Sales tax on a custom cue?

#1 you didn't say how you were paying. If by a credit card it's more traceable then cash. Whoever this cuemaker is, they are running a legitimate business and do have to pay sales tax.
 
Sorry if this was already mentioned but if you buy a cue on ebay and your state charges sales tax, you will be getting taxed.

In all my cue dealing I never did have to pay sales tax. I do remember one cuemaker in FL who was insistent on collecting FL tax regardless of where the buyer lived and I witness this tanking a couple deals.

Was the op's cuemaker in FL?
 
scassidy77 said:
So i was getting ready to buy a cue from a custom cue maker and he gave me the price of the cue. I was ok with it. Then he said plus sales tax. So im thinking that he is just trying to pad the price a little.
I have never been charged sales tax by a custom cue maker. And I cannot imagine why anyone would voluntarily tell the government that they made a pool cue and sold it for profit and would like to pay 25 percent income tax on it.
Its one things for good and services that are trackable, but how many small time cue makers are actually claiming their cues as income and paying income tax on selling them.
Have any of you ever been asked to pay sales tax on a custom cue before? Im just trying to figure out if its common or this guy is trying to pocket the sales tax charge...
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With electronic payments, it becomes impossible to keep the books out of the sight of authorities.

Maybe they will not charge sales tax if you pay cash. Of course, you lose some protections of you pay cash. There are pros and cons to everything.

The way I see it, if they are charging sales tax, they are honest. They are likely running a legit business.
 
middleofnowhere said:
A bit off topic , lot of cue makers who work from home are probably not licensed, insured or properly zoned. If they managed to burn their house down say spraying finish or something, Insurance may not want to pay due to running an illegal business out of the house. Over time they will have created a pretty good paper trail as to what they have been doing.
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I run a home business with a home office. Everything is proper, although I don't have those kinds of risks. The business pays me rent for the space in my house, I have a proper business license, and the business is insured.

If I could I would run the entire thing "off the books" and be self-insured. It's just not realistic and is too risky to try since "Big Brother" is always watching, and that is only increasing exponentially. I don't have the practice overhead of clinical practice, which is huge, but the cost of doing business is too high anyway in my opinion. The US economy runs mostly on small business and I think the cost needs to be streamlined. Proportionally speaking, the large businesses have a miniscule cost compared to small businesses. That is a travesty.
 
scassidy77 said:
So i was getting ready to buy a cue from a custom cue maker and he gave me the price of the cue. I was ok with it. Then he said plus sales tax. So im thinking that he is just trying to pad the price a little.
I have never been charged sales tax by a custom cue maker. And I cannot imagine why anyone would voluntarily tell the government that they made a pool cue and sold it for profit and would like to pay 25 percent income tax on it.
Its one things for good and services that are trackable, but how many small time cue makers are actually claiming their cues as income and paying income tax on selling them.
Have any of you ever been asked to pay sales tax on a custom cue before? Im just trying to figure out if its common or this guy is trying to pocket the sales tax charge...
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There’s probably a lot that you are not taking in consideration when thinking a cue maker would only wants to run his “business” under the table vs an actual legitimate business.

Liability protection: Operating as a legitimate entity like a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or a corporation creates a legal separation between the business owner's personal assets and the business. Without this, a sole proprietor's personal assets (home, savings) are at risk from business debts, product liabilities, or lawsuits. This is a major concern for a custom craftsperson.

Access to capital: Registered businesses can secure loans, lines of credit, and investment to buy expensive equipment, expand their workshops, or purchase materials. An informal operation is severely limited in its ability to grow and scale.

Tax complexity: Registered businesses can claim deductions for business expenses like tools, materials, and workshop space, legally reducing their tax burden. An informal operator who never claims these expenses may ultimately pay more in taxes.

Fines and penalties: If an unregistered business is caught, the penalties can be severe, including back taxes with interest, fines, and even jail time for tax evasion.

These are all serious considerations.

I don’t think you are getting hustled.
 
scassidy77 said:
If you charge sale tax on an item, then you are also required to pay income tax for any profits made on that transaction as well. If you are charging sales tax to a consumer and then not reporting the income made on the sale to the IRS then that is illegal.
So if you do 1, then you got to do the other.
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If you do not legally charge sales tax because the cue maker paid sales tax on the inventory materials for building or repairing pool cues, you are still obligated to file both state and federal tax returns. Yes, tax returns become the legal yardstick for determining how much tax may be owed on your business activities. And usually a business operating as a sole proprietorship, S Corp, etc. file both quarterly and annual returns, in addition to monthly payment of payroll taxes. There is no escaping taxes unless one wants to file fraudulent tax returns. Remember taking too many deductions not allowed by the regulations is punishable by fines and penalties, however, intentionally not reporting income is a punishable as a crime. So as Dirty Harry said in the 1st movie….”You’ve got to ask yourself one question. ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk? File and pay taxes correctly or else deal with any shit comes your way. Bottomline is cue makers are obligated to collect & also pay taxes.
 
scassidy77 said:
So i was getting ready to buy a cue from a custom cue maker and he gave me the price of the cue. I was ok with it. Then he said plus sales tax. So im thinking that he is just trying to pad the price a little.
I have never been charged sales tax by a custom cue maker. And I cannot imagine why anyone would voluntarily tell the government that they made a pool cue and sold it for profit and would like to pay 25 percent income tax on it.
Its one things for good and services that are trackable, but how many small time cue makers are actually claiming their cues as income and paying income tax on selling them.
Have any of you ever been asked to pay sales tax on a custom cue before? Im just trying to figure out if its common or this guy is trying to pocket the sales tax charge...
Click to expand...
His trade and his business is that of a cue maker, its probably how he earns a living. Why do you believe you should be tax exempt??? If you are buying the cue for resale you should be able to file the appropriate paperwork with your home state for exemption, but the end user must pay tax, same thing when you buy a used car even though the tax has already been paid on that car. Bottom line is that the government taxes money changing hands, not just goods.
 
Some of us have legitimate businesses and run the money through our bank accounts and pay taxes.
There is a loop hole on about 75% of the sales tax if the cuemaker wants to hassle with it. That is to charge you for the materials 25% of the sale and charge you labor for the custom work to your parts. As labor is usually not subject to sales tax in most states. I am not giving legal or tax advice just telling what my understanding used to be on sales tax here in Georgia.
 
cueman said:
Some of us have legitimate businesses and run the money through our bank accounts and pay taxes.
There is a loop hole on about 75% of the sales tax if the cuemaker wants to hassle with it. That is to charge you for the materials 25% of the sale and charge you labor for the custom work to your parts. As labor is usually not subject to sales tax in most states. I am not giving legal or tax advice just telling what my understanding used to be on sales tax here in Georgia.
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Interesting
 
Fitzz47 said:
Move to Delaware no sales tax. No don’t we already have enough people.
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Or any of the other four states comprising the NOMAD states……New Hampshire, Oregon, Montana Alaska & Delaware do not have any state wide sales tax. However, Montana & Alaska have some resort towns that may tax specific services, in addition to some municipalities and burroughs which can vary significantly by location.
 
better to have your domicile in a no state tax state, and spend much time or shopping in a no sales tax state.
can do that and follow the good weather as well.
 
Fitzz47 said:
No tax on food or drugs. And I’ll compare property tax with most states.
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Not exactly true…….prepared and ready to serve foods are usually taxable and food served is taxable…….certain supermarket items are taxable, hot prepared foods and take out foods, restaurant foods, foods that include utensils to consume it and many other food items as well are taxable, as is candy, snacks and soft drinks.
 
Bavafongoul said:
Not exactly true…….prepared and ready to serve foods are usually taxable and food served is taxable…….certain supermarket items are taxable, hot prepared foods and take out foods, restaurant foods, foods that include utensils to consume it and many other food items as well are taxable, as is candy, snacks and soft drinks.
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Not in Delaware.
 
Running an online business I have to say collecting state taxes suck. You have to do them individually for every state and every quarter and the rates are different in each state. Ideally what would be a smarter thing is just have one universal tax rate. The negative side of it would be that some states the tax rates would be higher and others it would be lower.
 
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