Pay Loader Sales

Pay Loader Sales

Pay Loader Sales

If I live in PA, is it illegal to only charge sales tax on credit purchases, but not when paying by cash?

There is a store that I used to go to that buys and resells sports and trading cards, and also sells card supplies, like top-loaders, etc. That are obviously bought from a company. He charges sales tax if you use a credit card, but does not charge sales tax if you pay by cash. Is that illegal?
I would like to add that he does not give a reciept if paying by cash, but he does if you pay by Credit Card.
TaxMan, some of his sales ARE resold items that people sell to him in the first place (For example, someone sells him a box of cards for 10 bucks, he turns around and sells it for 20 and does not charge tax) but he also charges no tax for supplies and stuff that he buys himself, but not from customers that come in...Is both still illegal?

This is illegal no matter where you live. The determination over whether sales tax needs to be collected by a store owner is based on the item being sold and the state in which the store is located. It is not based on how one pays. Some organizations are sales tax exempt, such as volunteer fire companies, and need not pay sales tax on certain qualifying items, and people who purchase stuff to resale to their customers also do not need to pay sales tax when they buy the items for resale, but those are the exceptions.

What this person is doing, most likely, is they are not reporting cash sales to the PA Dept of Revenue. This is illegal. In addition, they may not be recording the sale on their books making their net profit appear lower saving them and their partners federal, state, and local income tax.

If you are an honest citizen, you should report this business to your local PA DOR agent. While it is possible they are paying the sales tax out of their own pocket, it is not likely. Some people give discounts to people who pay cash since it saves them credit card fees. The reason I say this is unlikely is credit card fees are usually around 3% or less whereas PA sales tax is 6%...so if I were a business owner, I wouldn't give people a 6% discount to save 3%.

Please see the link below if you intend on reporting this person. Your add'l comment about not handing out a receipt further indicates a criminal activity. This person is cheating everyone by not reporting sales. He/she has an unfair advantage over his/her competitors since he generates more sales and pays less tax. It is best when everyone plays fair.

Additional:

It makes no difference if the item is new or used, if the item is on the list of items subject to sales tax, sales tax needs to be collected.