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Isn't student discount totally pointless?

hojoon0724 said:
NO ONE sits down with a pen and 1040 form and DOES their own tax.
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Try not to pretend that you know what everyone else in the world does.

I still use a pencil, a pen, a calculator, and a paper tax form, and no software. I fill out one form in pencil, make corrections if needed, copy it in pen, sign and put the form in an envelope and mail it to the IRS. I am someone.

Yes, I have a mortgage, other itemized deductions, capital gains, etc.
 
Only reason I bought NOT from Amazon is for the CTO option. If you're buying the standard configuration, Amazon is better. The return policy is way better than Apple (no restocking fee).
 
santaliqueur said:
The law is, YOU MUST PAY EITHER SALES TAX OR USE TAX. You may not agree, you probably don't understand, but you still must do it. Whether or not everyone does is another story. I wonder how you'd be able to explain that if you got audited. "Well, nobody else ever paid that tax, soooo"
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What about physical purchases? If I drive to a sales-tax-free state and buy it from an Apple retail store, do I have to pay use tax on that?

If so, what if I drive to a state which has a lower sales tax rate than my own? Can I legally save money that way?
 
hojoon0724 said:
Apparently an estimate of 60% of Americans don't do their own taxes.
The rest who say they do their own tax use TurboTax or some software to do it for them.
NO ONE sits down with a pen and 1040 form and DOES their own tax.

And no I don't throw away receipts but I don't file them for later either.
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Actually, I do know some who do get the forms and fill them out by hand lol


qaz2 said:
What about physical purchases? If I drive to a sales-tax-free state and buy it from an Apple retail store, do I have to pay use tax on that?

If so, what if I drive to a state which has a lower sales tax rate than my own? Can I legally save money that way?
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I believe so

lucidmedia said:
use tax still applies...
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I don't believe so. Aside from some items (like vehicles) you pay the local tax of where you make the purchase. No use tax is required. Or am I mistaken?

When you shop for items in say KS, you pay KS taxes. You do not have to then repay say CO taxes if you are a resident of CO. If a state has no sales tax, you do not need to pay those taxes in your home state as the purchase was not made in that state
 
If you're willing to shop around stores, and you want a stock configuration, the student discount is pointless. I got my MBP $100 cheaper than the student discount, with 3 years warranty and a laptop backpack for free by shopping around, and making different stores compete. You can't do this at an apple centre though, only other retailers, ie. Dick Smith, JB-HiFi, etc.
 
@hojoon
Is any member of the congress pushing towards taxing Internet retailers? Coz I'll be pissed off if they pass it before they clean up the oil spill.
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Absolutely yes. Though you don't mean "taxing Internet retailers," I assume; you mean "requiring Internet retailers to charge sales tax." And, where exactly do you think the states and feds get money for services, up to and including cleaning up oil spills? From our tax dollars. (and in the case of the oil spill, from BP, though I am sure BP is not going to foot the entire bill.)

@bodhi395
I think the better system is for the people selling the goods to have to charge the sales tax of whatever state they are selling to, and I'm unsure why Amazon.com doesn't do that, while most other e-sellers do.
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Because internet retailers are only required to collect tax in states where they have a "physical selling presence." Even before the advent of the Apple Store, Apple would say that it has a "physical selling presence" in every state. Amazon does not. I'm not sure "most other" e-sellers charge tax. Most of the e-sellers I use don't, or they'll say "we charge tax in Texas" or wherever they are physically located, but don't bother for other states.

@dukebound85

I don't believe so. Aside from some items (like vehicles) you pay the local tax of where you make the purchase. No use tax is required. Or am I mistaken?
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I *think* you might be mistaken. See this entry from Wikipedia on "tax-free" shopping:

...For example, merchants in tax-free New Hampshire regularly advertise to residents of adjacent Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine the benefits of purchasing goods without sales tax, ignoring the fact that there is no general exemption from the use taxes when the goods are taken back home. Many purchasers are unaware of the obligation to pay the tax, or file the necessary return, or of the fact that it is not the duty of a merchant to collect it from them and pay it indirectly. However, it is the purchaser's obligation to pay it directly to the state, often in connection with filing their annual income tax return.
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And also...

Goods that would be taxable at home are taxable at the same rate when taken home or delivered, regardless of where or how they were purchased.
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This makes me wonder: what should happens when the surrounding jurisdictions all have the same tax rate? For instance, I live in the DC Metropolitan area and DC, Maryland and Virginia all levy the same sales tax or are within a quarter of a percent of each other. I guess, technically, I should request a tax refund from the jurisdiction where I buy a product, and then pay tax to my actual jurisdiction of residence. Even if this the same amount!

States are starting to recognize that the OP's thinking that there is "no tax" on Internet purchases (instead of a use tax that most people don't know about or just decline to pay) is a HUGE loophole. I guarantee that there is work going on now to close it. I know retailers like Amazon may want to fight because peoples' ignorance works to their favor. But we're talking about billions of unpaid use taxes here, I'm sure, and states want that money.
 
I live in Washington state, I pay taxes on Amazon purchases.

try searching "Amazon North Carolina Taxes"

Short version: North Carolina is asking Amazon for the records of all purchases made by it's citizens, so they can go and collect all the taxes due from ALL purchases made from Amazon prior to last year. There was a law change last year and Amazon adjusted partnerships with local connections to get around it.

If this happens in one state, it will cascade to them all! it comes down to "new" sources of revenue.
 
Your argument while technically wrong is practically correct in the US, however through the majority of the world you would be both technically and practically incorrect.
 
hojoon0724 said:
interstate commerce is never taxed
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It absolutely is. It is just the responsibility of the buyer to list their interstate purchases in their next tax return and pay the tax (it is called "use tax" in that case instead of "sales tax"), and apparently many people "forget" to do this.
 
I'm sympathetic to the argument that not charging sales tax on internet purchases is regressive (the poorest people are paying the most taxes.) Soon, pretty much no one will have to pay sales taxes on many purchases other than people who don't have credit cards, ready access to computers, or jobs that allow them to accept deliveries (i.e., poor people)

On the other hand...I just don't want to pay use taxes. :eek: I'm not arguing that makes me a good or somehow more savvy person, though. I'm just one of the few people who actually know I'm skirting the law when I don't pay use taxes.

This will eventually be fixed by requiring e-tailers to figure out a way to determine taxes based on where the item is being shipped, whether that e-tailer has a physical presence in that area or not. It'll be complicated. E-tailers will fight it. But I think that tax law will eventually have to move in that direction. Tax law was created when internet retailing was science fiction. The law will have to catch up; from the state's perspective, a lot of revenue is being lost.
 
Many states, including North Carolina, have a "sales tax holiday" weekend, usually in August. That's when I always buy computers! No sales or use tax. Plus the educational discount. Plus a free iPod. Plus a free printer. :)
 
No its not pointless at all. I think tax in CA is higher than other states (in AZ its less)
I bought a MBP 13inch and it was the same price with the student discount (after tax) as amazon. I also got $200 off on the ipod and a $100 printer for free so its a pretty good deal.
 
The sales tax holidays 'round these parts specifically exclude pricey items like computers. They're more for school supplies and clothes and stuff.
 
You may all be fogeting is that people live outside of the USA.

I am about to buy a mpb and even with education discount i HAVE to pay £226.63 = $336 of tax (VAT at 17.5%) and that is ON THE SPOT, no way of getting out of it.

Is there even a state in America which has a sales tax that high? However my family have usually bought our laptops in America and taken them home without paying your tax. (In the good days of $2 to the £)

But enjoy your fraudulent ways;)
 
I think the one thing we can agree on is that the US tax code is incredibly retarded.

Illogical, overly complicated, and ever-changing.

My taxes are still pretty straight forward, but my parents... oh man.
HR Block used to do them, but now they can't even handle it.

I think it's kind of retarded that you even have to hire a tax specialist at all... I mean come on. Wtf. Capital gains tax? Really? You're going to tax someone for investing in the economy? Really? Deductions, inheritance tax, etc? Really?

Idk, it all seems rather counter-intuitive to me.
Since we're supposed to be the land of equality, I'd rather just see a flat tax and be done with it. If we had to though, I'd support a three tier tax system, but just that, nothing more. I'd still much prefer a flat tax without the taxation of business, which would result in said businesses spending that money by either investing, or on new employees/hires, which benefits everyone.

/rant.

But yes OP, please do pay your taxes, our deficit is already unreal.
 
Fascinating read.

I have often wondered about the US tax system, from reading online I often get the impression that tax on buying costly items can somehow be avoided by buying from another state. Allowing people to squirm out of their civil responsibilities in such a manner always struck me as odd, so I had assumed that the tax had to be paid at the end of the tax year when Americans have to hand their returns in (I know americans have to hand their returns in once a year because of watching the Simpsons).

From this thread I now know that what I imagined to be the case is true.

If a foreigner like me can guess that tax can't be totally avoided I am amazed that the OP thought it could.

Do lots of US citizens really think that such a simple dodge could save them paying tax on bought items?
 
hojoon0724 said:
.
Amazon doesn't charge tax and it's free shipping
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Here in Kentucky, since Amazon has a physical presence in the state (huge distribution warehouse just a mile or two from my house) we are automatically charged state sales tax when ordering through Amazon. I believe it works like ts for all online retailers in the state.
 
chrispholt said:
You may all be fogeting is that people live outside of the USA.

I am about to buy a mpb and even with education discount i HAVE to pay £226.63 = $336 of tax (VAT at 17.5%) and that is ON THE SPOT, no way of getting out of it.

Is there even a state in America which has a sales tax that high? However my family have usually bought our laptops in America and taken them home without paying your tax. (In the good days of $2 to the £)

But enjoy your fraudulent ways;)
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Ah, but assuming the laptops cost more than £145 you should have paid VAT and import tax shouldn't you?
Those together normally add around 30% to the US purchase price, if you do things legally.
 
Is there even a state in America which has a sales tax that high? However my family have usually bought our laptops in America and taken them home without paying your tax. (In the good days of $2 to the £)

But enjoy your fraudulent ways ;)
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Enjoy your National Health Service. ;)

If a foreigner like me can guess that tax can't be totally avoided I am amazed that the OP thought it could.

Do lots of US citizens really think that such a simple dodge could save them paying tax on bought items?
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The "simple dodge" works, though, because at this point, there is no way for a state to track the purchases of its residents and come after them for unpaid use taxes.
 
hojoon0724 said:
NO ONE sits down with a pen and 1040 form and DOES their own tax.

And no I don't throw away receipts but I don't file them for later either.
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Well, for the record, I do fill out a 1040 form by sitting down with a pen... except mine comes with a nice little two letter suffix that means I'm poor (EZ), courtesy of being an independent college student. Yay!! :(

All sarcasm aside, because it is the 1040EZ it really is easy to sit down with a pen and do it, and even though I DO keep all of my receipts, and I DO file them in case, I never really remember to take them out upon filling out taxes. Come to think of it... I don't even seem to recall any spot on the EZ form that called for interstate purchases; same with the state and local taxes.
 
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