MA Sales Tax at Hamfest & Flea Markets

I read with great interest the following post on the GE-MOTO Mail reflector posted by Will Bartlett, N1PXA. Soneone has done his homework and gets a gold star from NEAR-Fest!

.......Then I get a nice email from the one person who dug deep enough into the tax code to find this hidden nugget.

" I think the key line in the new law is "for the sale of tangible personal property subject to tax under chapter 64H." If you go look up chapter 64H, you find the following:

** quote **

General Laws of Massachusetts - Chapter 64H Tax on Retail Sales of Certain Tangible Personal Property - Section 6. The following sales and the gross receipts therefrom shall be exempt from the tax imposed by this chapter...

(c) Casual and isolated sales by a vendor who is not regularly engaged in the business of making sales at retail; provided, however, that nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed to exempt any such sale of a motor vehicle or trailer, as defined in section one of chapter ninety, or any such sale of a boat or airplane from the tax imposed under chapter sixty-four I.

** end quote **

http://law.onecle.com/massachusetts/64h/6.html

In other words, if you're selling your personal used junk, no problem. However, if you're a company that normally sells at retail, you can't use a flea market as an excuse to skip paying sales tax.

I don't have a problem with that. I feel sorry for the promoters that have to police it and fill out additional paperwork whenever TechRecovery shows up with a U-Haul full of gear from their surplus store, but this law isn't going to kill flea markets in Massachusetts.

Thanks to Kent for researching this and to Will for posting it.

73,

MrMike