response 102 of 127:

Jun 28 14:18 UTC 2000

My experience with this in the past has been to simply provide the vendors
fromwhom I made the purchases the organization's tax ID number, and -- iff
needed -- letters to support its validity and my authority to purchase.  Then,
the amounts to be reimbursed did not include the taxes.

response 104 of 127:

Jun 28 14:44 UTC 2000

I'm just going by what the lady in the Michigan Department of Treasury,
Sales, Use, and Withholding Taxes Division told me.  (The office that
issued our sales tax license.)  She told me that if we reimburse people we
couldn't get out of paying sales tax. 

Seems like Eric and Joe and Meg have more practical experience.  I suspect
it's what Eric said about having the authority to purchase for an
organization that is at issue.  The State doesn't want anyone to be able
to walk into a store and say they're buying for a nonprofit organization,
and get out of paying sales tax.

I bet that if businesses let people out of paying sales tax, then the
State has the power to force them to prove that those people really were
entitled to the exemption.  Perhaps this is rare enough that businesses
don't worry about it much?

Anyway, I bow to superior experience.  Greg has copies of our 501(c)3
determination letter which anyone can have.  If a business will accept
that as good enough to get us out of paying tax, even though the check is
from someone else, then great!

response 106 of 127:

Jun 28 16:38 UTC 2000

It's on the determination letter, I believe.

response 108 of 127:

Jun 28 20:14 UTC 2000

How do you prove that?

response 110 of 127:

Jun 28 22:54 UTC 2000

is that the only reason we are free to ignore it?

response 112 of 127:

Jun 29 00:04 UTC 2000

i plan on getting magnets implanted in my nipples, and then
i will wear steel earrings. that will hold my
chest up.
or make me hunch over

response 114 of 127:

Jun 29 02:19 UTC 2000

I've made tax-exempt purchases for the U at Stadium Hardware.  They had to
call the holder of the purchase card (who, rightly, would not let me have
it).  They also made a note of the U's tax ID, for their records.  Note that
the purchase was made directly by the U; they did not re-imburse me.

The UM Sailing Club pays sale tax on all of its purchases, and on the 
sweatshirts, etc, it sells.

Sam's Club does not collect sales tax on sales to resellers because the
reseller collects from the final customer.

response 116 of 127:

Jun 30 20:28 UTC 2000

Grex logo to be used at TOP 2000
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ebassey/grex2.jpg

response 118 of 127:

Jul 1 14:47 UTC 2000

I'll be there, too, in spirit.

Logo looks good; I guess time/financial restrictions prevented it being in 
colour.  But, nice shading.

response 120 of 127:

Jul 1 18:59 UTC 2000

The new item for this disucssion is Summer Agora #11 / Coop #187.
( item:agora,11    or    item:coop,187 )

I'll freeze this one in a couple of hours just to keep discussion 
in one place.  If there's anything other than oohing and aaahing over 
other's logo work, please take it to the new item.  Thanks!

response 122 of 127:

Jul 2 05:42 UTC 2000

Thank ya.  Thank ya verah kahndly.

[Mic, Summer Fest specified a b&w logo.  For what they're using it for, color
won't be any use.]

response 124 of 127:

Jul 2 19:43 UTC 2000

In terms of the sales tax collection stuff, I think people who deal a lot with
computer security tend to get confused a bit about what's required in terms
of real world security.  In computer security, it seems that unless you make
something completely bullet proof, people will find a way in and do damage.
You probably wouldn't take the same approach to securing your house, because
as long as you lock the doors, people are unlikely to go in by throwing a rock
through a window, even though it wouldn't be hard to do.  Likewise, I would
assume those who are accepting a tax ID number and not collecting sales tax
are probably not required to go way out of their way to prevent every
imaginable kind of fraud.  Presumably they just have to make a good faith
effort, which would involve asking for the right documentaiton, and if it
wasn't obviously fake trusting that it was legitimate.

response 126 of 127:

Jul 3 00:33 UTC 2000

My experience purchasing (sales_tax_exempt_reason=RESALE) is that companies
want a faxed copy of a sales tax license or a signed copy of a fill-in-the-
blanks letter which states that we're buying for resale under MI sales tax
license #########, the nature of our business is ___BLAH___, we're buying
___BLAH___ for resale, and it's our butts that the State should go after
if we fail to collect & pay sales & use taxes as required by law.  Very
dull routine each time we buy something from a new vendor.