I got home from the office. I had a love letter from the Florida Department of Revenue assessing me $3,363.24 of sales & use tax on the value of trophy imports from Zimbabwe. I am shocked.

Several years ago, I received an inquiry on a similar matter. I got out of it all together.

Had anyone else ever had this issue?

I’ve had several shipments over the years to Texas and to date have not experienced what you did. Hopefully this was an erroneous anomaly.

Never heard of this.
How did they know?
If you go to Alabama and buy something, you don't pay Florida sales tax, do you?
Cal

quote:

Originally posted by cal pappas:
Never heard of this.
How did they know?
If you go to Alabama and buy something, you don't pay Florida sales tax, do you?
Cal

They got the records of imports into the US by FL residents.

As far as your AL question, one MIGHT pay a use tax under the right set of circumstances.

As the trophies are from Zimbabwe, why don't you send them Zim Dollars?

And you being a good standing member of AR, I will be happy to sell you Zim Dollars at half face value!

This offer is limited to no more than ZD 1000,000,000,000,000,000, per members!

That is a hell of a deal Saeed. You are a true humanitarian!

Larry,
How would they derive the value in the first place to asses a tax?
I've never heard of it and did many shipments into FL and I bet say John Pyles there by you who receives shipments regularly hasn't either

Oh that is just scary. And super weak at the same time.

Yes: CA wants is to pay a 'use tax' on whatever we buy in other states. When I file CA income tax return, there's an 'estimated' deal which is pretty low... so I just pay it. Cheaper than an audit.

Larry, please be sure to let us know how this sorts out. Your situation is making me nervous about a big ass box I have coming from Tholo in Botswana this April!

Is the tax based on trophy fee or someones estimate on the value of a mounted trophy?

An other thought, is the tax based on the total cost of the safari.

Here is what I believe happened:

The shipping documents have various documents attached. As I recall, one of those documents has a list of the animals contained in the shipments and the trophy fees paid. I believe they have taken the sum total of the trophy fees paid and performed simple arithmetic from there.

I am damn glad that I do not have mounted animals coming .

first time i've heard of it - lesson learned-bring them into another state

In Canada they used to charge me 7% GST on the cost of crating. Usually 7% of $500. Our GST eventually went down to 5%.

Then they started to charge 5% on the trophy fees that I paid in Zimbabwe. And they were openly hostile when questioned on how they could charge such a thing???

I no longer bring back trophies to mount so am not sure what they try to charge these days??? Good luck, Larry.

I have a shipment coming from Zambia right now, so this is very timely. These items are exempt from Customs Duty fees, so I can’t see how a state has a right to collect tax on them. I’ll update everyone on my experience here in California next week when I go clear my trophies.

Gents,
This has happened to me on two different occasions, the first time on imports from Africa, and the second time on a finished bear rug import from Canada. The Commiefornia tax people get updates from U.S. Customs on any imports by California residents. They send out a letter stating that there might be tax owed, and asked me to prove to them why I did not owe them taxes on the imports. On the advice of my import broker, I informed them that imported sport hunted taxidermy for personal use is exempt from taxes. They never communicated with me after that on either occasion. So far, so good, but I recently received a shipment of finished work from RSA, so I expect to hear from them again. At this point, I believe that I can cite precedence, but who knows? Another factor to consider is that finished work should only be taxable on the cost of materials used by the taxidermist, since in most cases, labor is non-taxable. DLS, if you have any problems, please post about it. In both of my incidents, it was some time after the import that the tax people contacted me.

I have done a bit if research. I am pretty certain that I have a way out. A letter and documentation has been sent.

Time will tell.

These states have no shame
These officials and for that matter legislators would whore out all their female relatives for a buck
Sickening

Personal hunted trophies are not taxable.Someone made a mistake.