Peta Pixel just reminded us that starting September 15th, 2012, Amazon will start to collect sales tax for purchases made by California residents. The tax rate here ranges from 7.25% to 9.75% depending on where you live. So to give a couple of examples, the Nikon D800 would cost $3,261 instead of $2,999, and the Canon 5D mkIII would cost $3,805 instead of $3,499.
But in reality, we are supposed to pay the higher amount anyways, if we are already following the California “use tax” code. Instead of getting automatically charged for sales tax, us Californians are supposed to manually pay the use tax during tax season. By in large, however, this rule tends to not be followed nor enforced. Peta Pixel has a more in-depth look on this use tax code in their article.
So Californians, will Amazon’s new policy change your online shopping habit?
And readers from other states, what are the online shopping tax rules in your state and how do they affect your online shopping habits?
Thanks to Peta Pixel for the heads up on the Amazon policy change.
UPDATE: According to CNN Money, California residents are not the only ones that will be subject to sales tax from Amazon. Pennsylvania joins California in September, while New Jersey, Virginia, Indiana, Nevada, Tennessee, and South Carolina will follow suit next year.
Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota, Texas, and Washington are already collecting sales taxes for Amazon purchases.
Amazon Chart Sales Tax by CNN Money
For California, in exchange to this sales tax policy, Amazon also “agreed to create at least 10,000 full-time jobs and hire 25,000 seasonal employees in the Golden State by the end of 2015,” says CNN.
Get Connected!