Contents:

Introduction
Interstate Trade from the States with Low Taxes
Interstate Trade from Indian Reservation
International Trade - Stores Located Out of the USA
SAVINGS COMPARISON
Conclusions

Interstate trade from the states with low taxes

  This type of source has the fastest delivery time – several days. The cost of 1 carton of Marlboros for example is about $25-32 including shipping cost.
  But these sources are the least safe for customers. The danger is in the possibility of being back taxed. We’ll explain it below.
  There is an act in US Constitution called “The Jenkins Act” (15 U.S.C. §375-378, from 1949). This act requires any person who sells and ships cigarettes across a state line to a buyer, other than a licensed distributor, to report the sale to the buyer’s state tobacco tax administrator. The act establishes misdemeanor penalties for violating the act. Compliance with this federal law by cigarette sellers enables states to collect cigarette excise taxes from consumers.
  Consumers who use Internet to buy cigarettes from vendors in other states are liable for their own state’s cigarette excise tax and, in some cases, sales and/or use taxes. Under the act, cigarette vendors who sell and ship cigarettes into another state to anyone other than a licensed distributor must report:

1. names and addresses of the persons to whom cigarette shipments were made
2. brands of cigarettes shipped
3. quantities of cigarettes shipped.

  Very long time, online retailers did not comply with Jenkins Act. For quite some time now the situation has changed.
  On August 9, 2002 in Congress were discussed questions of enforcement of Jenkins Act, and they recommended the states to increase their efforts.
  Nowadays some states N.Y., Michigan, NJ, Massachusetts, Indiana, etc. realize enforcement on the following way: They have received court decision according to which some on-line retailers like Cigs4Cheap.com, dirtcheapcig.com, cycocigs.com, buydiscountcigarettes.com, and others must present the information about their customers to the Taxes Departments.
   In the result the City of New York, State of Michigan, NJ, Massachusets and others have sent to thousands of customers strong requirements of payment excise taxes for earlier ordered cigarettes. To view NYC Law Dept. release regarding several online stores click here.

  Since early this year, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue has been busy firing off 3,264 letters to online shoppers, ordering them to submit a check for unpaid cigarette taxes, plus interest and penalties – or risk fines and imprisonment. Like its tax-happy neighbors of New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut, the Bay State ranks in the five most expensive places in the United States to buy cigarettes. Massachusetts levies $1.50 a pack in state excise taxes, not counting state sales taxes and local taxes.
Massachusetts smokers are horrified by the state tax collectors, who acknowledge that they've obtained the names and addresses of www.dirtcheapcig.com customers but refuse to divulge their source.
  The two possible culprits: DirtCheap and the United Parcel Service, which the company used to ship cigarettes. DirtCheap's lawyer told the Boston Globe that his client did not turn over the customer lists but said the state had obtained UPS spreadsheets that have delivery information (DirtCheap did not respond to CNET News.com inquiries).

  Note that if a lawsuit had been filed, UPS and DirtCheap would be required to turn over their records. That's the normal discovery process that takes place in lawsuits, and no firm could be faulted for complying with a proper court order. But no lawsuits were filed at the time the taxocrats began sending out the threatening letters. That means that if UPS did divulge customer records, it may have done so voluntarily, a horrific privacy breach if true.

  Whether actions of dispatching backtaxes of authorities are lawful? What to do in case of recieving such letter? First and foremost, the question that leaps from everyone's lips is, "Can they do this? It can't be legal!" (http://ww w.nycclash.com/#Ta xes)

  They can and it's legal. There are no constitutional violations occuring. Also, it does no good to point fingers at others who buy all sorts of other products over the internet and don't report taxes. It's tobacco and smokers who are demonized and persecuted and if this is the tax category they want to hound then that's that.
  We strongly urge anyone who received a bill to demand to see the written proof showing the purchases before paying. Refuse to take their word for it.

  The New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal ("The Tribunal") is an independent agency created by the New York City Charter. The Tribunal has the responsibility of providing a fair, impartial, efficient, and knowledgeable forum in which disputes between taxpayers and the New York City Department of Finance (DOF) should be resolved.
  The only impediment to seeking relief through the tribunal is that you must appoint either a lawyer or CPA to represent you. The necessary form is called "Power of Attorney."
  In the other states there are other institutions to dispute requests, bills for backtaxes. But, nevertheless, the best thing is to act to avoid the posibility of being backtaxed.
  As we wrote above, they have to provide the written proofs of the purchase. And in the case they obtain information from other sources than the stores themselves (like private carriers), they won’t have the real proofs, because the only information, carriers have, is customer’s address and the weight of the parcel. Thus the chances to dispute are much higher.

  Summary:
- affordable price, quite lower than at local retail stores
- fast delivery– 2-5 business days
- true American quality
- BUT extremely low level of confidence and security

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