Sales Tax is a wallet-biter for internet shoppers in the USA these days. B&H Photo has a new option if you want to pay sales-tax without taking the hit in your wallet. And of course very legally doing so.
They have just launched the B&H PayBoo store credit card. You make online or in-store or by-phone purchases and pay the amount plus any appropriate sales tax. At the same time, the credit card rewards your account with the sales-tax amount, so the net balance of your credit card is without the sales tax amount.
For example, let’s say you purchased Hypothetical 50mm f0.005 IS Macro Tilt-Shift for $100. Sales tax in your state is $7. The credit card charges you $107, so you have paid your sales tax. At the same time, the B&H PayBoo store credit card credits $7 to your account. So the balance you have to pay is $100.
You have to apply and get accepted to the credit card (instant decisions available). It is managed by the Synchrony Bank.
NOTE that this benefit is only available to customers who reside in USA states where:
+ there is sales tax
+ B&H is required by law to collect it at purchase
+ there are no state laws prohibiting this practice
NOTE also that if you change the delivery address (eg different state), the credit amount and whether you get the credit may be impacted as different states have different percentages and laws and some-do and some-don’t collect sales tax.
There is no benefit/reward for international purchases. You will not get back customs or other fees. This benefit is only for US state-tax where eligible/possible.
This is a “house” credit card, it can only be used for B&H purchases at B&H, be it online or in-store or by phone or using the B&H apps or by raven.
NOTE also that you must make the FULL payment using this credit card. If it’s a partial payment with any other payment method, you will not receive the benefits.
STRATEGERY
Overall, this sounds like a promising idea, assuming you plan your purchases wisely and check what your purchasing/finance APRs are in case you are planning to make payments over time ~ especially if there are no special 0% financing offers available at the time of purchase.
This however creates complications if you frequently use or receive B&H Gift Card and/or B&H Rewards, so that’s something to consider. Some states may not collect sales-tax on digital downloads/services (eg CreativeCloud, software purchases, cloud subscriptions), so in those cases, you may be able to pay for them using your B&H gift cards.
Or you can re-gift the B&H gift cards or sell/trade them on the gift card market (plenty of sites and options these days for gift cards)…
I think B&H and other online retailers should advertise discounts equal to the amount of sales tax due for well-established customers who live in states that demand sales tax be paid for online purchases. Then — and this is the genius of my idea! 🙂 — B&H and other retailers should charge the advertising about their sales tax discounts *and* the discount amounts against their profits when paying their taxes. Both are legitimate business expenses.
That would be easier for the consumer, but I don’t know if electronics margins are big enough to allow that and whether there laws prohibiting the direct discounting of sales taxes? It will also be interesting to see whether any of the states move to counter such promotions.
Of course it could all be simplified if things move to simple/flat taxes without all the convoluted stuff and armies of accountants and lawyers to sort through them. But then what are the lawyers and accountants going to be do? 🙂
Flat tax? Eww! Malcolm Forbes, is that you in there?
LOL a pancake tax then? 🙂