n6pse

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Is it the end of the line for California ham swap meets?

Posted: 08 Sep 2015 05:34 PM PDT
https://n6pse.wordpress.com/2015/09/...am-swap-meets/




I was at a local amateur radio club meeting a few nights ago. I was talking
to several of the club members who were upset about the recent visit by
California State Board of Equalization Agents at the local monthly ham
radio flea market at the local college.

This particular flea market has been a regular summertime activity for
nearly 40 years. The club members felt that the tax collection agents
visits spelled doom for future amateur radio flea markets. They said that
seller/vendor attendance and visitors was down from the previous months.

This particular flea market is mostly junk electronics and computers, folks
cleaning out their garage with a small mix of sellers of retail stuff.

Following this discussion at the club meeting, I decided to research the
current California tax laws pertaining to flea markets and form my own
conclusions.

The scary stuff:

The California State Board of Equalization defines a swap meet or flea
market as two or more people or businesses offering merchandise for sale or
exchange, and prospective sellers are charged a fee for space rental or
prospective buyers are charged an admission fee.

The California State Board of Equalization requires a BOE-410-D form to
document seller information. The BOE advises that you may not rent space to
sellers until you have verification that they hold a valid seller’s permit.
However, some sellers are not required to have a sellers permit if:

If their retail product sales are not subject to tax.
If their sales are exempt as occasional sales (twice per year)
If they sell on behalf of a section 6015 retailer
They are a qualified itinerant vendor.


BOE site visits

Our representatives periodically visit selling events to verify that
operators have complied with the legal requirements for operating a swap
meet, flea market, or special event. Our representatives may also check to
see that sellers making taxable sales are displaying their seller’s permits
as required by law.

At each visit, BOE employees will:

Identify themselves and show identification;
Verify the existence of a seller’s permit, fee permits and other business
licenses/permits that may be required, including a city or county business
license, if appropriate;
Review your required documentation to verify that it is updated with the
correct information;
Provide guidance on reporting your information correctly;
Answer questions you may have.


What happens if I dont have the right documentation?

If you do not keep permit and/or license information on all sellers who
conduct activities on premises you own or control, you may be violating
state law (Revenue and Taxation CodeÂ*section 6073).Note:Â*This publication
summarizes the law and applicable regulations in effect when the
publication was written, as noted above. However, changes in the law or in
regulations may have occurred since that time. If there is a conflict
between the text in this publication and the law, the application of tax
will be based on the law and not on this publication


You may be required to pay a penalty of up to $1,000 for each seller for
which you fail to keep records if that person is required to hold a
seller’s permit and does not hold a valid permit for sales made on your
premises.


The bottom line: In California, if you are an occasional seller of used
(non retail) items, you are not required to have a permit to sell at a flea
market or swap meet. So let the monthly amateur radio swap meet carry on!

What do you think?