Massachusetts Tax-Free Day 8/14/04

[MichaelJ]

I just found out about this today ... sounds like the right day for that new camera, kayak, backpack, tent, etc.

A recently enacted statute provides for a Massachusetts “sales tax holiday,” i.e., a single day during which most purchases made by individuals for personal use will not be subject to Massachusetts sales or use taxes. St. 2003, c. 141, §§ 55-59 (“the Act”). The Act provides that the sales tax holiday will occur on August 14, 2004 and on that day, all non-business sales at retail of single items of tangible personal property costing $2,500 or less are exempt from sales and use taxes.

All the details are on the Mass DOR Web Site.

 

[pedxing]

Interesting - I wonder how crowded the stores will be then. It's probably a good idea, a lot of people will do shopping in Mass that day, instead of waiting for a chance to buy in NH.

It might be a good day for me to replace some of the gear I lost in the fire.

 

[Greg]

Guess what search string has provided the most traffic to the forums so far in August?

massachusetts tax free day

Thanks for the sucking all the bandwidth, MichaelJ... :lol:

 

[hammer]

Interesting - I wonder how crowded the stores will be then. It's probably a good idea, a lot of people will do shopping in Mass that day, instead of waiting for a chance to buy in NH.

It might be a good day for me to replace some of the gear I lost in the fire.

FYI...if you're a Mass resident and buy something in NH, you may want to make sure that you don't give your name and address to the merchant.

A few years ago I bought some furniture in NH. I hoped to save the tax by picking up the furniture there, but I also gave my name and address to the merchant. About 2 years later, I received a note from the Mass Dept. of Revenue demanding "use tax" on the purchase along with interest and penalties. I was not happy..:x

I checked the tax law and it appears that if you buy anything outside of MA and bring it back, if it's taxable in MA and you didn't pay sales tax of at least 5% on it you owe the difference in use tax.

Fortunately, I do not believe that the Mass Dept. of Revenue tries to chase down all cross-border purchases, but they do appear to audit stores near the border, so buyer beware...

 

[MichaelJ]

Thanks for the sucking all the bandwidth, MichaelJ

Narf. That's a positive sign, actually, because it means that we're getting great indexing on Google. But feel free to kill the thread if need be.


BTW - it's legit to buy something out of state on 8/14 and not pay the MA tax that nailed Hammer.

Heh-heh.

 

[Greg]

Narf. That's a positive sign, actually, because it means that we're getting great indexing on Google. But feel free to kill the thread if need be.

Agreed, and no. No need to kill the thread. I'm running at about 50% allocated bandwidth now so we're okay. And I implemented some search engine optimization tweaks and this is evidence it's working!

 

[hammer]

BTW - it's legit to buy something out of state on 8/14 and not pay the MA tax that nailed Hammer.

Heh-heh.

Thanks for the clarification, MichaelJ!

I tend to think that most Mass residents either don't know about the use tax or don't bother to pay it anyway -- why else would the malls in Salem and Nashua, NH be so popular?