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by linkup
on Thu Mar 09, 2006 7:55 pm |
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| I think there are free legal services available like Legal Aid or very cheap services provided by other legal subscription plans.Check the internet and your phone book.Just trying to help. |
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linkup
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Oct 01, 2005
Posts: 1201
Location: Anywhere but here
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by linkup
on Thu Mar 09, 2006 8:20 pm |
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Here are a couple of legal options you can call to check out.They are free or cheap, and should,I hope,be able to help.A letter written by an attorney to NJ Tax people could put collection on hold or give all of you time to pay up ,if necessary,in your own time.
http://www.lsnj.org
http://info.insure.com/legal/prepaidlegal.html
I am not associated with these sites.Ijust found them on a search engine.
Lots of luck,and I hope you win. |
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linkup
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Posts: 1201
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by affiliate
on Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:13 pm |
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order from outside the usa that way, if not cought, you will not be paying taxes. Companies delivering cigarettes from outside the usa do not have to report to the state nor federal goverments.
Worse case the shipment is stopped and you have to pay the taxes. you still come off cheaper.
best case which is over 90% of the times. the smokes get to your house cheap and tax free. |
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affiliate
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by brisco
on Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:57 am |
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This is the letter I plan to send to NJ Taxation Dept. I have "borrowed" from many resources on the web. Comments, corrections and suggestions are most welcome and encourged! Feel free to use any part of this. (sorry for the formatting)
Customer Service Center
State of New Jersey
Department of the Treasury
Division of Taxation
PO Box 187
Trenton, NJ 08695-0187
Dear Madam or Sir:
I received a letter stating that I owe $119.05 for Untaxed Cigarette Purchases from ESmokes.com for purchases from 07/01/03 to 06/30/04. I am disputing this bill for the following reasons:
1. Invoice number ES0000xxxx states that on 07/21/03 and 08/15/03 I ordered:
Item Qty Unit Price Line Price
Marathon Ultra Lights 100s Box 1 $34.68 $34.68
Value Brand Sampler Ultra Light 100s 1 $34.68 $34.68
Basic Ultra Light Menthol 100s Box 1 $34.68 $34.68
Bronco Ultra Lights King Size Soft 2 $34.68 $69.36
Product Subtotal $173.40
I checked on ESmokes web page today and priced the order in question and got the following prices:
Cart Details
Item Qty Unit Price Line Price
Marathon Ultra Lights 100s Box 1 $13.79 $13.79
Value Brand Sampler Ultra Light 100s 1 $15.99 $15.99
Basic Ultra Light Menthol 100s Box 1 $25.99 $25.99
Bronco Ultra Lights King Size Soft 2 $15.49 $30.98
Product Subtotal $86.75
Order Subtotal $86.75
The difference in price being $86.65.
2. The Invoice shows I ordered one carton of Basic Ultra Light Menthol 100s Box. I dispute this because I do not smoke menthol cigarettes nor did I ever order these for anyone else.
3. I never received an original invoice you had gotten from ESmokes.
4. At the time I purchases cigarettes from ESmokes.com (located in Virginia), VA tobacco excise taxes were included as part of the purchase price.
5. NJ is trying to charge me its own tobacco excise tax, without giving me a credit for the VA tobacco excise tax already paid, since VA’s law doesn't allow for such credits.
6. Since I am therefore being required to pay the full taxes due to both Virginia and New Jersey, this means I'm paying more total taxes than I would have if I'd purchased my cigarettes in either state.
7. According to the Federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, any such "multiple" taxation can't be applied to Internet purchases. (see exerpt below)
TITLE XI--MORATORIUM ON CERTAIN TAXES
SEC. 1100. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ``Internet Tax Freedom Act''.
SEC. 1101. MORATORIUM.
(a) Moratorium.--No State or political subdivision thereof shall impose any of the following taxes during the period beginning on October 1, 1998, and ending 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act--
(1) taxes on Internet access, unless such tax was generally imposed and actually enforced prior to October 1, 1998; and
(2) multiple or discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce.
8. Because of the way the ITFA is written, NONE of the NJ tobacco excise tax can be collected on my Internet purchase, since the NJ tobacco excise tax represents a prohibited "multiple" tax.
9. P.L. 2005, c. 85, Approved May 4, 2005, ASSEMBLY, No. 1838, 211th LEGISLATURE states that:
4. A person shall not engage in a retail sale of cigarettes in this State unless the sale is a face-to-face sale, except that a person may engage in a non-face-to-face sale of cigarettes to a person in this State if the following conditions are met:
a. The seller has fully complied with all of the requirements of
the Jenkins Act, 15 U.S.C. s.375 et seq., for shipments to this State; 1[and]1
b. The seller has 1[fully complied with either of the following requirements: (1)] verified payment of, paid, or collected1 all applicable State taxes, including the cigarette taxes imposed by the "Cigarette Tax Act," P.L.1948, c.65 (C.54:40A-1 et seq.) and the sales or use taxes imposed by the "Sales and Use Tax Act," P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.), due on the cigarettes 1[have been paid or (2) the seller includes on the outside of the shipping container for any cigarettes shipped to a resident in the State from any source in the United States an externally visible and easily legible notice located on the same side of the shipping container as the address to which the package is delivered stating as follows: ‘‘IF THESE CIGARETTES HAVE BEEN SHIPPED TO YOU FROM A SELLER LOCATED OUT OF THE STATE IN WHICH YOU RESIDE, THE SELLER HAS REPORTED PURSUANT TO FEDERAL LAW THE SALE OF THESE CIGARETTES TO YOUR STATE TAX COLLECTION AGENCY, INCLUDING YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS. YOU ARE LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL APPLICABLE UNPAID STATE TAXES ON THESE CIGARETTES.’’] ; and …
9. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month following enactment and apply to shipments made on and after that date.
10. Because P.L. 2005, c. 85, was approved May 4, 2005, and subsection 9 states when it shall take affect, I suggest that since my “proposed” purchases were in 2003, that an adjustment be made AFTER ESmokes invoice can be verified.
Therefore I would like to request the original invoice or data including prices you received from ESmokes to verify this bill as Esmokes phone number has been busy for two weeks now and the do not reply to my emails
Thank you for looking into this matter and making any necessary adjustments as soon as possible. |
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brisco
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by fairsmoketax
on Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:27 pm |
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Bravo my friend. I and my wife will review your letter and utilize parts of it as appropriate. It is good to know we are not the only ones seeking to address this injustice. Keep up the excellent work.
BTW, you may want to review some of the staues relating to interstate commerce and the constitution's language regarding states not interfering with said commerce. It may be applicable. |
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fairsmoketax
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Location: New Jersey
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by Tom
on Tue Mar 14, 2006 9:56 am |
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I don't know how they came up with that number 119.05 for 5 cartons. At $24/carton, it should be ($120+ 6% of $34.68*5)= $130.41. The reason they converted everything to $34.68 is because that was the state minimum price at the time, you got a deal still, becasue premium brands were more in 03 and 04. They could have charged you the price you paid+$24, then the 6% on top. Check if they took off $0.25 per carton for the VA tax at the time. It seems like they took off more than that. Maybe you can still fight it on technicalities, but good luck. Esmokes are assholes. They did not have to report your sales to NJ for sales made prior to Nov 2005. They had to get a kick back from the State of NJ. That's how we work things here. What a sick state, isn't it... Anyone want to find out how much the state of NJ gave E smokes, and who benefitted..
Quote: Notice: Internet Cigarette Sales
(P.L. 2005, c. 85)
The Cigarette Sales Act was signed into law as Chapter 85, P.L. 2005 on May 4, 2005. This law requires that all cigarette sales be made “face-to-face” unless the seller has (1) complied with the federal Jenkins Act, (2) verified payment of, paid, or collected all applicable State taxes, including the cigarette tax (currently $2.40 per pack) and the sales and use tax (currently 6% of the retail price) and (3) verified that the purchaser is 18 years of age or older.
The federal Jenkins Act, 15 U.S.C. s.375 et seq., requires anyone selling cigarettes to a buyer in another state to report the sale to the state tobacco tax administrator for the buyer’s state. In New Jersey, the New Jersey Division of Taxation is the state tobacco tax administrator.
This law requires a non-face-to-face seller of cigarettes to obtain confirmation that the purchaser is at least 18 years old before mailing or shipping the cigarettes. In doing so, the seller must make a good faith effort to verify the information provided by the purchaser against a commercially available database or obtain a photocopy or other image of government-issued picture identification stating the age of the purchaser. The seller should also receive payment for the sale by a credit or debit card that has been issued in the purchaser’s name or by check and verify that a credit or debit card used for payment has been issued in the purchaser’s name. Lastly, the seller must verify that the address to which the cigarettes are being shipped matches the credit or debit card company’s address for the cardholder.
This law shall take effect on November 1, 2005 and apply to shipments made on and after that date. For additional information, please contact: New Jersey Division of Taxation, Cigarette Tax Group, P.O. Box 187, Trenton, New Jersey 08695-0187, or by telephone at 609-984-7554.
http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/text/cigwebsalestxt.htm |
Last edited by Tom on Tue Mar 14, 2006 9:59 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Tom
Smokers Rights Activist
Joined: Aug 24, 2003
Posts: 961
Location: The Kingdom of New Jersey
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by Tom
on Tue Mar 14, 2006 9:58 am |
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| Someone should copy that webpage on the state site, before they visit smokinglobby.com and take it down. |
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Tom
Smokers Rights Activist
Joined: Aug 24, 2003
Posts: 961
Location: The Kingdom of New Jersey
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by sammeedog
on Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:55 pm |
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| It's down, I can't even pull it off the google cache |
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sammeedog
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by Smokinjoe
on Wed Mar 15, 2006 1:58 pm |
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Has anyone been hit for back taxes from any company other than esmokes?
Anyone get reported for ordering from any Swiss companies?
Wondering if there is any substance behind their claims "we are forbidden by Swiss Law to report any customer information even at the request of foreign authorities". |
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Smokinjoe
Smoker
Joined: Dec 16, 2004
Posts: 178
Location: New Jersey
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by Jackie_NJ
on Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:59 pm |
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Esmokes invoice totals from 2002 - 2005 were on my tax bill. They got the dates wrong, but I am not even going to try and argue that one.
My bill is a charming $2559.94 which, of course, I do not presently have at hand. Spoke to an accountant who basically said I have to pay, or the state can slap a lien on my property.
I also have a different total on the actual purchases, because they way I did business with esmokes was to use a credit card and I have the credit card statements. The State of NJ may or may not accept them as backup, said the accountant, because they may want original invoices, and who keeps those?
So I am going to make a spread sheet, agree with their quantities and dates, disagree with their sales tax total (can't get around the damned excise TAX), and create a payment plan.
Is there any way around having to pay for 2002, 2003 and 2004?
Thanks |
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Jackie_NJ
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