Interesting films about Russia, essential viewing!

[D_W]

probably also worth noting that starting a business is easier here than in the UK or than in Canada. I was listening to someone yesterday talking about how hard it is to start a business in Canada, so they moved to Florida. They were talking to someone else who was still in Canada.

BUT - the idea that it's willy nilly and you can do whatever you want, my mother obviously has some friends who have run afoul of the local sales tax authorities. A furniture store owning relative of mine also had trouble when two states both said he had to submit tax, one saying that he had to for buyers who lived over the border if they walked into his store but took a delivery back over the border. My state and the state next to it both claimed tax was due and disagreed with the other.

What was absolutely true, though, is if you are not collecting sales tax and you get caught by a state agent, you will wish you hadn't gotten out of bed that morning, and lots before and after that morning. They'll tie you up with assessments that may not be accurate and assess penalties first and ask questions later.

 

[D_W]

Just as well your mother does not live in Nebraska. In the UK prices can be displayed without VAT but it must be made clear. Places that sell like that are normally selling to other business. Some display both.

Nebraska (from Revised Statutes of Nebraska):

“77-2703(1)(b)

It is unlawful for any retailer to advertise, hold out, or state to the public or to any customer, directly or indirectly, that the tax or part thereof will be assumed or absorbed by the retailer, that it will not be added to the selling, renting, or leasing price of the property sold, rented, or leased, or that, if added, it or any part thereof will be refunded. The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to a public utility.

77-2703(1)(c)

The tax required to be collected by the retailer from the purchaser, unless otherwise provided by statute or by rule and regulation of the Tax Commissioner, shall be displayed separately from the list price, the price advertised in the premises, the marked price, or other price on the sales check or other proof of sales, rentals, or leases.”

Sounds like Nebraska wants the price listed to run through the register so a paper trail of taxes is easy to figure out.

While it would sound like something people wouldn't do now, where I grew up, most people would claim that the prices were inclusive of taxes and then not pay them in or not pay all of them in. I eyeballed the nebraska tax rules - in some cases (admissions, amusements), tax can be included. In others, it can't and the registers and computer systems have to record the transaction a certain way. Sounds like a pain and might be tangled in legal definitions.

one of the humorous things is that right at the start, the regulations or code (whatever they were) state "the tax is not upon the item being sold, but is upon the sale itself". That smells like a definition that has to be given based on rules written somewhere else or some enterprising individual would say "you taxed the sale, but already collected tax on the item" or whatever.

This stuff is all coded up in computerized register and payment systems now, though. The last calamity that I can recall is being charged tax on toilet paper and then deciding I wouldn't do anything about it because it would be too big of a pain because it's probably hard coded in the item number system.

Some of the stores here offer items for free plus an additional credit in the item amount if you can point out tax errors or pricing errors in their pricing system, but again - if you're dickering on a $10 item, do you really want to spend another 10 minutes at the store at the customer service counter? I don't.

 

[John Brown]

probably also worth noting that starting a business is easier here than in the UK or than in Canada.

Maybe. There was a news article recently that claimed it was easier to start a company than it was to borrow a book from a library in the UK. It's been a few years since I started any companies, but time was you could buy one set up for £35.00.
I find it hard to imagine how it could be much easier.

 

[D_W]

well, starting a company is one thing. here, that takes very very little. Having it authorized to do business anywhere without being barred from making certain transactions or being exposed to unexpected taxes and fees - not quite as easy.

Here's an example of easy:
*being a physical therapist and licensed, renting a space and opening a clinic

Here's what's less easy:
* being able to bill someone who is from in state or out of state depending on what their coverage is, and dealing with the compliance of it
* paying someone to assist in operating said clinic as an employee and finding out they are working remotely somewhere that will charge you taxes for them working remotely where they're doing it, for example
* setting up a store with internet access that sells perhaps over the counter PT items (compression stockings, etc) and then finding out that you're not legally allowed to sell them to anyone you were going to sell them to

It sounded like the parts that were difficult in canada weren't establishing a corporation, but then being able to do anything with it afterward, especially in regard to doing business over state lines or with customers out of country.

 

[J-G]

Below a certain turnover you do not have to pay VAT on your sales but you can not claim the VAT back on the table and expenses.

I can't let that pass !! - There is NEVER a situation when the purchase of any article which carries other than Zero or Exempt VAT Rate doesn't involve the payment of VAT.

It's actually your wording which is incorrect rather than what you are trying to say.

A non VAT Registered trader does not have to charge VAT or show it separately on a Sale but the VAT has been levied and collected at the traders point of purchase. The turnover threshhold for a trader to become registered is now £85k p.a. (I think). When I registered it was £17.5k p.a. - I now turnover less than £5k p.a. but continue to be registered because I still have a few customers who are also registered so need to re-claim the VAT that I charge them.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

VAT was originally put under the control of H.M. Customs and Excise rather that the Inland Revenue for one reason - Customs and Excise officers had rights of access to your property without a warrant, Inland Revenue officers didn't. These rights of entry were originally give because local magistrates (and churchmen, apparently) were notorious smugglers, so there was little point in approaching them for a warrant to search another magistrates property. As the two have now been amalgamated I don't know whether they have the right of entry now, but I suspect they have.

I used to have problems with my accounts - the I.R. would demand them and I'd tell them the C&E had them, and that they could have them when they'd finished with them. The the same would happen in reverse. Neither side liked this.

 

[Jacob]

Spot on! Bert Russell says something very similar but much less concise.
1000 idle thoughts here : TOP 25 QUOTES BY BERTRAND RUSSELL (of 1194) | A-Z Quotes

Couldn't find the Russell quotation but here's Brian Cox saying something similar:

 

[johna.clements]

I can't let that pass !! - There is NEVER a situation when the purchase of any article which carries other than Zero or Exempt VAT Rate doesn't involve the payment of VAT.

It's actually your wording which is incorrect rather than what you are trying to say.

A non VAT Registered trader does not have to charge VAT or show it separately on a Sale but the VAT has been levied and collected at the traders point of purchase. The turnover threshhold for a trader to become registered is now £85k p.a. (I think). When I registered it was £17.5k p.a. - I now turnover less than £5k p.a. but continue to be registered because I still have a few customers who are also registered so need to re-claim the VAT that I charge them.

Thanks for the correction.