Any telecommuting fpDevelopers watching this?

[Ed Olmstead]

At 06:43 3/30/2005, Nancy Palmquist wrote:
>Kenneth Brody wrote:
>
>>Quoting Walter Vaughan (Wed, 30 Mar 2005 07:20:46 -0500):
>>
>>>Seems the state of New York thinks that it has nexis[0] if you remotely
>>>perform work  for a company located in NY. While at first glance this is
>>>a reasonable request of the state, it's probably apply to independent
>>>contractors soon.
>>>
>>http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/03/29/2347245.shtml?tid=98&tid=123&tid=103&tid=17
>>As a New Yorker, I'm not surprised at this.  Last year the state said
>>you have to pay New York sales tax on items bought outside of the state
>>but used within the state.  (And not just things bought through the mail,
>>but everything.  If you go on vacation and buy something and bring it back
>>to New York, you need to pay New York sales tax.)
>
>Do you do it?
>
>They have a similar law here in Allegheny County - 7% sales tax, which 
>requires you to pay if you purchase something in an adjacent county with 
>only a 6% tax.  I am required to collect the 7% since I am the point of 
>sale for anything I sell in PA, not just what is sold within my county.
>
>Right now, I am not required to collect tax for purchases sent outside the 
>state.  I don't expect that to last forever as someone will want tax on 
>those sales.
>
>What I do object to is being required to act as a tax collector at 
>all.  If the states all got together and set a uniform tax, and just said 
>that if you sell it collect this much tax, no matter where you are or 
>where it is going.  You send that in to the state and they sort out some 
>sharing method.  Everything sold PA to PA - stays in the state. Everything 
>sold PA to NY is split between PA and NY.  I would just need to tell them 
>my sales by state - they could work it out.
>
>Probably a nightmare but it would be applicable to internet sales, retail 
>sales and mail order sales and would allow the rate to be decreased since 
>all the people that do not pay tax and all the differences between states 
>would be evened out.  I think it would be a boost.  But I know it will 
>never happen.  How in the world will they get 50 states to agree on anything.

New York State does the same thing with sales tax.  I ran a Not-for-Profit 
for several years and we had a store at the State Fire Academy.  When we 
shipped, and we had customers all over the state, we had to charge sales 
tax based on point of delivery.  In addition to each of the counties, there 
were a handful of cities that had additional sales tax rates.  In the end, 
there were over 65 sales tax rates to track and they changed 
regularly.  That was doubled because of the difference in sales tax on 
clothing items.  The state exempted clothing, but many (most) of the 
counties did charge sales tax.  The quarterly reporting was a real 
pain.  There was a credit granted to merchants by the state for being a 
"tax collector", but the amount was capped and it was nowhere close to the 
work and aggravation required.  A mistake was a guarantee that you would 
become their best friend for several reporting periods.

The states effort to collect sales tax on out of state purchase is not 
new.  About 10 years ago, the tax department launched a campaign to go 
after folks who shopped out of state.  They conducted a "beta" project in 
the western part of the state.  "Tax agents" would patrol parking lots in 
Warren, PA (borders Chautauqua County in NY) and take down NY license plate 
numbers, then send letters notifying the registered owners of the plates 
that they were obligated to pay NY sales tax on any purchases made in 
PA.  There was such a shouting match launched at politicians and 
legislators that the beta ceased.  The policy did not, however and it 
periodically comes back to the noise level.

>Nancy
>
>--
>Nancy Palmquist                 MOS & filePro Training Available
>Virtual Software Systems        Web Based Training and Consulting
>PHONE: (412) 835-9417              Web site:  http://www.vss3.com
>
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===================================
Ed Olmstead
FDIC AV Coordinator
5105 Alcoy Court
Quartz Hill, CA  93536-4374
TELE: 661-943-8578
FAX: 661-943-5499
E-Mail: EdOlmstead at ofpcinc.com