow.. Like I've said in the past... Doing ANY business Buying Or Selling... is going to get real interesting for a lot of folks... especially ones that have been avoiding sales and use tax laws... Then you have customs for those international sales / purchases... 

"This is seriously getting out of hand.
I rec’d a tax bill for sales tax on product I imported from Mexico two years ago. $700 originally, turned into $1256.

Now, here’s news: My housekeeper bought two sweatshirts on eBay 4 years ago. Cost of the shirts: $8 each + $0.99 shipping. Total of $16.99. SHE just got a sales tax bill from NYS for $263 for sales tax + penalties & interest. The NY source of this info? US Customs. I’m expecting an eBy bill from them shortly….

Tax guy says “State sponsored extortion.” This could spread."

[Rockytime]

That same crap will be addressed at the polls Tuesday.Will put small on-line sellers out of business having to hire an accountant. Sad state of affairs.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

They can not go back to collect taxes. Those laws are for the here and now. Fight any charges. 

[kmmcrafts]

My state sales tax people have been messing with me ever since I started this business.. Every year they send out a letter saying they either didn't get my money or that I never filed... LOL So every year.. usually around August.. I have to fill out the form with a copy of my filed taxes forms and a copy of my cleared check from the bank.. 4 years in a row now... BUT.. here is the kicker for this year.. I did the above.. then near the end of Oct.. I got another letter saying I owed them the whopping $7.48 I had already paid + $790 penalty fee for not reporting or paying. Didn't take me long to get on the phone and give them a call that time.. Usually I just mail the thing in with all the copies needed.. so I never call them.. I told the lady on the phone they maybe getting a bill from me for the 4 years worth of stamps and charges from me having to copy my records for them when they already have them.. plus my hours worth of wages down time waiting for 40 minutes on the phone for a real person.... She took care of it right on the phone and I got a correction letter in the mail for my records... Stupid idiots.. I think they spent more money than I paid them for all the dumb paperwork on their own mistake.... I think the issue is someone isn't doing their job of entering the info into the system.. so another department has to send out the notice to me etc etc..  They need to be picking on someone else that has a considerable amount for their unpaid bill.. They spend more money in paper work and mailing cost sending those letters out etc.. to me.. I don't sell a lot inside my state.. so the $7.48 is the most mine has been yet..

I wonder how many business's just pay again.. makes me wonder if they are just trying to cheat out some cash on some new business's hoping they won't figure it out.. LOL I don't really care and it hasn't bothered me until I see that they seem to think they can charge  that outrageous penalty off of a $8 amount that was owed..   

[Rockytime]

Years ago Colorado sent an auditor to my office with a warrant to inspect my payables for tax payments. After tying up my conference room for three weeks it was discovered the state owed me more than $3000 in over payment of sales tax. It appears I was overpaying both state and Denver county taxes.

Edited November 5, 2018 by Rockytime
Gramattical error

[JAC1961]

This is the kind of thing that's so far prevented me from becoming serious about selling.  Just seems like too much hassle.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

It is a hassle and getting worse but good paper work backs you up. Yes it may take some time if you have problems. I was audited the very first year I started my business. I had to go to IRS twice to get things straightened out. I finally took all paper work and placed it on the ladys desk and gave her the header page so that each bill and numbers were listed and told her to call me when you are done of if you had any questions because i could not sit there and walk her through every bill. I told her my time is money too. 2 days later everything was squared away and I picked up my paperwork and believe me it was in the same order as I left it with her. My business is way too small to go after me. She realized that I am sure and her boss probably told her move on. I fill out quarterly sales and use tax. If I get behind they send a letter threatening to add penalty. Some quarters are 0 income so I say go ahead. It was just a matter of time when all states want a poiec of internet action because it has become so huge and the brick and mortar stores are becoming a thing of the past. Good luck to all 

[kmmcrafts]

It is a hassle... I have a accountant that does all my stuff... in fact.. she encourages me to give any of the crap to her and she takes care of it free of charge.. it's part of me hiring her to begin with.. which around here.. every other accountant charges you for anything additional for anything besides filing the taxes.. She specializes for small business's not just everybody..

 

It's sad to me that people are scared to "try" to make money simply because of the taxes.. I guess you have to weigh out your options etc.. but taxes are something that is in every day life whether you are self employed or an employee.. either way you should be keeping good records.. especially those that fill out the long form.. 

I use Quicken online for small business's.. It syncs with my online stores and PayPal.. so any sale or spending that's done online.. is automatically entered.. I have to manually enter any of my in person sales / purchases unless they pay by credit card.. but I could sync my bank to it too then I wouldn't need to manual enter anything... but I don't use a special account for the business yet so I haven't done that... I keep tabs on it constantly to be sure things are actually getting entered etc. I can snap a photo of my receipts with my cell phone and upload them to the system... It also uses GPS to keep track of travel miles for tax credit / deductions etc.. Well worth the $5 a month I pay for that as I use to do it manually and would spend more than a couple hours a month entering all the info.. Now I have a couple more hours a month to spend on the Village 

 

   

[orangeman]

You know what I'd tell NYS? Well I can't print it here! Tell your housekeeper to forget about it. However, the housekeeper better not set foot in NYS or they could arrest her. What a lovely state!

bb