What would you do?

[SuperiorDG]

Okay so I quoted a customer the other day on a project. He likes us and wants to do business with us. The problem is a competitor's bid is lower then mine. He is nice enough to email this other bid to look over and explain to him what's the difference. The bid is put together in a Quickbooks format so I know what I reading. My competitor has his tax as "Out of State Sale"and is thus not charging sales tax. I tell customer this and he calls said competitor and is told yea that is correct and not to worry about it. Customer fells it's okay because he is doing nothing wrong. I don't think I'll get the job because of this. The problem is is that this competitor is surely doing this on all is quotes and invoices. So here I am being undercut on all my bids by 7.6%. I'm also wondering how much business I've lost because of this BS.

So here's my problem: do I go to the city tax office and turn his ass in or not?

[RCCrawler]

So here's my problem: do I go to the city tax office and turn his ass in or not?

Turn him in for what, not putting tax on a quote? We get quotes here all the time that don't have tax on them. He hasn't done anything wrong until he bills them and doesn't turn over the proper amount of tax on the purchase.

[SuperiorDG]

Turn him in for what, not putting tax on a quote? We get quotes here all the time that don't have tax on them. He hasn't done anything wrong until he bills them and doesn't turn over the proper amount of tax on the purchase.

Just to clear up what I said. The tax was listed as zero. This was the bottom line price. He was not collecting the tax.

[Great-Kazoo]

Did he include any permit fees? Split the difference of say 3%. tax not incl. Then inform the customer how long you have been in business vs the "competitor".

[BUC303]

I work in a market where we have to competitively bid projects, I would turn him in in a heartbeat. It's hard enough to stay competitive with people who don't cheat the system.

[hatidua]

Without records, post-job, showing no tax was PAID by vendor, this is all conjecture....at best.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Eat the 7% to win this client, then contact that competitor as a potential client and ask for a quote for first hand. Whatever you decide to do, always keep potential clients out of the picture. Now a days, one bad public review can ruin you.

[ChunkyMonkey]

PS..are you on 44th? I have been meaning to leave you a good feedback for the bathroom glasses.

[RCCrawler]

Just to clear up what I said. The tax was listed as zero. This was the bottom line price. He was not collecting the tax.

Gotcha, that makes a difference

[kidicarus13]

Just to clear up what I said. The tax was listed as zero. This was the bottom line price. He was not collecting the tax.

Why are you so stuck on that $0 was listed for tax? So maybe he builds the tax into his quote. Unless you can prove that he does not collect tax, it's just a piece of paper.

- Dealer A selling NIB Colt 1911 lists it as $750 = tax
- Dealer B selling the same pistol and lists it as $750 out-the-door

It does not mean that Dealer B is not collecting sales tax. Even if Dealer B lists on his price tag "NO TAX", as long as he is paying taxes to who he is required to pay taxes to.