Amazon added sales tax to my order! (shipping to Calif.)
10-04-02, 07:38 AM
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Amazon added sales tax to my order! (shipping to CA, TX, CT, IL, VA)
After the recent "programming issue" of free super saving shipping, STL and promo g/c falling off my orders, Amazon is now charging me sales tax for orders shipping to California!
I ordered a couple of DVDs using free super saver shipping, STL and 5 off 35 promo g/c. The order shipped complete, free shipping, STL and promo g/c were all correctly applied and i also got this:
Total before Tax: xx.xx
Tax : x.xx
Total paid by VISA: xx.xx
I have emailed Amazon. Has anyone else seen this for an order shipping to California?
I ordered a couple of DVDs using free super saver shipping, STL and 5 off 35 promo g/c. The order shipped complete, free shipping, STL and promo g/c were all correctly applied and i also got this:
Total before Tax: xx.xx
Tax : x.xx
Total paid by VISA: xx.xx
I have emailed Amazon. Has anyone else seen this for an order shipping to California?
Last edited by DeepSleep; 10-07-02 at 03:37 PM.
10-04-02, 09:02 AM
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Was there something in your order from one of their partner companies like Circuit City or Office Depot? If so that may explain the sales tax. Items purchased only from Amazon itself are only supposed to be charged tax in North Dakota and Washington State. Here is a url which gives some details on the tax issues at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...738875-4063128
10-04-02, 09:25 AM
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I bought 2 dvds from Amazon.com itself and I was charged $2.18 sales tax for shipping to California. If this is the case going forward, its' goodbye Amazon! for me....
10-04-02, 11:26 AM
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I had three orders ship from Amazon last week and none of them were charged sales tax. Was this an order that was placed in October? Also did they add the tax after the order was placed? I just went through the checkout process with a DVD and there is no estimated tax. I am curious if they are adding tax after your order shipped. If this is new policy you can count me as an Ex-Amazon customer.
Last edited by Laser Movies; 10-04-02 at 11:37 AM.
10-04-02, 12:48 PM
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Originally posted by DeepSleep
Yes, I placed this order on Oct 1st and when I completed checkout there was no tax. The tax appeared when the order shipped out.
Yes, I placed this order on Oct 1st and when I completed checkout there was no tax. The tax appeared when the order shipped out.
I also had a bunch of orders messed up yesterday after changing my credit card information. My bank decided to change from Master Card to Visa, and when I changed my payment information it caused me to lose coupons on many of my orders. I think Amazon is having enough problems without having to add Sales Tax to the list.
10-04-02, 04:05 PM
#7
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I work for a major mail order company and the following happened to us. Perhaps this is what happened to Amazon as well:
The state we are based in levied a tax on shipping, regardless of where the item is being shipped. Since we don't even ship from this state the law must have been phrased in such a way that allows the State to profit from orders placed WITHIN their territory.
We get so many complaints from customers who say, "I'm not supposed to be charged tax in my area." But, there's nothing we can do since it's not a sales tax.
I hope this is not a new trend, because I don't want to pay a shipping tax on items either.
The state we are based in levied a tax on shipping, regardless of where the item is being shipped. Since we don't even ship from this state the law must have been phrased in such a way that allows the State to profit from orders placed WITHIN their territory.
We get so many complaints from customers who say, "I'm not supposed to be charged tax in my area." But, there's nothing we can do since it's not a sales tax.
I hope this is not a new trend, because I don't want to pay a shipping tax on items either.
10-04-02, 04:48 PM
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charged sales tax on one order but not another
I placed 2 different orders with Amazon this morning. Neither of them had sales tax when I placed the orders. Then when they went into the shipping soon status one of the orders had sales applied and the other did not. Very strange especially since both orders were placed within minutes of each other and were ordered from the same department.
I will call to find out what is going on. And I live in Texas.
I will call to find out what is going on. And I live in Texas.
10-05-02, 02:20 AM
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I just talked to them and the lady said it was a "hiccup" in their system and some people started getting charged tax. She promptly put in a refund and said to call them if it happens on any other orders.
Matt
Matt
10-05-02, 09:32 PM
#10
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I ordered a book on one order on September 28 and a cooking pan on September 30 on another order. Both were in stock and ready to ship within 24 hours. The pan was shipped immediately and no sales tax was charged for it. The book order just shipped on October 5 and they added $.75 sales tax on that item. I am in Texas also. I quickly sent them a nasty email telling them to take that off, as I did not agree to pay any sales tax when I ordered the book a week ago. It's bad enough it took a week to actually ship the book. Now they're trying to squeeze me out of a lousy $.75. I'm wondering if some new sales tax policy has taken affect as of October 1.
I wonder if they'll try this on every pending order I have with them.
I wonder if they'll try this on every pending order I have with them.
10-05-02, 11:53 PM
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I received a reply to my email I sent to Amazon. The Amazon system is burping and farting once again!
Some folks had sales tax applied to their orders by mistake.
They put in a refund for the sales tax charged on my order.
Watch your orders carefully and request a refund if you are not supposed to be charged sales tax.
Some folks had sales tax applied to their orders by mistake.
They put in a refund for the sales tax charged on my order.
Watch your orders carefully and request a refund if you are not supposed to be charged sales tax.
10-06-02, 01:28 AM
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Sounds to me like they are just trying to get some extra money from those that wont see it. They did this to me last week. I called my CC co. and had them do a chargeback. When the order got here I marked it return to sender.
10-06-02, 11:43 PM
#13
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Take a look at this response to my queery about the sales tax:
Please accept my apologies for any confusion surrounding how the
charges are calculated on this order. After thoroughly investigating
this order, I was able to discover the reason for the discrepancy of
$3.30.
Unfortunately, our promotional offer was not properly applied,
although your order did meet the requirements. Please accept our
apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.
To compensate you for this error, I have requested a refund of
$3.30 to reimburse you for the amount you were erroneously
charged. We will send an e-mail to confirm the amount once the
refund has been completed.
Huh? 
It looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of emailing to Amazon about this....
Please accept my apologies for any confusion surrounding how the
charges are calculated on this order. After thoroughly investigating
this order, I was able to discover the reason for the discrepancy of
$3.30.
Unfortunately, our promotional offer was not properly applied,
although your order did meet the requirements. Please accept our
apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.
To compensate you for this error, I have requested a refund of
$3.30 to reimburse you for the amount you were erroneously
charged. We will send an e-mail to confirm the amount once the
refund has been completed.
It looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of emailing to Amazon about this....
10-07-02, 07:46 AM
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One of my orders just went into shipping soon and tax was added. I'm in CT and the tax wasn't even the correct amount for CT tax. I called them up and the guy on the phone had no idea what was going on and he said he would forward the info to a 'tax specialist.' If I don't hear from them within a day, I will be giving them another call.
10-07-02, 12:10 PM
#16
DVD Talk Special Edition
I just had it happen in Virginia, too. I might not have noticed if I hadn't had my order get held up because I'd ordered in July with my now closed Amazon Nextcard. When I chose a different card for the order, my coupons got all screwy (ADDING odd amounts to the order instead of subtracting $5), so I emailed them to get that fixed. When I checked the order again, I noticed the total was STILL too high, but that they HAD calculated the promotions correctly. And there it was at the end, $1.80 in sales tax (which isn't correct sales tax for my state, which someone else pointed out).
10-08-02, 02:51 PM
#17
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I made several orders in September on all books and wasn't charged with any tax. Just yesterday (10/7) I made another order on similar type of books and was slapped with some tax. I have a feeling it's their new policy to add tax to all orders now. BTW, I live in California.
10-08-02, 02:55 PM
#18
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Originally posted by DeepSleep
I received a reply to my email I sent to Amazon. The Amazon system is burping and farting once again!
Some folks had sales tax applied to their orders by mistake.
They put in a refund for the sales tax charged on my order.
Watch your orders carefully and request a refund if you are not supposed to be charged sales tax.
I received a reply to my email I sent to Amazon. The Amazon system is burping and farting once again!
Some folks had sales tax applied to their orders by mistake.
They put in a refund for the sales tax charged on my order.
Watch your orders carefully and request a refund if you are not supposed to be charged sales tax.
10-08-02, 03:06 PM
#19
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Originally posted by LASERMOVIES
I had three orders ship from Amazon last week and none of them were charged sales tax. Was this an order that was placed in October? Also did they add the tax after the order was placed? I just went through the checkout process with a DVD and there is no estimated tax. I am curious if they are adding tax after your order shipped. If this is new policy you can count me as an Ex-Amazon customer.
I had three orders ship from Amazon last week and none of them were charged sales tax. Was this an order that was placed in October? Also did they add the tax after the order was placed? I just went through the checkout process with a DVD and there is no estimated tax. I am curious if they are adding tax after your order shipped. If this is new policy you can count me as an Ex-Amazon customer.
I made several orders in September and none were taxed. This is the first purchase in October at Amazon.com. I think the new tax policy is probably implemented in October.
It's very strange because all my orders in September and October were on books (specifically graphic novels) and I don't understand why no tax in September and tax in October. Anyone know why? Their web site said items shipped to Washington and North Dakota are taxed. But I live in California.
10-08-02, 06:27 PM
#20
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Something strange is definately going on with Amazon.com . I placed the following order on September 19th on Amazon's Super Saver shipping option:
X-One (with series box) - Released September 24
Grave Of The Fireflies (CE) - Released October 8
Excel Saga #3 - Releasing November 11th
Under the "Super Saver Shipping", I should not have received the items until November 11th. Yet, the following has happened:
X-One - Shipped September 24th from IL, Received September 30th, no sales tax
Graveyard - Shipped today fron Reno, NV, sales tax applied.
Other orders:
Spellbound - Ordered September 27th, shipped September 29th, no sales tax.
Dr Who Key To Time/Ark In Space/Tomb Of The Cybermen - Ordered May 14th, received as one shipment.
They are using the "glitch" explanation, but something is going on. I thought Amazon just opened a distribution center in California, which would be the sales tax explanation.
X-One (with series box) - Released September 24
Grave Of The Fireflies (CE) - Released October 8
Excel Saga #3 - Releasing November 11th
Under the "Super Saver Shipping", I should not have received the items until November 11th. Yet, the following has happened:
X-One - Shipped September 24th from IL, Received September 30th, no sales tax
Graveyard - Shipped today fron Reno, NV, sales tax applied.
Other orders:
Spellbound - Ordered September 27th, shipped September 29th, no sales tax.
Dr Who Key To Time/Ark In Space/Tomb Of The Cybermen - Ordered May 14th, received as one shipment.
They are using the "glitch" explanation, but something is going on. I thought Amazon just opened a distribution center in California, which would be the sales tax explanation.
10-08-02, 08:29 PM
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Originally posted by mookiemeister
I made several orders in September on all books and wasn't charged with any tax. Just yesterday (10/7) I made another order on similar type of books and was slapped with some tax. I have a feeling it's their new policy to add tax to all orders now. BTW, I live in California.
I made several orders in September on all books and wasn't charged with any tax. Just yesterday (10/7) I made another order on similar type of books and was slapped with some tax. I have a feeling it's their new policy to add tax to all orders now. BTW, I live in California.
10-09-02, 01:01 AM
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Originally posted by Brak55
This can't be a "policy." Tax laws are very specific and you can't collect taxes unless they are passed, in full, to the state where they are collected. Normally, taxes are only charged when a company has a presence (place of business) physically in the state. Is this a mistake in the Amazon software or are they expanding their warehouses?
This can't be a "policy." Tax laws are very specific and you can't collect taxes unless they are passed, in full, to the state where they are collected. Normally, taxes are only charged when a company has a presence (place of business) physically in the state. Is this a mistake in the Amazon software or are they expanding their warehouses?
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...197075-2122353
Help > Ordering from Amazon.com > Sales Tax
How Tax Is Calculated
The amount of tax charged depends upon many factors, including the identity of the seller, the type of item purchased, and the destination of the shipment.
Items sold by Amazon.com LLC and shipped to destinations in the states of Washington or North Dakota are subject to tax.
To identify whether an item ordered from any other seller has been taxed, visit the relevant order summary in Your Account and click the "See tax and seller information" link.
If you have already received your order, you can also find the identity of the seller printed under the name of each item on your packing slip. Items identified as "taxed" have been subjected to sales tax. All other items are nontaxable, either because the seller is not required to collect the tax or the item is not subject to tax. See below for more information regarding sales tax on items sold by our online merchants.
If an item is subject to sales tax in the state to which the order is shipped, tax is generally calculated on the total selling price of each individual item. In accordance with state tax laws, the total selling price of an item will generally include item-level shipping and handling charges, item-level discounts, gift-wrap charges, and an allocation of order-level shipping and handling charges and order-level discounts.
The tax rate applied to your order will generally be the combined state and local rate for the address where your order was shipped. Therefore, the sales tax rate applied to your order may be different for an order shipped to your home address than it is for an order for the very same items shipped to your work address. Amazon.com obtains sales tax rates from a leading tax rate service provider.
Note that many factors can change between the time you place an order and the time your order is shipped, which could affect the calculation of sales taxes. Therefore, the amount appearing on your order as "Estimated Tax" may differ from the sales taxes ultimately charged when your order ships.
For sales tax purposes, electronically delivered products (e-books, e-documents, and electronically delivered software) are considered to be shipped to your credit card billing address.
No sales tax is charged when purchasing gift certificates; however, purchases paid for with gift certificates may be subject to tax.
Sales Tax on Items Purchased from Our Online Merchants
In order to offer you the widest selection and the most convenient shopping experience, Amazon.com has teamed with several other merchants. Your order may contain items from one of these online merchants. Each of these online merchants may have different sales tax collection obligations, depending upon the location of their operations and business policies. Amazon.com calculates sales taxes on the merchants' behalf in accordance with their instructions. These instructions vary depending on the tax laws in each state.
The following is a partial list of merchants selling items at Amazon.com which may be included in your order, and the states in which they charge sales tax
Amazon.com LLC: ND and WA *
Amazon.com Kids, Inc.: ND and WA *
Amazon.com Baby, Inc.: ND and WA *
Babiesrus.com, LLC: All states other than AK, DC, DE, MT, NH, OR, and WY *
Borders teamed with Amazon.com, Inc.: ND and WA *
Circuit City Stores, Inc.: All states other than AK, DE, MT, ND, NH, OR, and SD
J&R Electronics, Inc.: NY only
Office Depot, Inc.: All states other than AK, DE, MT, NH, and OR
Synapse Services, Inc.: WA only *
target.direct LLC: AR, MN, NV, and WA *
Tech Depot, an Office Depot Company: CA, CT, NC, and TN
All other Merchants: Amazon.com calculates sales tax on the merchants' behalf in accordance with their instructions. Please contact the merchant directly for more detailed information.
* If you have questions about tax on items purchased from these merchants, please contact Amazon.com Customer Service. For questions about sales tax on items purchased from all other merchants, please contact the merchant directly.
Effect of the Internet Tax Freedom Act
Companies selling over the Internet are subject to the same sales tax collection requirements as any other retailers. Remote sellers (including Internet retailers and catalog companies) are generally required to collect taxes where they have a physical selling presence. If they do not have any such presence, they are not required to collect sales taxes.
The Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA), which was signed into law on October 21, 1998, was primarily intended to prevent state and local governments from imposing new or discriminatory taxes on Internet transactions and on Internet access. Despite the name of the Act, ITFA does not preclude state and local governments from imposing existing sales tax collection requirements on companies selling over the Internet.
Tax-Exempt Customers
To take advantage of your tax-exempt status, you will need to provide us with acceptable proof of exempt status for the state where the items will be shipped.
United States Government Purchasers
Sales tax does not apply to purchases made by the United States Government. In order to document that a sale has been made to the U.S. Government, we need to obtain a copy of one of the following:
Federal tax ID certificate
Certificate of exempt status
Photocopy of your qualified US Government Credit Card (Smart Pay Card)
Government Voucher
Check from the U.S. Government payable to Amazon.com
Other exempt Purchasers
All other exempt purchasers need to provide us with a copy of a state resale certificate, exemption certificate, or other acceptable proof of your exempt status for the state where the items will be shipped.
How to submit this information
First, place your order through our Web site. After you've placed your order, please submit the necessary information by fax in order to receive a refund of any sales tax. Our fax number is (206) 266-2005.
Please include the following:
Your order number
E-mail address
Acceptable proof of your exempt status (as outlined above)
If restricted, please include the names of individuals authorized to place tax-exempt orders on behalf of your organization.
Mark your fax "Attn: Amazon Tax Exempt"
While you need to submit this information to us only once, you do need to contact us after placing each order to ensure you are refunded the tax on your purchase. However, if you submit a single-use exemption certificate, you will need to resubmit a new certificate with each order.
10-09-02, 03:51 PM
#24
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Originally posted by Colleen
I contacted Amazon and they told me I would be refunded the tax that was charged.
I contacted Amazon and they told me I would be refunded the tax that was charged.
10-09-02, 05:39 PM
#25
Originally posted by mookiemeister <small>how you were able to contact?
Call them: http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=108012