costs of shipping guns
ok,,i never bought a gun from anyone that wasn't standing in front of me. When a gun is purchased on GB,,,you pay shipping and whatever the ffl agrees too,,,do you also have to pay taxes to that ffl because he is the guy selling it to you?
what are you doing?! Shooting for windage? Turn the gun upright!
what are you doing?! Shooting for windage? Turn the gun upright!
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Razor, I am a dealer here in Southern California so I can only speak about sales/use tax regulations here in this state. In general if merchandise is shipped out of a state without the buyer taking direct possession there is no tax due. This can vary if the seller has a presence (it is a chain or large catalog store) in your home state or decides to simply collects state taxes on all sales and then directs the money back to your home state. There are MANY variables here.
As a rule an individual or small dealer will not collect sales tax on items shipped to you. I won't bother because it is nearly impossible to know all of the tax rates for each state, county, and city, as well as special tax districts which may tack on an extra 1/4% or so.
You however ARE obligated to pay the tax to your local authority, either when you take possession or at the end of the year. Here in California there is an address given with your state income tax form for you to drop in a check for the correct amount on the purchase of any items bought out of state- if no tax was paid at the time of sale. Got all of that? Doing my own California sales taxes is enough of a pain, so I have ZERO interest in collecting taxes for your state or worrying about whether or not you are skipping out on sales tax in your home state. I won't collect sales tax on out of state sales- others may do things differently.
Mark T. Christian0 -
Be sure that you understand the method of shipping before you bid. If you buy a long gun, it can be shipped by any method by either an FFL or an individual. However, only an FFL can ship a handgun by USPS to your FFL; individuals must ship handguns to your FFL by UPS or FEDEX, and both of these carriers require that you use Next Day Air. This will cost $40-60. So, don't be surprised; use the UPS or FEDEX online rate estimator to figure your cost.
Neal0 -
what about paperwork? Who fills out the paperwork and does the backround check?
what are you doing?! Shooting for windage? Turn the gun upright!0 -
From reading your first post I was assuming that you were an FFL holder; since you made no mention of using an FFL holder for a transfer. Since you appear now, not to be licensed, ignore my first post as when you pick your firearm up from your FFL holder he can, if he wishes, charge you whatever sales tax may have been due on your purchase. When the firearm arrives you will visit your FFL, fill out from 4473, and the dealer will phone it in for the Brady Check. If approved you'll walk out. Other state laws may also apply- it depends on where you live. You do have an FFL holder lined up, right? Are there more missing pieces to this? Is it a C&R firearm and do you hold that type of FFL? If that is the case there is no Brady Check. Once again other state laws may apply here.
Mark T. Christian
Edited by - mark christian on 11/24/2002 18:10:280 -
mark,,thanks,,question answered 0 -
I've bought guns online several times and have had the transactions handled at two different local gun stores. In all cases, no sales tax was collected for the guns. Your local store is not selling you the gun, they are simply acting as the FFL transfer agent. They never take ownership of the gun or sell it, therefore, no sales tax is collected.
My local FFL gun stores charged me $15 to $20 to handle the transfer, which included the background check. Bottom line, I sent the seller the price for the gun, including whatever shipping charge we agreed to, plus I paid $15 to $20 to my local store where the gun arrived.0 -
Shipping Rates. This week I boxed and prepared to ship a C&R handgun out of state as soon as the payment arrives. I took the package to the P.O. and ask for the rate of priority mail with insurance. $19.05. Then I went to FedEx. The rate for two day delivery was $12.10. UPS gives me static when I make the 40 mile round trip to thier counter and would charge in access of $30.00 for the same package. The P.O. is 3/4 mile and FedEx is about 3 1/2 mile. FedEx attitude is cheery and a "sure, we will be happy to ship your gun". I know shippers can be very different from place to place, but UPS is the pits in my area.
wcreel@ccms.net0 -
Farmplinkers mention of not taking ownership on the firearm is intersting?
It is my understanding that when your FFL took possession of the firearm and logged it into their bound book as an acquisition that the firearm was now part of their business inventory. When they did the 4473 form they were selling it to you at their place of business and sells tax would need to be collected. One could then ask the question what was the sale price since the dealer was not out any money? Thats my understanding of this and would like more opinions on this one.0 -
This post started out as a question as to whether or not an out of state buyer had to include a sales/use tax payment to the dealer shipping him a firearm: Short answer- NO. It has now become a question as to whether or not the same buyer has to pay sales/use tax to his home state dealer when he picks up the firearm he ordered: Short answer- YES.
This has now become what the board of equalization (your sales/use tax agency) terms a "third party transaction" and since taxable merchandise has changed hands, sales/use tax is due. A LOT of dealers won't collect this tax, but they are in violation of the regulations and if caught will have to pay the tax due themselves- plus penalites. SOMEONE has to pay the tax, you just can't let the folks in Sacramento miss out on their cut. This is California State law and other states rules may vary. If you live in a state with a high tax rate and are buying a firearm from a dealer in a low tax state you can pay him the prevailing lower rate in his state. You then avoid the higher rate at home. Perfectly legal as tax has been paid and the item cannot be taxed twice.
Stoverarms is correct as to the way we dealers receive and enter firearms in our bound books and then release them to the actual buyer. Since every legitimate dealer will include a copy of some sort of sales receipt with each firearms shipment it is easy enough to find out the ammount the customer paid for his new firearm. Simply take that amount, do the math, and charge the correct amount of tax when the firearm is actually purchased and leaves the dealer's inventory. Taxes are a fact of life and the tax agencies go to great lengths to be sure that they are paid.
Mark T. Christian0
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