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  #1  
Old Wed 14 January 2009, 14:20
riesvantwisk
Just call me: Ries #46
 
Quito
Ecuador
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Dealing with taxes when buying overseas

Hey All,

recently I bought my Gecko drivers and bought them over seas. Now normally you pay the goods including taxes and when you export out of the country it is possible to get the taxes back. This happened to me when I bought a macBook in holland, and got my taxes back in the airport because you move it out of the country.

How do you guys deal with taxes when ordering items overseas??

Ries
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  #2  
Old Wed 14 January 2009, 20:15
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
If I sell goods outside my country then I do not add sales tax to the invoice. But I have to be able to prove to the tax collector that the goods have left my country. Some sellers find it easier to add the sales tax than to explain to the tax collector.

So, check with the seller that they are not adding any sales taxes if they export to you.

With Geckodrives, I did not see any sales tax on their invoices, so I cannot expect to claim anything back from them or their tax collector.
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  #3  
Old Wed 14 January 2009, 20:26
riesvantwisk
Just call me: Ries #46
 
Quito
Ecuador
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Hey Gerald,

there is no clear VAT indication on http://www.geckodrive.com/product.aspx?c=3&i=14460 so I would only assume prices are including vat.

I also paid 240USD shipping cost to get it over to Ecuador. Which makes the drivers quite expensive now anyways, lessen learned here!!!

Now it's just a matter of waiting for the steppers, in the mean time we started to order the metal and the CNC parts.

Ries
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  #4  
Old Wed 14 January 2009, 21:48
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Quote:
Originally Posted by riesvantwisk View Post
. . . I would only assume prices are including vat. . . .
That assumption is not correct because the tax collector (government) for Geckodrive maybe does not have a system of VAT (value added tax). Maybe they collect their income with other systems. Many countries do not have VAT systems.

If your final invoice does not clearly show a separate amount for VAT, you have zero chance of claiming anything back.

Even if your invoice did show a VAT percentage, you still have nearly zero chance of claiming anything back because your fight is with the tax collector of the supplier who sits far away and makes his own rules.
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  #5  
Old Thu 15 January 2009, 01:30
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Have done a little homework. VAT is not charged in the USA. Therefore there is no question of getting a VAT refund on a purchase from the USA.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_Added_Tax

Interesting that VAT was invented by the French tax collector as recently as 1954. I remember a time when our country had a general sales tax (GST) system, and I remember the shenanigans to avoid paying it. Then we converted to VAT and the noose was tightened on the criminals. VAT is much more foolproof - so much so that our government collected a lot more tax and reduced income taxes quite substantially.
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  #6  
Old Thu 15 January 2009, 03:58
sailfl
Just call me: Nils #12
 
Winter Park, FL
United States of America
That is correct, we do not have VAT in the USA. I believe Canada has VAT.
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  #7  
Old Thu 15 January 2009, 04:46
riesvantwisk
Just call me: Ries #46
 
Quito
Ecuador
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Nils,

very interesting to read that there is not VAT added to any product. I am from holland (they are great in collecting VAT there!!!) so I followed mostly these rules thinking it makes most sense I guess. That means VAT is applied unless clearly stated that the prices show are excluding vat.

If everything in the US is without VAT, it does make me wonder where the US get's there 'income' from. Time for some googling!!!

Thanks.
Ries
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  #8  
Old Thu 15 January 2009, 05:19
Richards
Just call me: Mike
 
South Jordan, UT
United States of America
Just so you know, in the United States, the Government depends entirely upon me for all taxes.

25% - 38% Income tax. 15% Social Security tax. 7.5% State Income tax. 6.8% Sales tax. Add to that property tax, gasoline tax, excise tax. The very good news is that I get to keep a little more than 1% of my income to do with as I please - no, wait, that goes to buy groceries.

Kidding aside, there is no VAT in the United States. Most of the taxes (if you run your own business), are paid on the honor system. Most Internet purchases are sold without sales tax added (since that is a local tax), but we are expected to pay sales tax on those items when we pay our quarterly sales tax, if we're self-employed, or when we pay our income tax, if we are not self-employed. Because I sell both hardware and software, sometimes I have to charge sales tax to my customers and sometimes I don't. If they buy computer equipment to upgrade a manufacturing facility, and if their business code falls within a certain group of businesses, they don't have to pay sales tax on that purchase. If they hire me to consult, they don't have to pay sales tax on that purchase. If they hire me to write custom software for them, they don't have to pay sales tax on that purchase. If they reside outside of the state of Utah, they don't have to pay sales tax (to Utah, but they have to report the sale to their own state).
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  #9  
Old Thu 15 January 2009, 07:35
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
In Canada we have the GST which is just like the VAT from Geralds wiki link, plus most of the other taxes that Mike has listed. Dont feel bad Mike, in Canada it seems like I am a major supporter of the local goverment myself.
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  #10  
Old Thu 15 January 2009, 16:56
Roadkill_321
Just call me: John #7
 
Wiseton, Saskatchewan
Canada
Also known as the Gouge and Screw Tax.
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  #11  
Old Mon 19 January 2009, 08:14
PEU
Just call me: Pablo
 
Buenos Aires
Argentina
if you buy from USA to any other country the seller will not charge you taxes, in fact a selller say i California will not add taxes if you buy from NY, unless the seller had a store in NY too. In a nutshell, from USA no tax if you buy outside the store state.

Sellers in other countries add tax/vat/whatever if the job of filling the forms for tax exemptions are a pain...

Thats my personal experience.


Pablo
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  #12  
Old Tue 20 January 2009, 19:47
servant74
Just call me: Jack
 
Nashville (Tennessee)
United States of America
In the USA, various states have their own income tax, a few have none. Some have personal property taxes (like cars and boats), and real property taxes (land, buildings, things tied to the land). Texas has a 'separation tax' for taking oil or gas from the ground. Sales tax is pretty popular but is local, and not all states have sales tax. (Texas has no income tax, but has sales and property tax, Montana has no sales tax but has income tax, Tennessee taxes everything but says they have no income tax - they only tax 'un-earned income', no, not income of lawyers, but from dividends and interest from savings and investment).

There are also fees collected for almost everything you do that are 'usage taxes', petroleum tax for supporting highways (federal and state tax separately). Now many states have the Lottery, that is a tax on the mathematically impaired ... but that is a separate philosophical discussion.

Massachusetts is supposed to be the most 'taxed' of the United States. And I am told Alaska has a 'negative income tax' that is more for longer term residents. In general there are more 'social programs, services, and facilities provided by the state' in states with higher taxes, but not always.

Yes, the USA has a confusing tax system. ... An accountant that specializes in taxes I know refers to any 'tax simplification' law that I have ever seen come out as an 'Accountant Retirement' plan. They always seem to add more issues than they fix.

The states are trying to get laws established making any internet or 'mail order' purchases taxable by either the destination or shipping location (but I am sure they would prefer both). To date, that has not gotten far in being made a federal law. Some states have un-enforceable laws that require the recipient to pay sales tax if they purchase from out of state. Many companies do pay sales tax on items ordered from out of state, but many small ones do not. I used to work for a regional bank (in ones state only) and it did pay the tax to the local taxing authority where the items were received.

At one time I worked supporting a tax department of a very large company, they owned pipe lines. They had to pay property tax in all kinds of places. Water districts, cemetery districts, school districts, cities, flood control districts, municipal utility districts (these were not usually in cities), sales enhancement districts, etc. ... a district is typically a legal taxing authority set up to support some public good.

There are lots of subtleties of USA taxes that are not addressed here too. I can only assume that some of the other countries can be almost as convoluted in their taxing schema.

Sorry, that is more than most folks want to know about USA taxes.
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