Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
> I think this has at least also something to do with the way USA-style
> sales tax works (as opposed to Europe-style VAT).

It's actually not a USA thing, it's up to the individual states.  Here in
Massachusetts we have a 6.25% sales and use tax.  The tax is supposed to be
paid by the end user at the time of purchase.  If we as a company buy parts
that aren't for our internal use, then we don't have to pay the tax since
we're not "using" the parts.  This applies to parts for resell or that go
into items to be manufactured for resale.  When we resell the parts or sell
the final manfactured item in Massachusetts, we are obligated to collect th=
e
tax and send it in to the state periodically.  We are also obligated to sen=
d
in the use tax on anything we consume that we didn't pay the tax on at the
time or purchase, like when buying something over the internet from a
company that does not have a presence in Massachusetts.

> When you buy a part
> in the USA, you buy it as engineering part or as a production part,
> and I don't think USA accounting systems have a way to pass parts
> between the two.

You can easily convert parts in inventory allocated to resale to internal
use by paying the tax at any time.  Going the other way is more complicated=
..
There is probably a way to file for getting the use tax back when you sell
something you orginally paid tax on, but it's probably a hassle and probabl=
y
takes a long time and probably also cause someone at the tax office to
scrutinize your company.  A simpler thing to do is to charge the tax when
you sell it but don't send it in since you've already done so earlier.  Tha=
t
may not be exactly what the law requires, but in practise as long as they
get their money the tax people have better things to do than to go after
small companies that did in fact pay their tax, just maybe not the right
way.

However, converting back and for between internal use and "for resale" is
something we do very rarely.  Most of the time we just pay the tax and
consider it part of the cost of the item if we do end up unexpectedly
reselling it.  This would only happen in small quantities anyway.  When
we're doing a real production build we know that up front and don't pay the
tax then.

This all different from how it is in New Hampshire, which doesn't have any
sales or use tax.  The feds don't care.  They get a income and a small
unemployment fund tax, but there is no national sales tax or VAT in the US.


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