| How can states (Maine) track Visa purchases made out of state by residents of Maine?

How can states (Maine) track Visa purchases made out of state by residents of Maine?

flhrci_99 asked:


The State of Maine is attempting to get residents to pay sales (use) tax on purchases made out of state or on the internet. Maine is going back to the year 2000 and wants residents to report everything that had no sales tax paid or if the item was purchased in a state that collects less the the 5% that Maine collects to pay the differance. I’m tring to find out how accurate Maine’s information could be on past Visa sales.

Related posts:

  1. How does everyone feel about the taxes on e-commerce/internet purchases? kyrissanean asked: With the additional states choosing to tax internet...
  2. Will states collect more “use” tax to cover budget shorfalls? bcnu asked: A great number of people are unaware that...
  3. When is the new Internet/USA States SalesTax Happening? spambuster7 asked: Now that the Democrats have control again I...
  4. Use tax, what’s the deal? gurlygurl20000 asked: Okay I asked a question earlier about having...
  5. Advice on Tax Liens? Tony asked: Went to a Trump Institute seminar on tax...

Filed Under United States |

Tagged With , ,

Comments

4 Responses to “How can states (Maine) track Visa purchases made out of state by residents of Maine?”

  1. Nobody on April 29th, 2009 9:00 am

    I doubt anyone is going to be too willing to cooperate with the state on this one, unless its a big ticket item like a car. With the car, the way they get their hook in you is because you have to register it and they can see when its been purchased.

    A couple of years ago, we had a situation where Washington troopers would follow people with Oregon car tags home and ticket them (Washington tags being much more expensive… and lots of people working just across the border). The backlash was such that instead of being a successful program, the Washington tags are now the same price as Oregon’s.

  2. irongrama on April 30th, 2009 1:54 am

    My guess would be that this is mostly voluntary. They can track purchases of anything that needs licensing, cars, airplanes, trailers, boats etc., but for other things I don’t think they can find out about your purchases. When businesses are audited, the auditor examines purchases for items bought out of state, but for individuals I do not think they can get the info.

  3. STEVEN F on May 2nd, 2009 5:15 am

    In most cases they can’t. Use taxes are collected on the honor system. Every state with a sales tax actually has a use tax at the same rate for items brought in from outside the state. There is a credit for sales tax paid to the state where the item was purchased. Enforcement is so difficult, most people don’t even know they are supposed to pay.

  4. webworm90 on May 4th, 2009 5:47 am

    Actual they really can only go back 3 years not 6 years. Some banks can only go back 2 years. They are just trying to scare people into paying the taxes. If you paid sales taxes in another state. You do not have to pay you sale taxes even if it was lower. Each state has different non taxable items. I don’t even keep records that far back. I only keep records for 2 years but I don’t keep my receipts that long. Actual if I went to a state that had less then 5% and Maine wanted to add more. This is called double taxation and is illegal. I would call you state representative and state senators about this.