Timeline for Michigan 6% sales tax on food prepared in a supermarket
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
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| Aug 4, 2021 at 0:26 | comment | added | ohwilleke | @feetwet The separate line item to the consumer treatment in most U.S. states is mandatory under state law in most states except for some very narrow exceptions (usually involving things like sales of food in stadiums at major events). But, often, there is some ambiguity in how a rule like the prepared food rule applies in a particular situation and the dispute is usually a difference of interpretation rather than due to not separately stating the sale tax charge. | |
| Jun 17, 2020 at 8:31 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Jun 16, 2015 at 11:57 | comment | added | jqning | @Jay that's right, make it $1,000 or $10,000. | |
| Jun 16, 2015 at 7:14 | comment | added | Jay | @jqning The math isn't that tough. If the price tag says X and the sales tax rate is T%, then you must charge X/(1+T/100). For example, if the ticket price is $100 and the sales tax is 6%, then charge 100/1.06 = $94.34. 6% of $94.34 is $5.66. 94.34+5.66=100, the desired total. Okay, there could be issues with rounding errors. | |
| Jun 16, 2015 at 3:23 | comment | added | jqning | @Jay which leads to one of those tricky questions about how much discount do you need to give in order to have the total including tax equal what is on the price tag (ie the total without tax). This is the Law Stack so no one will know the answer to that question. | |
| Jun 15, 2015 at 4:25 | comment | added | Jay | FYI #2 Also in Ohio: I briefly owned a small business, and among the rules was that the seller MUST "separately" charge sales tax, that it was against the law to say that sales tax was included in the price, or to have one of those promotions where you advertise that the seller is paying sales tax. Note this is Ohio, not Michigan, but I bring it up for general amusement and for any non-Michiganders who may read this question. | |
| Jun 15, 2015 at 4:23 | comment | added | Jay | FYI I used to live in Ohio, and the rule there was that there was sales tax on food consumed on the premises, but not on food consumed off premises. So if you bought food at a fast food place, when they asked if it was to eat in or take out, this not only meant "do you want a bag or a tray", but also "do you want to pay sales tax?" I don't know how many other states, if any, have a similar rule. | |
| Jun 14, 2015 at 21:41 | comment | added | user43 | @feetwet: I see, you are quite right, I didn't think of that possibility. | |
| Jun 14, 2015 at 20:51 | comment | added | feetwet♦ | @KennyLJ: I suspect "illegal" is a little strong. If an item is subject to sales tax the vendor has to pay it when selling in-state, and the convention in the U.S. is often to pass it along as a separate line item to the consumer. But unless you audited the supermarkets that don't charge a separate tax you couldn't know whether they are complying correctly with this law. For example, they may just not bother to code their POS systems to mark a tax to the consumer, but they could correctly account for it in their back end and in their payments to the state. | |
| Jun 14, 2015 at 20:03 | comment | added | user43 | That document seems pretty clear on this matter. So Wal-Mart is correct and many other supermarkets are doing something illegal. | |
| Jun 14, 2015 at 20:01 | vote | accept | CommunityBot | ||
| Jun 14, 2015 at 19:36 | history | answered | animuson♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |