Car Parts Tax Question

[Pkush]

If this is the wrong place to ask it - Mods please move it.

Might be a stupid question, but - if I were to be buying costly ($2kish) car parts such as wheels coils or something else, wouldn't it be beneficial to buy it from out of state of Illinois (where I am) to avoid the stupid sales tax?

I know theoretically we need to report it and pay use tax, but who does that?

Just opinions.

On a 2k set of coils I'd pay $180 in just sales tax to our lovely Illinois gov't body.

[tahdizzle]

Originally Posted by Pkush

If this is the wrong place to ask it - Mods please move it.

Might be a stupid question, but - if I were to be buying costly ($2kish) car parts such as wheels coils or something else, wouldn't it be beneficial to buy it from out of state of Illinois (where I am) to avoid the stupid sales tax?

I know theoretically we need to report it and pay use tax, but who does that?

Just opinions.

On a 2k set of coils I'd pay $180 in just sales tax to our lovely Illinois gov't body.

Sales tax is sales tax. That logic goes with all products. "Wouldn't it be smarter to buy EVERYTHING online to avoid taxes?". And certain states have laws and regulations to kind of get you to pay those taxes anyway, like California.


as far as car parts and tax purposes goes.

You can actually deduct the aftermarket parts you purchased as a Hobby Expense; however, your hobby must generate an income and you can only deduct upto the amount of hobby income you have earned.

[Pkush]

Well there's no way it's generating income for me.

But Illinois can tax purchases directly only if the store you bought it from has property in Illinois. That's why amazon was tax-free for so long, starting Feb 1 it's going to be taxed now.

That brought me to this question - getting out of state and paying for shipping will be cheaper than getting it from in-state :/