Is there sales tax with educational discount

[papersushi]

I am so tired of seeing same tax question every day. Someone need to put a post on the top of this form about Tax policy! One more time!

No matter how do you order your computer through Apple, online, local store, phone etc. No matter what discount you get, such as educational individual purchase, You have to pay the local sales tax of the shipping address. except for 5 states that have no sales tax such as Oregon, Alaska etc.

If you are buying for a business and your business is tax exampt, you have to submit tax exempt certificate to avoid the tax.

There is no such a law as "if order online, there is no sales tax", "Apple has no retail store in my state, so no sales tax" Apple has physcial presence in all 50 states, so they are obligated to collect local sales tax.

End of the story!

 

[jxyama]

No matter how do you order your computer through Apple, online, local store, phone etc. No matter what discount you get, such as educational individual purchase, You have to pay the local sales tax of the shipping address. except for 5 states that have no sales tax such as Oregon, Alaska etc.

[snip]

There is no such a law as "if order online, there is no sales tax", "Apple has no retail store in my state, so no sales tax" Apple has physcial presence in all 50 states, so they are obligated to collect local sales tax.

End of the story!

not quite... there are some states with "use tax." Michigan is one of them and up to this point, it seems quite voluntary. i am not sure what the full legal implications of interstate taxation is. i read somewhere, probably not 100% reliable, that interstate taxation is not permitted in the U.S. but if your tax state doesn't have "use tax," then you do not pay sales tax on purchases made outside of your state.

if i drove from ann arbor, MI to toledo, OH to purchase something, michigan does not see the sales tax. buying online from a vendor with no in-state presence is no different, except that no state sees the sales tax.

apple is obligated to collect local taxes, no doubt, because of nationwide presence. but buyers having to pay sales tax on online purchases made out of state is still being debated, i believe...

anyone here a tax lawyer?

 

[papersushi]

You can debate this for years. And here is the policy through Apple. If you want to have a law suit or debate agaist Apple to win your $12.95 tax back. Good luck! I am sure Apple has a team of tax lawers and I am sure its not like Apple is making money from charging you sales tax.

 

[jxyama]

You can debate this for years. And here is the policy through Apple. If you want to have a law suit or debate agaist Apple to win your $12.95 tax back. Good luck! I am sure Apple has a team of tax lawers and I am sure its not like Apple is making money from charging you sales tax.

i'm not disputing that apple should not collect the appropriate state taxes. that's not what i said at all.

what i said was that it's debatable whether or not you owe sales tax if you purchase a Mac over the internet from a vendor with no in-state presence. (esp. if your state has no "use tax" provision i mentioned.)

anyway, your post before the last was a bit hard to read. so i take back my "not quite" part if you were offended or something. i'm not disputing your point, afterall.

 

[papersushi]

Apple has in-state presence in EVERY single state! Either through retail store, or local regional education, government sales office.

 

[tamara6]

not quite... there's no way to get apple edu. discount without paying taxes. some resellers have their own edu. discounts...

EDU discounts on Apple products from resellers? Who? I've been able to get EDU discounts on software from resellers, but none of the 4 or 5 that I've contacted would give me a discount on Apple hardware.

 

[jxyama]

EDU discounts on Apple products from resellers? Who? I've been able to get EDU discounts on software from resellers, but none of the 4 or 5 that I've contacted would give me a discount on Apple hardware.

i got $50 off my PB from J&R. i also heard that if i went to a compusa a bit far out, they'd give me an edu. discount. (i was told i cannot get one from the local one because it's mostly up to each store's manager to decide whether or not to offer edu. discount.)

papersushi: i'm talking about non-Apple Mac resellers that do not have presence in every state.

 

[DGFan]

I am so tired of seeing same tax question every day. Someone need to put a post on the top of this form about Tax policy! One more time!

No matter how do you order your computer through Apple, online, local store, phone etc. No matter what discount you get, such as educational individual purchase, You have to pay the local sales tax of the shipping address. except for 5 states that have no sales tax such as Oregon, Alaska etc.

If you are buying for a business and your business is tax exampt, you have to submit tax exempt certificate to avoid the tax.

There is no such a law as "if order online, there is no sales tax", "Apple has no retail store in my state, so no sales tax" Apple has physcial presence in all 50 states, so they are obligated to collect local sales tax.

End of the story!

The law in question is the Constitution of the United States which forbids states from regulating interstate commerce. If a company does not have a physical presence in the state they cannot be forced to collect sales tax for that state. This has been an issue for decades with respect to mail order purchases. It is no different for internet purchases.

That's the law.

Now, as someone else already responded, some states like Michigan try to get around the restriction by including Use Tax as part of the income tax form. There are many who consider this tax unconstitutional. I do not know if it has been challenged in federal court.

 

[jxyama]

Next time you try to "correct" people, make sure your statements are clear and actually correct.

actually, i think papersushi's posts are correct for the domain he's talking about. the problem is, it's very easy to mis-read his original post. the problem is this sentence, i think...

No matter how do you order your computer through Apple, online, local store, phone etc.

what he means is "no matter how you order your Mac through Apple (online, local retail, phone, etc.)..." he's only talking about ordering Macs through Apple, and in that context, he's absolutely correct. apple will collect the applicable state tax.

he's not talking about non-Apple Mac resellers.

 

[DGFan]

actually, i think papersushi's posts are correct for the domain he's talking about. the problem is, it's very easy to mis-read his original post. the problem is this sentence, i think...

Yeah, I re-read his post (and some later posts in the thread) and removed that bit. Still, I think his post was a little misleading. It seemed like he was trying to correct misconceptions which I hadn't seen posted in this thread. That was unclear to me.

 

[papersushi]

I was refereing to Apple direct sales(Apple retail, www.apple.com, 1-800-MYAPPLE), not any other Apple re-sellers.