Up Front Price

Big Shoe

Moving mother-in-law into assited living. My truck and trailer were loaded up with all the good stuff(lucky me). Left with pile of junk that needs to be hauled to dump.

So I get out the phone book and call some 800 haul junk guy. he shows up and says 200 bucks to do it. So he loads the crap up and hands me a bill for 215.00 What theis this I ask him? TAX he says.

Wel, I really laid into him that he should have thrown those two little words....PLUS TAX.....when he gave me the original price. He looked at me like ''deer in headlights''. So I made him re-write the bill for 200 even.

Do you guys note plus tax on your bids?

kubie

same thing


had a guy dig a addition and says $65/hr with a 3 hr min.

i knew it would only take like 2 hrs, but what ever. (wish i could charge a 3 hr min)

any way he tears off a piece of fascia and says sorry

then we get the bill, like you said, with tax added on. WTF? how can u charge tax on a service. not like we purchased anything.



when i give some one a price......thats what they pay. not more, not less(without a change order)
gona send him a bill for $100 to fix the fascia.

gorenx

I would report them to the state tax commission for charging a sales tax, cuz if you gonna charge a tax, the state wants their share

Magnettica

Want's their share? It's theirs to begin with! You could go to jail for collecting a tax and not passing it on to the state.

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Inner10

Hmmm maby its a regional thing but around here all prices are before tax. If you go to the store to buy shoes, the price is before tax, if you go to buy a can of pop its before tax. Its just kinda implied that you have to pay tax on everything...that being said if someone said it was 200 bucks to pick up just I would expect to pay the tax ontop of it.

My quotes have the total before tax, then with PST, then labour then GST then total.

If I were the junk guy I would have looked at you with the deer-in--the-headlights look.

Framer53

I think you might be in the minority. If a service is taxed, of course the quote is plus tax. I really don't understand how you think the tax would be included.

If you have your truck fixed and the repair guy tell you 65 dollars, you know he is going to put the tax on top. Same with the junk service.

Mike Finley

I probably would have unloaded all your crap on your lawn and given you $20 bucks to go buy lunch if I was the guy. Beating a junk hauler out of $15?

Framer53

Don't hold back Mike, tell us what you really feal!

Mike Finley

All we do is bitch about cheap customers posting crazy ads on craigslist here and now we are becoming just like them.

Magnettica

I just had work done to my van and Ford did the same thing. I specifically demanded to know the cost up front before the work started.

"It'll cost you $1425.00 Mr. Pecina," I was told.

Then the total bill gets thrown my way and it's $1525.00.

WTF??

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Zinsco

Here in California a contractor can charge state sales tax only on materials, but that means he must have a "resellers permit" and previously not paid taxes on the materials as he purchased them "for resale". Around here 99.99% of contractors pay sales tax on materials, and that cost is absorbed and passed on to the customer. It's too much trouble to collect sales tax and forward those taxes to the state when there's no financial incentive to do so.

If a contractor charged me sales tax on materials I would just assume it was a scam to inflate the bill. Scam or not, when you quote a price, that's the price the customer should pay.
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mics_54

If some one bitched about a sales tax I would add a moron tax on it too.

Anti-wingnut

When you go to the grocery store, do you have a fit because the prices quoted are before tax?

Zinsco

A store sells products and it is commonly understood that sales taxes apply to physical goods. Picking up trash and hauling it away and charging "sales tax", even though no goods were sold is scandalous and perhaps criminal.
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Mike Finley

It's not scandalous if it's legal. If it's required then the guy was following the law.

That should be the only thing this boils down to. Is sales tax required to be collected or not? I'm assuming it was, since the posters only complaint was that the guy didn't quote him an inclusive price, and never mentioned anything about being pissed because the guy was collecting sales tax when he shouldn't have.

Zinsco

Yeah, you're right. We can't really for an opinion unless we know the local laws.
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mics_54

If you live in an area for more than a month and don't know what the tax codes are on sales tax in the local municipality or county or borough or state...then yer an idiot and need to shutup about being so surprised that some one adds on sales tax to an invoice. SOME goods are exempt...some arent...in some places SOME service ARE taxed and SOME aren't. If you were a contractor YOU WOULD KNOW THIS. If you are literate YOU WOULD KNOW THIS.
For instance in the borough in which I live goods or services are taxed on the first $500.00 value (unless exempted or may be taxed more on some items) 3% if outside the city in the borough, an additional 4% if within the city. If you don't know your local tax codes I doubt you are a legitimate contractor of business owner and shouldn't even be here asking this question.

BTW you are liable for sales taxes if you collect them OR NOT.

tinner666

In Va, we're taxed on the amount of business we do. The city charges a fee on gross. State charge a tax on profit. So do feds.
We can only charge tax on retail sales, which i am licensed to do, but that is seperate from contractor fees/business, etc. Contractors charge a mark-up on materials that gets taxed later. Read the first sentence again.
Contractors do not collect tax for the state otherwise.

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Frank Slate Roof Repairs, Richmond, Va.

mics_54

yeah...I usually wait till the customer whines about the invoice then say "oh you are right...I forgot the tax...that will be 15 bucks more!"

Big Shoe

Your missing my point......If he told me 215.00,I would have gladly gave it to him. Price is price,period. When I go to Walmart ,Sears,Home Depot,etc.......I expect to pay taxes. I'm not an idiot!

I'm trying to look up Florida laws on taxing for services. I know its screwed up. Where do we cross the line....tax or not? I'm going to open a can of worms here.

I don't charge tax for my service,maybe I am an idiot. But I sure the hell am going to find out!