New tax on out of state transfers?

[amoebicmagician]

Okay, so I was going to do a transfer with A&D Pawn in glen burnie and they told me right before I was going to hang up the phone and start the process that I would have to pay 60 bucks plus MD sales tax even though the item is being sold from out of state.

They tried to do this once before, but when I went apeshit the guy said he was mistaken, this was literally right before the deadline of oct 1st and I would have no time to transfer somewhere else, they had me between a rock and a hard place and they knew it. So I paid the money and left with my AK.

Now, I call back again and when I asked why this was so, he said that O'Malley put in new laws that allow the comptroller of MD to tax out of state transfers.

Is this for real or is this guy full of it? The sale goes on between me and an out of state vendor, what is to stop me saying I paid a dollar for it? How is he even involved in that sale? The only tax he could levy would be for the service he is providing, right?

I asked to talk to the boss, and some other guy gets on the phone and tells me the same thing.

Is this for real, and if so, how long has this been going on?

 

[protegeV]

sounds like

 

[amoebicmagician]

so this is just bull then?

Because I called back and specifically spoke with the owner and he said that it's a new law, when I told him that he wasn't actually selling anything but his service he said it doesn't work that way, and when confronted on no one else doing that he said they were breaking the law then, but he knows for a fact that all ffl dealers in MD do this

 

[protegeV]

IDK for a fact, but some red flags go up when a single person says EVERYONE else is breaking the law...

 

[Mini14tac]

Never paid sales tax on a transfer! The only way you would pay tax would be if the seller had a store located in MD. Just like how Amazon now charges sales tax to MD residents being they have the new distribution center in Baltimore.

 

[Rapture]

Guess I won't be using A&D Pawn for transfers. Oh well.

 

[PapiBarcelona]

This has come up before, most FFL's dont charge the tax on a transfer. How you can charge "sales tax" on something you didn't sell is beyond me. If I follow the logic of the FFL, shouldn't UPS be collecting tax on delivery?
Not sure how an FFL can claim they are paying someone's "use tax" under the guise of calling it a "sales tax" other than lying in their "books" and claiming they sold you an item that you just had shipped there for transfer to you?

http://wtop.com/news/2012/11/little-known-maryland-tax-applies-to-online-shopping/

 

[amoebicmagician]

yep, just went to the comptroller's site, says that use tax, if it is even paid, is the responsibility of the buyer to pay or not pay and at no point should be collected by the MD seller

 

[protegeV]

yep, just went to the comptroller's site, says that use tax, if it is even paid, is the responsibility of the buyer to pay or not pay and at no point should be collected by the MD seller

If there's supposedly a "new law" I would challenge them to prove it in writing.

 

[amoebicmagician]

thanks guys, I love this community.

This is why I go the extra mile and use the extra gas to go to Duffy's

 

[Mini14tac]

Sounds like your FFL wants to make his transfer fee plus 6%?

 

[amoebicmagician]

Looks like I am never going to use A&D pawn shop again, and I am considering calling the comptroller to tell them that they have been collecting taxes in their name all this time

 

[amoebicmagician]

Sounds like your FFL wants to make his transfer fee plus 6%?

think you hit that nail right on the head

 

[Vile Shadow]

I have a feeling that "tax" went right in their pocket.

 

[protegeV]

thanks guys, I love this community.

This is why I go the extra mile and use the extra gas to go to Duffy's

can't go wrong!

 

[Proline Fisher]

As a former MD sales tax auditor what others have told u are correct

 

[amoebicmagician]

That's it, I'm calling the comptroller's office and leaving a message, then calling the store back to tell them they're full of crap- maybe someone else with a less calibrated bs detector will be saved some cash

 

[amoebicmagician]

As a former MD sales tax auditor what others have told u are correct

THANK YOU

This is EXACTLY the expertise I needed

 

[PapiBarcelona]

I have a feeling that "tax" went right in their pocket.

Me too. I had an FFL charge me "sales tax" on a transfer once (Not an IP) and I thought, WTF?

I didn't feel like delaying it any further shipping it somewhere else so I gave the guy his bar money, or whatever he was doing with it. I really don't know.

I'm going to ASSume this practice of collecting "tax" on a firearm transfer has been going on for a long while, I guess it goes to show that the non-firearm aspect of business audit's are just like working with the state on everything else. Surely this would have been noticed and noticed a LONG time ago.

 

[rdc]

This is one of the reasons I stopped dealing with A&D years ago. Had a very expensive firearm transferred in and once they had it there brought up the sales tax. Never mentioned it before when we were figuring out all the fees etc. the "sales tax" would have been a nice little bonus for them that week. Asked another local FFL abiut it and they agreed to recieve it from A&D and transfer it for for a significantly reduced rate.
I haven't and won't set in there since.