Has CultPens started collecting Taxes from US customers?

[samasry]

Did anyone  from the US purchase  from CultPens recently.I was trying to check out some items and after the payment  was approved,  they changed the number at the last step and added some Taxes.

 

Has CultPens started collecting Taxes from US customers?

If so, what are these Taxes?,   the number was not the  usual  VAT percentage.

Thanks

[Sinistral1]

Most of my online purchases these days include taxes.  I'm guessing they go to either the state or federal government.

[samasry]

2 hours ago, Sinistral1 said:

Most of my online purchases these days include taxes.  I'm guessing they go to either the state or federal government.

 

Thank you for the information,  I am not clear though as to the location of  those online shops. Taxes for online shops based in the US has been there for some years now. 

 

 Are you being charged Taxes by  EU based online shops?

 

I was referring to purchases from  CultPens in the UK specifically, have you been charged  Taxes by CultPens ?  

 

I think  after Brexit , the UK is charting new course, but I am not sure if this is one of the Brexit  side effects , or something else specific to  the UK?

 

[Sinistral1]

I almost exclusively buy from US companies, and it's been years since I was involved with a Cult Pens group buy, so I can't be of help on this matter.  Sorry.

[I-am-not-really-here]

I was charged combined state sales and county sales tax in my most recent CultPens order placed late May.  

[samasry]

41 minutes ago, Sinistral1 said:

I almost exclusively buy from US companies, and it's been years since I was involved with a Cult Pens group buy, so I can't be of help on this matter.  Sorry.

 

No issue at all,  

Taking the time to help  a fellow member  warrants many  thanks and appreciation.

 

 

[samasry]

34 minutes ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

I was charged combined state sales and county sales tax in my most recent CultPens order placed late May.  

 

Great, Thanks

That makes sense. The last time  I have used them was  around early march.  This is  the time  where they started making changes to the site, enabling purchases with the US dollar and other currencies, and perhaps added this Tax collection feature.

Thanks again for the help

[CupTea]

When I access their website (from the US), I am greeted with this popup:

 

[BayesianPrior]

I placed an order in April, and another in May.

 

Shipping was to Canada.

 

The 20% UK VAT was removed from the prices as items were placed in my cart.

 

At checkout, the 5% GST relevant to my domicile was applied.

 

No additional import duties were collected by the courier or customs agents.

[samasry]

11 hours ago, CupTea said:

When I access their website (from the US), I am greeted with this popup:

 

 

You are right, it does mention Taxes here

Thank you for the help.

[samasry]

10 hours ago, BayesianPrior said:

I placed an order in April, and another in May.

 

Shipping was to Canada.

 

The 20% UK VAT was removed from the prices as items were placed in my cart.

 

At checkout, the 5% GST relevant to my domicile was applied.

 

No additional import duties were collected by the courier or customs agents.

 

Thanks for the help

Yes, I have completed the transaction  late yesterday and it seems the Taxes are the California Sales taxes of 8 to 9%

 

Later CultPens confirmed that they hired a third party to handle their payment system and that third party is collecting taxes and duties up front.

 

 

[Paul-in-SF]

That notice is, I think, a little disingenuous. I've never had to pay import duties on anything I've bought overseas, and as for sales taxes -- if they didn't collect them, they wouldn't get collected (unless you voluntarily paid them on your state income tax form at the end of the year). It was nice to have that loophole for a while, one of the reasons Cult Pens' prices ended up lower than some other places. 

 

I'm not buying anything this month, so I'll have to wait to find out if the EU retailers are doing anything similar. Or maybe it's retailer by retailer. 

[Dione]

It seems like it's becoming a general loophole lockdown now there is so much online selling. Every country wants to ensure that they get their taxes from those online sales just like they get their taxes from store sales in each state. Paying no tax on items that are purchased online from other countries is now a thing of the past. If import duties don't apply then they won't be charged but the taxes will.

[samasry]

1 hour ago, Paul-in-SF said:

That notice is, I think, a little disingenuous. I've never had to pay import duties on anything I've bought overseas, and as for sales taxes -- if they didn't collect them, they wouldn't get collected (unless you voluntarily paid them on your state income tax form at the end of the year). It was nice to have that loophole for a while, one of the reasons Cult Pens' prices ended up lower than some other places. 

 

I'm not buying anything this month, so I'll have to wait to find out if the EU retailers are doing anything similar. Or maybe it's retailer by retailer. 

 

I saw another  thread discussing some new regulations within the EU  coming into effect at the end of the month. If they start charging us  (people outside the EU)  21% VAT,  it will  be a bit extreme.  Perhaps they will charge us the local sales taxes as in the Cultpens' case, I am not sure.

 

The interesting part of CultPens' reply is that they are using third party entity, that is doing the Tax collecting, I am assuming on behalf of  a 100+ countries. This sound like a  complex operation and based on  what we know about how the world works; it is  highly unlikely to be working flawlessly!  

[samasry]

1 hour ago, Dione said:

It seems like it's becoming a general loophole lockdown now there is so much online selling. Every country wants to ensure that they get their taxes from those online sales just like they get their taxes from store sales in each state. Paying no tax on items that are purchased online from other countries is now a thing of the past. If import duties don't apply then they won't be charged but the taxes will.

 

You would think that these governments/people  would be interested more in asking Bezos,  Musk & Co  to  pay their share in taxes before they go after the  poor/middle class person ( who is trying to buy a bottle of ink)  to fleece him/her an additional 10%

 

But what can I say;  we the fountain pen people (specially in the US),  are not even able to  get the  US paper companies  to  produce  decent fountain pen friendly paper.  

[Dione]

They aren't charging any people outside of the EU the EU tax rate. If they charge you any tax they will only charge you your US tax rate. Like Amazon does.

[samasry]

Great, Thanks

[ParramattaPaul]

My understanding is that the US and many other governments having discovered the internet and international online markets as a previously untapped source of revenue have put in place various arrangements by which they can now collect sales taxes, GSTs, and VATs.  I can only imagine what a nuisance this must be for the likes of Cult Pens and any other international seller including Amazon.  Don't be surprised if you start seeing e-Bay sellers collecting taxes in the not too distant future.

[Paul-in-SF]

7 minutes ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Don't be surprised if you start seeing e-Bay sellers collecting taxes in the not too distant future.

Not unless you have a time machine. 

 

(i.e. aren't they already doing this? Have I been whooshed?)

[samasry]

29 minutes ago, Paul-in-SF said:

Not unless you have a time machine. 

 

(i.e. aren't they already doing this? Have I been whooshed?)

 

They have been collecting taxes going on 2 years now

 

Perhaps @ParramattaPaul  did not use the bay in the past  couple of years.