QTOFFER
Aquarium Advice Addict
Has anyone noticed the new line that our scummy politicians snuck into the NY State tax forms? This was part of the new state budget that our ruling troika of Joe Bruno 
, Sheldon Silver , and George Pataki rammed down our necks. In a pathetic attempt to look less asinine in an election year, Pataki vetoed the plan knowing full well that his veto would be over-ridden - thanks to a backroom agreement between Bruno and Silver that he helped broker.
New line 56 requires you to pay sales tax for purchases made out-of-state, be they via internet, mailorder, or in person.
You can do one of three things:
1 Itemize all purchases and compute the tax (a PITA - who saves receipts for little things bought on vacation, for example).
2 Pay a flat fee based on your income. (Equal to about 0.04% of your AGI) This is only for total purchases under $1000. Anything over $!000 must be itemized.
3 Enter 0 and be prepared to prove to the state that you did NOT make any out-of-state purchases.
Like any other tax, you could cheat, but I suppose that the state could subpoena your credit card statements if it wanted to rake you over the coals during an audit.
I'm now waiting for the state to resume its abandoned practice of following NYers to NJ shopping malls and writing down their auto license tag #s.
, Sheldon Silver , and George Pataki rammed down our necks. In a pathetic attempt to look less asinine in an election year, Pataki vetoed the plan knowing full well that his veto would be over-ridden - thanks to a backroom agreement between Bruno and Silver that he helped broker.New line 56 requires you to pay sales tax for purchases made out-of-state, be they via internet, mailorder, or in person.
You can do one of three things:
1 Itemize all purchases and compute the tax (a PITA - who saves receipts for little things bought on vacation, for example).
2 Pay a flat fee based on your income. (Equal to about 0.04% of your AGI) This is only for total purchases under $1000. Anything over $!000 must be itemized.
3 Enter 0 and be prepared to prove to the state that you did NOT make any out-of-state purchases.
Like any other tax, you could cheat, but I suppose that the state could subpoena your credit card statements if it wanted to rake you over the coals during an audit.
I'm now waiting for the state to resume its abandoned practice of following NYers to NJ shopping malls and writing down their auto license tag #s.
