What would you do?

[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.

[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.

[Ah Pook]

I'd be incline to drop a dime to the proper city/county/state department. If he is claiming "out of state" taxing on work he does in state, that is not right.

As a consumer, if a business told me this, I would walk away. If he is willing to screw the tax man, who else is he willing to screw?

[hatidua]

I had a tax issue that mirrors some of this a couple of decades back: the state tax board (board of equalization as I recall) couldn't get their math/calculator to work and the errors were ALWAYS in their favor (shock!). As such, I no longer took advantage of the non-taxable feature that is extended to resale products for businesses and chose to eat the tax and save myself the aggravation. Just mark up the product/service and move on.

The vendor, in the case the OP describes, can write up the invoice anyway they choose, the only issue is whether or not they pay the tax on revenues they take in, and the OP has no way of knowing whether or not they are in compliance or not.

Now, you can be a typical little American and go tattle about something you may or may not know all the details about (hell, sue, that's the norm now), or you can win the contract on your product/service.

I long ago gave up on trying win on cost, someone will always undercut you. Win on what you provide, not being $.01 less than the next guy.

[Great-Kazoo]

Unfortunately, i am in the minority, against contacting anyone regarding business practice of any competitor. UNLESS they used the remodeling job as a front for a meth lab.

[SuperiorDG]

Unfortunately, i am in the minority, against contacting anyone regarding business practice of any competitor. UNLESS they used the remodeling job as a front for a meth lab.

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll have to let it slide because I'm not 100% sure and I have this karma thing that tells me it might take care of itself or come back at me somehow.

[Irving]

Happened all the time when I was an agent. We would quote the TOTAL price, and other people would quote without all the included fees. We would tell people that's what they were doing, but they didn't care. They'd just end up paying more when it came time to sign the papers, but they were already there and it was too late by then.

[brutal]

Turn his ass in.
Make sure you point out to the customer that "don't worry about it" is not a valid answer and obviously your competitor ethics are lacking.
Does he really want to do business with somebody like that?
When somebody tells me they found a cheaper price on espresso coffee equipment online I point out that most likely they will not be offered a warranty, while our company, being local, guarantees support and service to our customers.

I would have to consider if I wanted to do business with a client that also may be complicit in cheating on taxes. Make it 100% clear that you will not compromise your ethics for the sake of a sale. If it's not gonna break the business, I'd walk away.