02-19-2013, 12:40 AM | #1 |
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Informit agrees to refund California Sales Tax
I have just formally asked Informit why they have been charging me with California Sales Tax. In California, eBooks bought and transmitted over the internet are NOT subject to Sales Tax.
California is starting to catch on to this whole internet thing. They responded "Thank you for contacting customer service. We apologize that you were charged sales tax for your eBooks in error. We have credited the sales tax for the following orders: WEBE167..... WEBE218..... WEBE125..... and so on. The refund for the sales tax will be applied the credit card used on the order. Please allow up to 10 days for the credit to appear." This sounds like a good thing so next I asked them: "Thanks. I hope this means that ALL the California sales tax charged for eBooks for ALL customers is being refunded." To which they responded: "Our pleasure. If the customer calls and contacts us, or if in the process of doing our jobs we notice it, it is refunded, however, we don't have the time or resources to dedicate to the task of sorting the orders and creating the refunds. Please let us know if we may be of further assistance." I say go and claim your refunds. http://www.informit.com/ Good luck! |
02-19-2013, 06:58 AM | #2 |
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You would be surprised at the companies that deliberately or mistakenly collect sales tax they are not entitled to. In Georgia Services are not taxable unless the state legislature passes a separate bill.
I have had quite a few businesses try to collect sales tax on services from me. Filing a complaint with the state does wonders. People need to pay attention the the tax laws of the state they reside in. Businesses can make millions collecting unauthorized sales tax. Apache |
02-19-2013, 07:22 AM | #3 | |
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02-19-2013, 11:23 AM | #4 |
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If they knowingly did this, I agree with you. It should not be on the consumer to right a wrong in that case. I also agree with a previous poster who said consumers should educate themselves on the tax laws of their state. Education is a good thing!
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02-19-2013, 11:25 AM | #5 |
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02-19-2013, 11:34 AM | #6 | |
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Perhaps they mistakenly thought they needed to, and the state didn't bother to say "you know, you can stop sending us this money....." I'm not betting on it, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. |
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02-19-2013, 11:35 AM | #7 |
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How could they not know what they were doing? Surely, there records would show taxes received and not sent on to a government agency.
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02-19-2013, 12:22 PM | #8 |
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If the Board of Equalization got involved, they would be. However, I'm guessing that they did it out of ignorance, rather than malice, which is to say, they collected it, and then passed it on to the BOE. And it would take a court order to convince the BOE that there's any reason to even investigate, much less actually refund a penny. California BOE doesn't really care if you save human babies as sex toys, so long as you pay them sales tax on it.
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02-19-2013, 12:27 PM | #9 | ||
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Electronic goods, however, where no physical object changes hands, have always been non-taxable. Quote:
I suspect you're dead on. |
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02-19-2013, 12:28 PM | #10 |
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Depends on how much business they do, and how their records are organized (or not, which is the actual problem). It's not always trivial to do a complete audit of all sales. It should be, mind you, especially for a company that probably only exists on computers, but "should be" won't buy you a cup of coffee without a few bucks in cash.
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02-19-2013, 12:47 PM | #11 | |
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The fine for Knowingly doing this is $5000 (plus submit all monies collected that are not returned to the customer) |
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02-19-2013, 01:04 PM | #12 |
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02-19-2013, 01:18 PM | #13 |
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I suspect it's also illegal to collect sales tax that isn't supposed to be collected, even if you do pass it on. It's just not something anybody but the customer will care about.
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02-19-2013, 01:21 PM | #14 | |
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(And don't get me started on the environmental crap we have to put up with. We now have to charge what amounts to a depost, like aluminum soft drink cans, on paint cans (except it's not refundable), and there's a "environmental fell" on lumber.) It's hysterical, however, if you're in another state, trying to recruit businesses to move. |
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02-19-2013, 02:56 PM | #15 | |
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The State of Florida charges to different Tallahassee merchants with Sales Tax Fraud in the last two weeks. Apache |
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