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| | | Author: | bigasbricks  | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 07:09 | | Subject: | Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 305 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| I have a member (very high ranking) openly trying to avoid paying sales tax.
Their business is in Georgia (sales tax collected) and we have sent over 10 orders
to this address. Now they have registered in New Hampshire (no sales tax collected).
They found our PayPal info from prior transactions and paid outside of Bricklink,
they used their PayPal shipping address for their business in Georgia. They state
that this behavior is okay because their accountant said to engage in this practice
since Bricklink will not respond to their inquiries. They also stated they have
reached out to Bricklink "several times" and since they will not respond to them
it means they are allowed to do this.
I see they do have some orders recently from other sellers so some are allowing
this behavior without reporting, I do not feel comfortable knowingly engaging
in this behavior and do not want to lose my account because a buyer wants to
avoid sales tax. I have sent a message to the helpdesk but am unaware if there
is still a backlog.
I have requested the buyer message to help desk as well. Any help would be great!!!
Order #16391503
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| | | | | Author: | cosmicray | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 07:24 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 116 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | I have a member (very high ranking) openly trying to avoid paying sales tax.
Their business is in Georgia (sales tax collected) and we have sent over 10 orders
to this address. Now they have registered in New Hampshire (no sales tax collected).
They found our PayPal info from prior transactions and paid outside of Bricklink,
they used their PayPal shipping address for their business in Georgia. They state
that this behavior is okay because their accountant said to engage in this practice
since Bricklink will not respond to their inquiries. They also stated they have
reached out to Bricklink "several times" and since they will not respond to them
it means they are allowed to do this.
I see they do have some orders recently from other sellers so some are allowing
this behavior without reporting, I do not feel comfortable knowingly engaging
in this behavior and do not want to lose my account because a buyer wants to
avoid sales tax. I have sent a message to the helpdesk but am unaware if there
is still a backlog.
I have requested the buyer message to help desk as well. Any help would be great!!!
Order #16391503
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It sounds, a little bit, like they are buying for resale, which should be tax
exempt.
In theory, they can claim a credit against their other collected sales tax, but
if they sell on a Marketplace Facilitator, like BL/eBay/Amazon, they may have
no other reportable sales tax to claim credit against (in which case they have
to eat it as a cost of doing business). A fair portion of my inventory was purchased
before I received an exemption certificate, so I treat it as basis, not as a
yearly expense.
Nita Rae
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| | | | | | | Author: | bigasbricks | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 07:52 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 87 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| Bricklink currently does not allow and is not set up for resale certificate exemptions
on purchases for resellers. This buyer is openly falsifying information to circumvent
Bricklink. Some sellers may turn a blind eye to this but I am not willing to
jeopardize my store so a buyer can avoid sales tax. It's very concerning
to me sellers would eve consider this behavior acceptable.
"This message is to guide you through the payment process for BrickLink Order
#*********. In the rare case that Seller provides different off-site payment
instructions below, we would like to advise you to submit payment using the PAY
NOW button on the Order Details page. This is because any payments made using
other methods may result in an improper transaction where tax is not paid to
the state. Thank you, and we appreciate your continued support."
In Problem, cosmicray writes:
| | In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | I have a member (very high ranking) openly trying to avoid paying sales tax.
Their business is in Georgia (sales tax collected) and we have sent over 10 orders
to this address. Now they have registered in New Hampshire (no sales tax collected).
They found our PayPal info from prior transactions and paid outside of Bricklink,
they used their PayPal shipping address for their business in Georgia. They state
that this behavior is okay because their accountant said to engage in this practice
since Bricklink will not respond to their inquiries. They also stated they have
reached out to Bricklink "several times" and since they will not respond to them
it means they are allowed to do this.
I see they do have some orders recently from other sellers so some are allowing
this behavior without reporting, I do not feel comfortable knowingly engaging
in this behavior and do not want to lose my account because a buyer wants to
avoid sales tax. I have sent a message to the helpdesk but am unaware if there
is still a backlog.
I have requested the buyer message to help desk as well. Any help would be great!!!
Order #16391503
|
It sounds, a little bit, like they are buying for resale, which should be tax
exempt.
In theory, they can claim a credit against their other collected sales tax, but
if they sell on a Marketplace Facilitator, like BL/eBay/Amazon, they may have
no other reportable sales tax to claim credit against (in which case they have
to eat it as a cost of doing business). A fair portion of my inventory was purchased
before I received an exemption certificate, so I treat it as basis, not as a
yearly expense.
Nita Rae
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| | | | | | | Author: | runner.caller | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 09:13 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 78 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| In Problem, cosmicray writes:
| | In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | I have a member (very high ranking) openly trying to avoid paying sales tax.
Their business is in Georgia (sales tax collected) and we have sent over 10 orders
to this address. Now they have registered in New Hampshire (no sales tax collected).
They found our PayPal info from prior transactions and paid outside of Bricklink,
they used their PayPal shipping address for their business in Georgia. They state
that this behavior is okay because their accountant said to engage in this practice
since Bricklink will not respond to their inquiries. They also stated they have
reached out to Bricklink "several times" and since they will not respond to them
it means they are allowed to do this.
I see they do have some orders recently from other sellers so some are allowing
this behavior without reporting, I do not feel comfortable knowingly engaging
in this behavior and do not want to lose my account because a buyer wants to
avoid sales tax. I have sent a message to the helpdesk but am unaware if there
is still a backlog.
I have requested the buyer message to help desk as well. Any help would be great!!!
Order #16391503
|
It sounds, a little bit, like they are buying for resale, which should be tax
exempt.
In theory, they can claim a credit against their other collected sales tax, but
if they sell on a Marketplace Facilitator, like BL/eBay/Amazon, they may have
no other reportable sales tax to claim credit against (in which case they have
to eat it as a cost of doing business). A fair portion of my inventory was purchased
before I received an exemption certificate, so I treat it as basis, not as a
yearly expense.
Nita Rae
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+1 Honestly, If this becomes a big enough problem, maybe BL will fix it the correct
way.
The vast majority of my customers at work are OEMs that buy things that go into
much bigger assemblies that they resell so they are almost all exempt.
In our system, on a customer entry, there is a little drop down for sales tax.
Once, that customer provides us with the paperwork, it's pretty easy to adjust
the sales tax to the 0% setting.
How BL hasn't added a setting for users to become exempt or even communication
on a planned date to get it added is beyond me.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | cosmicray | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 12:05 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 87 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| In Problem, runner.caller writes:
| | In Problem, cosmicray writes:
| | In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | I have a member (very high ranking) openly trying to avoid paying sales tax.
Their business is in Georgia (sales tax collected) and we have sent over 10 orders
to this address. Now they have registered in New Hampshire (no sales tax collected).
They found our PayPal info from prior transactions and paid outside of Bricklink,
they used their PayPal shipping address for their business in Georgia. They state
that this behavior is okay because their accountant said to engage in this practice
since Bricklink will not respond to their inquiries. They also stated they have
reached out to Bricklink "several times" and since they will not respond to them
it means they are allowed to do this.
I see they do have some orders recently from other sellers so some are allowing
this behavior without reporting, I do not feel comfortable knowingly engaging
in this behavior and do not want to lose my account because a buyer wants to
avoid sales tax. I have sent a message to the helpdesk but am unaware if there
is still a backlog.
I have requested the buyer message to help desk as well. Any help would be great!!!
Order #16391503
|
It sounds, a little bit, like they are buying for resale, which should be tax
exempt.
In theory, they can claim a credit against their other collected sales tax, but
if they sell on a Marketplace Facilitator, like BL/eBay/Amazon, they may have
no other reportable sales tax to claim credit against (in which case they have
to eat it as a cost of doing business). A fair portion of my inventory was purchased
before I received an exemption certificate, so I treat it as basis, not as a
yearly expense.
Nita Rae
|
+1 Honestly, If this becomes a big enough problem, maybe BL will fix it the correct
way.
The vast majority of my customers at work are OEMs that buy things that go into
much bigger assemblies that they resell so they are almost all exempt.
In our system, on a customer entry, there is a little drop down for sales tax.
Once, that customer provides us with the paperwork, it's pretty easy to adjust
the sales tax to the 0% setting.
How BL hasn't added a setting for users to become exempt or even communication
on a planned date to get it added is beyond me.
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IMHO, and speaking only for myself, I think BL underestimated the need (or else
the people buying for resale are a noisy group in the forum, which is a different
issue unto itself). BL assumed, and reasonably, that people were buying here
for their own consumption. The rare outlier would be that select minority who
build very large MOCs or sculptures, and need gross quantities of parts to create
a finished work.
Managing, and verifying, tax exemption certificates is (at a minimum) a new full
time position. It may well even represent multiple positions. That's a staffing
situation, even before you get into the development effort required. Then you
have to deal with exemptions outside the USA, and how those might be handled
in each country. It is really a big task.
Nita Rae
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| | | | | Author: | WildBricks | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 08:10 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 74 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| They state
| | that this behavior is okay because their accountant said to engage in this practice
since Bricklink will not respond to their inquiries.
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It sounds like their accountant is as shady as they are. They simply need to
pay the taxes and turn in the receipts at the end of the year. They get a credit
on their taxes toward the amount they paid.
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| | | | | Author: | tons_of_bricks | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 08:10 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 85 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| I would simply refund the payment they had sent outside of BL, tell them you
are not comfortable doing this and that if they're not willing to pay through
BL that you cannot continue with the order. I'd also let them know they are
putting themselves at risk of being banned. I know of two other users who were
banned for doing similar stuff.
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| | | | | | | Author: | bigasbricks | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 17:52 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| Pretty crappy the buyer is intentionally trying to circumvent paying taxes via
Bricklink and I will end up having to eat the PayPal fees to refund them because
of their bad behavior. Bricklink needs to address this, way to many posts about
this issue in the forum.
In Problem, firestar246 writes:
| | I would simply refund the payment they had sent outside of BL, tell them you
are not comfortable doing this and that if they're not willing to pay through
BL that you cannot continue with the order. I'd also let them know they are
putting themselves at risk of being banned. I know of two other users who were
banned for doing similar stuff.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Tracyd | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 18:01 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | Pretty crappy the buyer is intentionally trying to circumvent paying taxes via
Bricklink and I will end up having to eat the PayPal fees to refund them because
of their bad behavior. Bricklink needs to address this, way to many posts about
this issue in the forum.
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As far as I am concerned you are entitled to keep the PayPal fees from the refund.
They circumvented the system. And they knew better.
| |
In Problem, firestar246 writes:
| | I would simply refund the payment they had sent outside of BL, tell them you
are not comfortable doing this and that if they're not willing to pay through
BL that you cannot continue with the order. I'd also let them know they are
putting themselves at risk of being banned. I know of two other users who were
banned for doing similar stuff.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | bigasbricks | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 18:29 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| That would for sure generate a negative feedback from the buyer. The buyer could
still open a claim for not getting a full refund via PayPal anyways right?
In Problem, Tracyd writes:
| | In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | Pretty crappy the buyer is intentionally trying to circumvent paying taxes via
Bricklink and I will end up having to eat the PayPal fees to refund them because
of their bad behavior. Bricklink needs to address this, way to many posts about
this issue in the forum.
|
As far as I am concerned you are entitled to keep the PayPal fees from the refund.
They circumvented the system. And they knew better.
| |
In Problem, firestar246 writes:
| | I would simply refund the payment they had sent outside of BL, tell them you
are not comfortable doing this and that if they're not willing to pay through
BL that you cannot continue with the order. I'd also let them know they are
putting themselves at risk of being banned. I know of two other users who were
banned for doing similar stuff.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | Tracyd | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 18:36 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 59 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | That would for sure generate a negative feedback from the buyer. The buyer could
still open a claim for not getting a full refund via PayPal anyways right?
|
I don't know about the PayPal side, but any negative feedback the would leave
would look bad for them as your simple response of "Attempted sales tax avoidance"
would be a perfect response.
| |
In Problem, Tracyd writes:
| | In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | Pretty crappy the buyer is intentionally trying to circumvent paying taxes via
Bricklink and I will end up having to eat the PayPal fees to refund them because
of their bad behavior. Bricklink needs to address this, way to many posts about
this issue in the forum.
|
As far as I am concerned you are entitled to keep the PayPal fees from the refund.
They circumvented the system. And they knew better.
| |
In Problem, firestar246 writes:
| | I would simply refund the payment they had sent outside of BL, tell them you
are not comfortable doing this and that if they're not willing to pay through
BL that you cannot continue with the order. I'd also let them know they are
putting themselves at risk of being banned. I know of two other users who were
banned for doing similar stuff.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | bigasbricks | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 19:09 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 50 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| That's a good one, thank you
In Problem, Tracyd writes:
| | In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | That would for sure generate a negative feedback from the buyer. The buyer could
still open a claim for not getting a full refund via PayPal anyways right?
|
I don't know about the PayPal side, but any negative feedback the would leave
would look bad for them as your simple response of "Attempted sales tax avoidance"
would be a perfect response.
| |
In Problem, Tracyd writes:
| | In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | Pretty crappy the buyer is intentionally trying to circumvent paying taxes via
Bricklink and I will end up having to eat the PayPal fees to refund them because
of their bad behavior. Bricklink needs to address this, way to many posts about
this issue in the forum.
|
As far as I am concerned you are entitled to keep the PayPal fees from the refund.
They circumvented the system. And they knew better.
| |
In Problem, firestar246 writes:
| | I would simply refund the payment they had sent outside of BL, tell them you
are not comfortable doing this and that if they're not willing to pay through
BL that you cannot continue with the order. I'd also let them know they are
putting themselves at risk of being banned. I know of two other users who were
banned for doing similar stuff.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | cosmicray | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 18:29 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 54 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| In Problem, Tracyd writes:
| | In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | Pretty crappy the buyer is intentionally trying to circumvent paying taxes via
Bricklink and I will end up having to eat the PayPal fees to refund them because
of their bad behavior. Bricklink needs to address this, way to many posts about
this issue in the forum.
|
As far as I am concerned you are entitled to keep the PayPal fees from the refund.
They circumvented the system. And they knew better.
|
While you may be technically and proceduraly correct, doing it that way might
leave a door open for a PayPal claim against the seller. The seller would need
really explicit terms why they are doing that (and under what circumstances),
to hold off the claim.
| | | | In Problem, firestar246 writes:
| | I would simply refund the payment they had sent outside of BL, tell them you
are not comfortable doing this and that if they're not willing to pay through
BL that you cannot continue with the order. I'd also let them know they are
putting themselves at risk of being banned. I know of two other users who were
banned for doing similar stuff.
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IMHO, what may be needed here is a new procedural claim against a member, something
like BTA (Buyer Tax Avoidance) that would allow BL administration to become involved,
and give the seller cover in situations like this.
Nita Rae
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | bigasbricks | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 19:10 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 72 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| That would be a wonderful idea, I know there are many that struggle with these
situations.
In Problem, cosmicray writes:
| | In Problem, Tracyd writes:
| | In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | Pretty crappy the buyer is intentionally trying to circumvent paying taxes via
Bricklink and I will end up having to eat the PayPal fees to refund them because
of their bad behavior. Bricklink needs to address this, way to many posts about
this issue in the forum.
|
As far as I am concerned you are entitled to keep the PayPal fees from the refund.
They circumvented the system. And they knew better.
|
While you may be technically and proceduraly correct, doing it that way might
leave a door open for a PayPal claim against the seller. The seller would need
really explicit terms why they are doing that (and under what circumstances),
to hold off the claim.
| | | | In Problem, firestar246 writes:
| | I would simply refund the payment they had sent outside of BL, tell them you
are not comfortable doing this and that if they're not willing to pay through
BL that you cannot continue with the order. I'd also let them know they are
putting themselves at risk of being banned. I know of two other users who were
banned for doing similar stuff.
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|
IMHO, what may be needed here is a new procedural claim against a member, something
like BTA (Buyer Tax Avoidance) that would allow BL administration to become involved,
and give the seller cover in situations like this.
Nita Rae
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| | | | | Author: | brickablocks | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 08:59 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 79 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| Man, if you think this is bad, you're going to have a heart attack reading
up on the panama papers...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers
In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
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| | | | | Author: | Cob | | Posted: | May 26, 2021 09:47 | | Subject: | Re: Another Buyer Tax Evasion | | Viewed: | 94 times | | Topic: | Problem | |
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| In Problem, bigasbricks writes:
| | I have a member (very high ranking) openly trying to avoid paying sales tax.
Their business is in Georgia (sales tax collected) and we have sent over 10 orders
to this address. Now they have registered in New Hampshire (no sales tax collected).
They found our PayPal info from prior transactions and paid outside of Bricklink,
they used their PayPal shipping address for their business in Georgia. They state
that this behavior is okay because their accountant said to engage in this practice
since Bricklink will not respond to their inquiries. They also stated they have
reached out to Bricklink "several times" and since they will not respond to them
it means they are allowed to do this.
I see they do have some orders recently from other sellers so some are allowing
this behavior without reporting, I do not feel comfortable knowingly engaging
in this behavior and do not want to lose my account because a buyer wants to
avoid sales tax. I have sent a message to the helpdesk but am unaware if there
is still a backlog.
I have requested the buyer message to help desk as well. Any help would be great!!!
Order #16391503
|
There are many reasons why a sale should not be taxable, yet BrickLink does not
recognize any of them.
If it would make you feel better have them complete this form.
The fourth bullet point.
https://dor.georgia.gov/taxes/business-taxes/sales-use-tax/nontaxable-sales#:~:text=A%20Georgia%20business%20can%20purchase,not%20subject%20to%20sales%20tax.
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USA, Michigan
