There is a tax form for sellers at the Swaparama that allows a vendor of any type to declare sales, pay the tax, and not have to have a tax ID number.
And with room sales, we do not officially acknowledge their existence, and therefore if any tax goes unreported, it also does not exist for the host.
There is nothing preventing these being sold at the event other than they aren't ready for retail as yet or you aren't comfortable selling them yet.
Well, there IS the issue of bringing them over the border. Andrew COULD declare them as commercial items intended for sale in the US, but he’d need to pay the customs duties (and pass that cost onto the purchasers.). I’m not sure of the process, but I THINK he could get refunded for any unsold product upon his return back into Canada.
BUT… now there’s a record of what’s been sold. And states have been getting pretty aggressive about chasing down lost sales tax opportunities.
Sounds like a lot of hassle that Andrew probably wants to avoid. And I appreciate that he has enough integrity to follow the rules.
And these issues with customs aren’t just because of the current political climate, either. Even in “simpler” times, violating customs laws resulted in problems. Mark (
@spookshow ) references one issue from the 1970s with a company called Flint Models, who allegedly got caught smuggling brass castings for Rivarossi N scale locos across from Canada.
From Mark’s website:
https://www.spookshow.net/loco/riv080.html“Trivia -
Back in the 1970s, a Detroit-area company called "Flint Models" produced brass shells for the Atlas/Riv C-Liner, 0-4-0, 0-8-0 and 4-6-2 models, along with Arnold's 0-6-0. The original concept was to improve traction/operation, what with the added weight allowing the engine to pull more and maintain better electrical contact. Rumor has it that these Flint shells were actually "lost plastic" castings, IE a plastic shell was destroyed for each brass mold produced. From what I've been told, the shells were actually made in Canada, and at some point the boys over at Flint actually got caught smuggling the brass across the border and went out of business rather suddenly.”
Jim
