Out of States Purchases

[mrbogangles]

I haven't done this yet but I am wondering. When a gun, rifle, or shotgun is purchased from another state and shipped to a FFL dealer does AZ charge a state tax on the purchase?

I have bought items from over seas and sometimes the states charges taxes on that purchase.

 

[QuietM4]

Depends on who you bought it from. If you buy from a big enough dealer, you will most likely get charged AZ sales tax....smaller dealers may not bother.

It’s for everything you buy online now...I bought 1000rds of ammo from one online dealer, no tax. Next day I get some other ammo from another online dealer, taxed. There doesn’t seem to be any consistency.

 

[mrbogangles]

That's good to know.

Depends on who you bought it from. If you buy from a big enough dealer, you will most likely get charged AZ sales tax....smaller dealers may not bother.

It’s for everything you buy online now...I bought 1000rds of ammo from one online dealer, no tax. Next day I get some other ammo from another online dealer, taxed. There doesn’t seem to be any consistency.

 

[Pscipio03]

Technically Arizona is a marketplace sales taxing states. Meaning, if you purchase anything online from a retailer, that retailer is supposed to collect tax and remit that tax to the state.
If you do purchase something, and get charged tax from the front end, you should not be paying taxes again once delivered. Not sure on if AZ allows a tax on services, like FFL rendering, but I'd question that if someone tried to charge me a tax on that FFL paperwork.
Believe it's up to you to file taxes for online purchases with the state if you buy from a dealer that is too small to collect taxes.
Where things get nebulous, is when you buy a used gun from someone out of state and ship it to you. This happened to me in Michigan when I used a FFL, who was also a LEO, who tried to collect tax from me on a gun I traded another couple of guns for. Was from out of state- I sent my two pistols to him, he shipped me his. The FFL wanted to use bluebook value for it.
It got contentious on both sides since he didn't let me know he was going to be pulling that BS move in the first place.
I've since gotten into the habit of asking a FFL I'm going to use if they are going to try and collect taxes on the service. If they say yes, I move on to someone else.

 

[mrbogangles]

Good info, thanks.

Technically Arizona is a marketplace sales taxing states. Meaning, if you purchase anything online from a retailer, that retailer is supposed to collect tax and remit that tax to the state.
If you do purchase something, and get charged tax from the front end, you should not be paying taxes again once delivered. Not sure on if AZ allows a tax on services, like FFL rendering, but I'd question that if someone tried to charge me a tax on that FFL paperwork.
Believe it's up to you to file taxes for online purchases with the state if you buy from a dealer that is too small to collect taxes.
Where things get nebulous, is when you buy a used gun from someone out of state and ship it to you. This happened to me in Michigan when I used a FFL, who was also a LEO, who tried to collect tax from me on a gun I traded another couple of guns for. Was from out of state- I sent my two pistols to him, he shipped me his. The FFL wanted to use bluebook value for it.
It got contentious on both sides since he didn't let me know he was going to be pulling that BS move in the first place.
I've since gotten into the habit of asking a FFL I'm going to use if they are going to try and collect taxes on the service. If they say yes, I move on to someone else.

 

[samnev]

When I was in Prescott I bought several out of state guns thru J&G Sales and was never charged sales tax

 

[deserttrans]

Good discussion, always nice to know on taxes.

 

[Bigmalcolm]

There is definitely a problem with taxes and consistency, when ordering online.

 

[bldr60]

Just purchased a CZ Shadow 2 from Arms Unlimited, they did not charge sales tax. My FFL has never tried to collect sales tax for out of state purchases.

 

[YNOTAZ]

“Services” are not taxable transaction in Arizona. The service of transferring a firearm is not a taxable event. If they charge sales-tax they are either doing it incorrectly or illegaly inflating their profit under the guise of tax.

“Tangible products”, firearms are taxable and the seller is responsible for paying the sales tax to Arizona, whether they collect it from you or not. As was stated, large firearms sellers will likely charge you sales tax for interstate sales. They will likely have automated systems to collect based on shipping/billing address and reporting and paying from the same system to multiple states.

A smaller single location gun shop in Montana or Wyoming, etc. may not collect or report sales tax to Arizona because they do less than the statutory $200,000 in business in Arizona and if they cross that threshold by a small amount, the likelihood of them being audited is very unlikely.

 

[Pro2a]

There is definitely a problem with taxes and consistency, when ordering online.

Not if they don't do it....HAHAHAHA

 

[pvreb]

Apparently used items are not taxed here (but Ebay collects taxes on everything). I would think that a second hand firearm should be tax free.

 

[h8pvmnt]

Gun-broker Started collecting tax on all transactions in the beginning of May in AZ. So anything that goes thru there GB checkout is charged sales taxes based on the state its going too. Private party purchase on GB if not run through GB checkout don't charge tax so far. If you buy a used gun from a gun store you get charged sales tax, no different with an online used gun, if coming from a retail dealer you will likely get charged sales tax. Private party probably not. Bottom line on GB ask to pay outside there GB checkout. You might avoid the tax for now. Same deal as a car. You buy a used car from a dealer out of state they charge you the sales tax when you register it unless you paid it to the place of purchase. If you buy a used car in state from a dealer you will always get hit with sales tax. In general i don't think there is any differentiation between new and used when purchasing from a retail dealer. There obligated to collect sales tax. Total double taxation BS. The Receiving FFL in an online transfer is not required to charge sales taxes as they are not selling the gun too you technically. But as far as online retailers most are getting there software up to date and i assume that eventually most will charge tax. Kind of took the benefit away from the online purchase thing. Although some better deals can be had sometimes online. I always add up total cost to compare to a LGS purchase, that is the cost of the gun online, plus shipping if applicable plus the tax, and the FFL Fee. Lately online has not been any bargain when considering the total cost.

 

[pneuby]

This online watch dealer made a great video about it. You can still understand him if you run it at 2x viewing speed......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME933pbs2R4