The holiday shopping season is already upon us and if you’re like me, you’re already checking for sales on your favorite online retailers. Now, the best part? Those savings can come in handy. In fact, most retailers charge retailers a flat rate for online sales and when you take out a sales tax, that rates can be higher.
Many retailers include sales tax in their prices, but not all of them. Here are three retailers that charge sales tax on online sales so keep that in mind and look for a coupon at https://www.raise.com/coupons/amazon prior to shopping so that you can save that extra money.
Amazon
Amazon allows a flat rate of 5% to 10% for all online sales. Even with that rate, the average price paid for products on Amazon will be more than 20% higher.
If you’re shopping on Amazon, you might see some pretty expensive items listed as “free.” What the site does offer is a lower price than the sales tax rate. You can compare the two products, but it’s not that simple. Even with free shipping, you’ll still have to pay sales tax on these items.
For this reason, shopping on Amazon with taxes in mind is a bad idea. Kmart Kmart has a flat-rate online sales tax of 5%, as well as an additional 2% sales tax for in-store sales. Because of its discount structure and lower prices, it’s likely that most items you buy on Kmart will be subject to sales tax. Shopping on Kmart is difficult because of its low sales tax rates, which make it one of the more appealing places to shop. As with Amazon, Kmart often ships the item directly from the manufacturer to your doorstep. These items also tend to be fairly inexpensive (you can’t get these items at a discount price), so if you’re shopping on a budget, Kmart can be a good option. IKEA IKEA’s 3% sales tax rate applies to most items. Although most items don’t qualify for the discount, there are some types of items (such as clothing) that don’t require the discount, and those items may be better than the item’s actual value. Most of the items that you buy online will be eligible for the 3% sales tax. If you plan to go to a store to purchase an item, make sure to check out what types of items are eligible for the 3% sales tax and ask the salesperson at the register. For example, it’s not necessary to apply the discount if you buy an item at IKEA’s own retail location if you know the item is eligible for the tax.
Where is the tax paid?
When you pay a sales tax bill, the sales tax goes to the taxing authority. If the sales tax does not cover the cost of the item, your tax balance will show up in your PayPal account as a “purchase” instead of a “return.”
If your tax balance appears as “purchase” on PayPal, that means you paid the tax with the cash value of the item and not the cost of the
