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People's Republic of California coming for you...

AF

New Member
By now, anyone doing retail business in California is well acquainted with the CDTFA. Jerry Brown left a nice steamer on the way out of office when he created an all-new tax admin with zero votes from the populace and entirely in secret. For background, the BOE was scuttled in favor of this new partisan taxation entity which is empowered to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants.

Back in February, the CDTFA notified California businesses that it had developed "socialist cops", or SCOPs for short. These SCOPs will be invading businesses with the purpose of shaking down the business owners. The SCOPs are already hired, in place, and well trained. They will be doing the following:

1. Demanding to see your papers.
2. Collect damaging testimony from you to be used against you without any Miranda protections or legal representation.
3. Encourage you to attend re-education camps.
4. Unreasonably, and without probable cause, rifle through your premises in search of a crime.
5. Make entries into an Orwellian database regarding what is learned about you and your business.
6. Interrogate you and your employees
7. Demand you demonstrate allegiance to your new overlord.
8. Coerce you into providing information you would otherwise withhold.
9. Threaten you if you so much as think about concealing sensitive information.

Based on the results of 1-9 above, the socialist cops will then request an audit of the business which result in devastating financial loss and potential imprisonment for the business owner.

This is a heads-up to our brothers and sisters trying to grind out a living in California. If this has happened to you, please share the experience.
 

Johnny Best

Active Member
You would think with such high taxes in CA they would be nicer to business people. Where do they think they are going to get their money.
When I was 16 I wanted to go and surf with Miki Dora in Malibu. Good thing I stayed in school. God works in strange ways.
 

kcollinsdesign

Old member
The worst thing CDTFA can do is order a tax audit. You will need to give them access to the information they need, but you do not need to talk to them. A better approach would be to be their friend and support their activities. Use their publically available resources to do business in California and, hopefully, avoid inconvenient tax audits.
 

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
As long as they don't ask the immigration status of your employees everything should be fine.
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
As long as they don't ask the immigration status of your employees everything should be fine.

I got the "don't ask don't tell" policy... I don't ask the immigration status of my lawn care people, they don't tell me how they can do it all for $30.
 

Ready

Ready To Go
After months of deliberation, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) has come up with a response to South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that overruled the physical presence rule preventing states from taxing remote sales. California will require out-of-state sellers with a certain amount of economic activity in the state to collect and remit sales tax* starting April 1, 2019.

The significance of this can’t be overstated. Although California is the 30th state to adopt economic nexus in the wake of the Wayfair decision, it’s by far the largest to do so. With a population pushing 40 million and the fifth largest economy in the world, few if any retailers will remain unaffected by this new collection requirement.

Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. (June 21, 2018), states only had the authority to impose a sales tax collection obligation on businesses with a physical presence in the state. In Wayfair, the court found the physical presence constraint to be “unsound and incorrect.” It determined that a business with no physical presence in a state could establish nexus through its “economic and virtual contacts” with the state.

Believe half of what you see and none of what your hear (read), etc... Do your own HOMEWORK!

The following link refers specifically to California, however you may find more information on this website regarding states you are in or interested in...

http://tinyurl.com/ybdwvb9m

Bob P
 

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
After months of deliberation, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) has come up with a response to South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that overruled the physical presence rule preventing states from taxing remote sales. California will require out-of-state sellers with a certain amount of economic activity in the state to collect and remit sales tax* starting April 1, 2019.

The significance of this can’t be overstated. Although California is the 30th state to adopt economic nexus in the wake of the Wayfair decision, it’s by far the largest to do so. With a population pushing 40 million and the fifth largest economy in the world, few if any retailers will remain unaffected by this new collection requirement.

Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. (June 21, 2018), states only had the authority to impose a sales tax collection obligation on businesses with a physical presence in the state. In Wayfair, the court found the physical presence constraint to be “unsound and incorrect.” It determined that a business with no physical presence in a state could establish nexus through its “economic and virtual contacts” with the state.

Believe half of what you see and none of what your hear (read), etc... Do your own HOMEWORK!

The following link refers specifically to California, however you may find more information on this website regarding states you are in or interested in...

http://tinyurl.com/ybdwvb9m

Bob P
The full load of crap of these rulings in the first 16 states that adopted this model... Because their residents decide to purchase online we are forced to follow a foreign states rule with no ability to vote or change it.

They should, if they plan on taxing cross border businesses, allow those businesses to vote for any fiscal changes in their states relating to cross border sales. You know, we did fight a major war that changed the direction of the world economy over taxation without representation. Funny how we are blind to history so often.
 
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TimToad

Active Member
Well, hate to disappoint those of us grinding out a living from their bomb shelters and envisioning the SCOPS as arriving armed, dressed in dark green SS uniforms and jackboots but we just had our "inspection" by the SCOP assigned to our area.

Our SCOP stood about 4'9" and weighed around 110 lbs. He played with the dog out in the driveway for five minutes before entering the shop and was just the nicest, most disarming, friendly, young man you could imagine. His "uniform" was a pair of khakis, button shirt and very non-threatening vest. He looked more like a Peace Corps volunteer than anything.

Soft spoken, polite, very friendly, he looked at our Seller's Permit, local business license, asked a few simple, non-invasive questions to verify our business type, our names and contact information and was gone in less than five minutes.

I did hear a few Apache helicopters hovering above, but I think that was CHP dealing with an accident nearby on the highway.
 

mjkjr

New Member
So if I make a sale on my website to a resident of CA or SD or wherever, and ship it to them without charging and paying tax to the destination state, who is going to enforce that on my business? I'm not in their state, my commerce was interstate by definition. My business isn't subject to their laws as it doesn't exist or operate there. As it is, I wish I could move my business out of MA and just over the border into NH (and I may eventually). States makr it so expensive as it is to do business, soon only the giant to big to fail shitty businesses will be the only ones left anymore. You know, the ones with the pockets deep enough to comply with all the rules they also get to have a hand in crafting that keep up the barriers to entry for the little guys.
 

binki

New Member
They actually started this several years back with a visual audit of every business in The PRC. They started in San Diego and worked their way up north. They came to our biz when we were closed so we did ours over the phone. The purpose was to see if you paid sales tax on all of your equipment.
They are pretty brutal however as a C-Corp we are protected under the constitution, specifically the 1st, 4th and 5th Amendments give us grounds to refuse some of their tactics and to take them to court. So far they haven't bothered us since then.
 
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