Has anyone else got a call from Minimax asking for money? (Morphed into an OT thread)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I got a call from a lady from Minimax this morning. She said that due to a policy change somehow relating to a new management they were calling past customers (only in CA?) and telling them that Minimax was going to send them out a bill for the sales tax on their equipment purchases.

Art,

How many people who have bought products from Mini-Max are members of SMC? We don't know. Therefore, we don't know if Mark is the only person who received a call like this.

If Mini-Max is doing this....when did they start.....The morning Mark posted this?

I am not in any way slamming Mini-Max or any other company and I'm still not convinced this is a scam. It may very well be that states are starting to require people who sell via telephone or the internet to collect sales tax and deliver it to the state involved.

Call Mini-Max and find out if they have instituted this policy and why.

Frankly, if they were going to charge you sales tax, I'd think they'd have to do it at the time and point of sale. In other words, they'd have to inform you and let you know BEFORE you give them your credit card number.

But then again....I'm not a lawyer or a legislaturer and I try to think logically!

[Mark Rios]

I googled the phone number that came up on my phone and it was listed as SMC Group out of Georgia. I've messaged Sam Blasco hoping to get some sort of info on this issue.



It is interesting that no one else, so far, has gotten the same call.........

[Eric Haycraft]

I googled the phone number that came up on my phone and it was listed as SMC Group out of Georgia. I've messaged Sam Blasco hoping to get some sort of info on this issue.



It is interesting that no one else, so far, has gotten the same call.........

Anything like this where someone calls you and asks for money should be suspect. Always ask for their name and say that you are going to call the company's main switchboard (don't have them give it to you, look it up) and get transferred to them. Never ever ever continue the conversation without going through the company's switchboard. Even if the callerid says it is from company X, callerid is easy to spoof and should not be trusted.

Also, computer security is pretty lax at most companies and getting a customer list is not impossible, so don't rule out a scam just because they know when you purchased and how much you paid. The scammer could also be someone that worked at the company and had access to your records.

[Mike Spanbauer]

I've an MM, live in CA. and have received no such call... smells AWFUL fishy to me.

[Larry Marley]

If you live in California and buy (tax free) a tool from a company in Texas, or any other state, and have it shipped to CA, YOU are required by California law to report this to the state and pay California the sales tax on that purchase.

If you declared you made no mail order / Internet purchases on your tax return, and in fact did, you may have more problems than just an unexpected invoice from MM.

Ordering the equipment at a trade show in CA and then having it shipped from out of state may give California cause to go after MM for the Tax.

MM does, or at least did have a salesman living in CA. If the phone / home office was written off as a business expense, CA may see fit to force MM to carry a CA tax id.

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything."
- Mark Twain, 1894

[Mike DeHart]

You paid the agreed upon price for the product. It is not your fault they failed to add tax if necessary to the order. The tax is now their responsibility. Only thing I can think of is they got audited and busted for not collecting state sales tax. Again its their tough luck they didn't bill it correctly.

And even if you get a letter I would still call the company and verify. And if it is legit, then have a discussion on how they can raise the price of the items 18 months after purchase.

The way your elected politicians wrote the laws you are responsible for the tax whether it's collected by somebody for the state or not.

All you have to do is provide them a copy of the CA Board of equalization use tax return showing you paid the tax directly to the BOE and you are all set. You did pay the use tax on the purchase, didn't you???? http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/usetaxreturn.htm

Chances are they are being audited (as someone else mentioned they probably had an employee set foot in the state, leased something to somebody in ca, have a lockbox there, have some tooling at a vendor there, looked at the state on a map (just kidding on that one...) and CA decided they run a business in CA and is making them go back and make sure all the customers did their civic duty and paid their taxes. The next step for the auditor is to create a list of all those customers who did not pay the use tax and pay them a visit.

California is probably the worst of the states I have to deal with at work. They come in every time just before the statute of limitations runs out from the previous audit.

Sales tax sucks.
Mike

[Brian Kent]

I sent an e-mail to MiniMax last night, informing them of the problem and the responses on Sawmill Creek. I wrote as someone who has never purchased from MiniMax but who respects their products - just trying to help them clear things up quickly.

But that was Friday night, so even assuming excellent customer service they might be closed over the weekend.

[Brian Kent]

This looks like the document from the State of California on Internet Sales Taxes:

http://www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/pub109.pdf

[Rye Crane]

Mark,

I happened to be speaking with Michael Kahn, the head of MiniMax last week regarding my recent purchase. He informed me that I would be getting a call from SCM, Atlanta, Ga. their parent company to discuss my California state sales tax liability.

Michael said SCM has been through an audit and that they were trying to recover the owed state sales tax on their products delivered in California.

I called my CPA and he said that if MiniMax neglected to collect this sales tax for whatever reason I still owe the "use" tax to the state.

Since SCM the parent company of MiniMax opened a sales and service location at 777 Campus Commons Road, Suite 200, Sacramento, CA 95825 Telephone # 916-565-7626 and also that MiniMax has had a sales office in California, albeit staffed by independent contractors, doesn't negate us end users liability for the sales/use tax owed.

This is another example of being Californicated. I bought three machines in the last two years and owe about 3000. Merry Fricken Christmas.

Rye Crane

[Jim Dunn]

It would be just like California to be ahead of the game with taxes like they are with auto emisions. Looks like from the pdf publication that ever if a MM rep ever shows up at your shop, after the sale, they are responsible for paying sales tax on all sales in the state. It's a little unclear if a hired delivery company is working for MM or you as the buyer. If MM hires them then they owe sales tax on the sale?

Not that they can come back to you and collect.

I'm not a lawyer or doctor I just like to play like one

(Just read the above response and sure enough if MM has an office in CA then they owe sales tax. Not that they can get it from you the end user. Just try and collect, MM, never heard of em.)

[Brian Kent]

I am curious if this is unique to California - the use tax in general, not just Minimax.

I pay all my taxes, so this is a disturbing development. I have made several purchases (about $2,300) in the last several years, plus a lot of little internet stuff where a significant part of the purchase equation was lack of sales tax. I would almost like to pay the $178.25 today if I could just see the look on the tax processor's face -

"Look! Somebody actually paid the use tax! The first one!"

I have a friend who went to the welfare office to say she had accepted more welfare than she deserved and wanted to pay it back. They tried to kick her out of the welfare office because they didn't know how to handle it. She paid it back, has a clean conscience, and a really great story.

[John Callahan]

Sounds like a scam to me .......... sure doesn't sound like something MM would do. Best to get it straight from the horse's mouth; call MiniMax.

[Rye Crane]

Guys,

What you need to understand is that MiniMax did not call up the State of Ca. and ask for an audit. When their parent corporation SCM opened an office in Sacramento the tax suckers like a cancer reached out and visited the Atlanta offices of SCM and got our names and amounts of purchases.

I expect that if I do not pay this tax this year on my state of California return I will get my own visit and trust me you don't want any "new best friends" showing up on your doorstep.

This really has little to do with MiniMax or SCM. It's between the state of California and us. If you bought from Laguna, Felder, or Altendorf (sp?) they would have collected the tax from you at the time of sale. If anything I'm bummed out because now I got caught and have to pay.
At least I get to pay with 1/2 price dollars. Oh and we also get to create a deduction for this use tax paid on our federal forms.

Rye Crane

[Ben Rafael]

Minimax has at least 1 sales rep in California, therefore they are required to charge and collect sales taxes to customers(who are not exempt from sales taxes) who receive their products in California. This is as of the date that MM has a sales rep or office in Cal. Before that date, or if you receive the product out of state and sales tax has not been paid, the receiver of the product is required to pay the sales tax, which is done when you file your California tax return.

IMO, the state of california will or has requested the names and addresses of all MM sales to residents of cal who were not charged sales tax. It is just a matter of time til those folks get a phone call from MM or a letter from the state of california.

[Ben Rafael]

And just wait til the govt in calif gets around to Grizzly.
They have no presence in calif and dont collect sales tax.
I dont know why the govt is bothering with MM, Grizzly must have at least 10 times the sales here than MM does.