Watch Out for Wrong Sales Tax

I ran into something the other day I thought might be of interest to others on the Key Peninsula.

I made a purchase on eBay but after the auction the final price came back a bit more than I expected. The sales tax was off. As a business owner I know the sales tax for my area code (98329) is 7.9 percent, but I was getting charged 9.9 percent.

The seller said eBay programs in the sales tax and it is out of their control. It looks like this has been going on for years. After four weeks of my emails to them, they haven’t been much help and haven’t changed their system.

I also looked at my and my wife’s Amazon accounts. We have both been overcharged the last few years. Amazon was a bit more helpful than eBay. After lots of emails they refunded one year’s worth of overcharged taxes to us, but they won’t go back any further.

The Department of Revenue said if we create a consumer account and file against those companies, the department would go after the overcharged taxes. Anyone ordering from their home should be charged the tax rate for the zip code the product is being delivered to. All I would have to do is find all my invoices for the last few years, copy them to a file and attach it to the form.

It seems wrong to me that a business doesn’t do its job correctly and the state and business both benefit but I am the one who has to do all the work to correct it.

I hear our new local Dollar Store in Lake Kathryn is in the same boat and overcharging tax as well.

I would like the state to step up and enforce the proper tax collection and put that burden back on those that overcharged if it’s their fault and not the state’s for misinforming them.

As a business owner I know if I don’t collect the right sales tax the state is coming after me to get paid. Seems fair they would do the same for state citizens.

I also talked to the state Attorney General’s office and they expressed willingness to pursue my complaint. I asked “What about everybody else out here?” They said you should call too. Brad Heacock, NW Key Peninsula