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Walmart wont refund sales tax. Illegal?
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6 Responses to Walmart wont refund sales tax. Illegal?
Unless it was a lot of money, is it worth worrying about?
Some stores also used to charge restocking fees of 10%, three per cent is better.
If you want to pursue it, contact the MD or CA Franchise Tax Board. Like you said, it can’t be legal.
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Walmart? Do they like, sell walls and stuff?
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sounds perfectly legal to me. its their return policy. it really doesnt sound that unreasonable for accounting purposes that a MD branch shouldnt have to account for all out of state purchases.
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try wal-mart.com
i always got a full refund .exchange ,whatever .
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It’s legal. When you return the item in MD, it goes on the MD sales tax report to reduce the MD sales tax bill. They could reallocate interstate transactions but aren’t required to do so. I actually made money when I returned an item I’d bought at Sams Club and returned in a state with a higher tax rate. (It was a very expensive ring and the tax difference was enough for a night on the town.)
CA actually keeps the 8.25% from the original sale and MD loses the 5% since the tax was never paid to MD in the first place. Wal-Mart neiter makes or loses any money on the transaction.
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The store in California would have paid the whole 8.25% to the state of California. Since you returned it in Maryland, they’ll only get credit with MD for 5% since that’s the rate in MD. Walmart isn’t keeping the money. And the MD store won’t get to deduct what YOU paid, just the rate in their state. You aren’t getting cheated. Actually, they’re giving you a break by letting you return things in a different place than you bought it – they wouldn’t have to do that by law.
If Macy’s did it differently, then Macy’s was eating the extra tax on items bought in a state with a higher tax than they were returned in.
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