Garden Grocer . com and sales tax on foods?

[cotomom]

Does Florida charge 6.5% sales tax on food items? Never heard of that before but found that gardengrocer was charging that in addition to the delivery charge.

 

[CarolA]

Yes, FL charges sales tax on food, if you don't have an income tax you have to make it up someplace.

 

[Shorty82]

Yes, FL charges sales tax on food, if you don't have an income tax you have to make it up someplace.

Wrong. There is no sales tax on grocery items. From Wikipedia: There are a variety of exemptions from the tax, including groceries and prescriptions.

From the State of Florida: Department of Revenue's site: Except as otherwise provided in this section, tax does not apply to sales of food and drink for human consumption which are considered general grocery items.

More information is here.

We do have an income tax. The state takes enough out of my paychecks to be painful.

 

[Shorty82]

I don't know why Garden Grocer would charge sales tax though. I'll do some research and get back to you.

Edit: How much tax did they charge? Was it around $0.78? If so then it was tax on the delievery fee. If more, did you order any non-grocery items? There is tax on those items.

Edit: I've done some poking around Garden Grocer's site and couldn't find much about sales tax. I did find on their "How to Place An Order" page: The fourth & final step is the payment option. You will see the complete purchase (order) dispayed with any applicable state sales tax, shipping & handling, & total.

Looks to me they only charge tax on the required items. I tried to test it out but I can't get anything beyond the subtotal without registering and I'm not going to register just to find out. You can probably find out more by calling them, their number is 866.855.4350

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

We do have an income tax. The state takes enough out of my paychecks to be painful.

Nope. There is NO state income tax in Florida. I work for a CPA and I can assure you that Florida has never, and I daresay, WILL never have a state income tax. One would have to be approved by 67% of voters and that will never happen. The only thing coming out of your paycheck is FICA (Social Security/Medicare) and FIT (Federal Income Tax).

Florida taxes food that has been prepared in some way. For example, if you buy raw shrimp at the seafood market at the grocery store, it's not taxable. But if they steam it for you, it's been prepared, so you are charged. I'm pretty sure booze is taxed, too (I don't drink so I wouldn't know).

 

[Shorty82]

Nope. There is NO state income tax in Florida. I work for a CPA and I can assure you that Florida has never, and I daresay, WILL never have a state income tax. One would have to be approved by 67% of voters and that will never happen. The only thing coming out of your paycheck is FICA (Social Security/Medicare) and FIT (Federal Income Tax).

Ah, Okay. Thanks. I didn't know.

 

[CarolA]

IF this link works...

http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/forms/2001/DR-46NTInet.pdf

I think a LOT of things folks order might be taxable. Soft Drinks, beer, wine, candy etc would be taxable.

It appears FL has "Excluded" what you would consider "basic" groceries which is good. (I mean you don't REALLY need Beer or Diet Coke to live LOL!)

 

[CanadianGuy]

It appears FL has "Excluded" what you would consider "basic" groceries which is good. (I mean you don't REALLY need Beer or Diet Coke to live LOL!)

Bite your tongue! If I don't have 2 to 3 cans of Coke per day.. I'm not a happy camper!

Knox

 

[goofy4tink]

I have my garden grocer receipt in front of me, for my Aug. trip. The sub-total is $45.53, there is a delivery charge of $12 on there, as well as the tip I authorized. But, there is also a sales tax of $2.98....that's 6.5% of the sub-total. Obviously they are charging sales tax.

 

[cotomom]

That's what I've found. 6.5% on everything - produce, water, milk, etc.

 

[Shorty82]

I have my garden grocer receipt in front of me, for my Aug. trip. The sub-total is $45.53, there is a delivery charge of $12 on there, as well as the tip I authorized. But, there is also a sales tax of $2.98....that's 6.5% of the sub-total. Obviously they are charging sales tax.

That's what I've found. 6.5% on everything - produce, water, milk, etc.

Then they are making a BIG mistake. Produce, water, milk, etc. are not taxable. It does not matter who is selling it, tax cannot be charged on grocery items, period. I work locally for a national auto parts store and while we charge tax on every other item in the store we don't on water and a few of the snack items we carry. This tells me that the exemption applies to everybody who sells exempt items, not just grocery stores.

I would contact them, with the information linked to in this thread handy, and politely inform them of the law.

 

[fla4fun]

Could it be because it's a service? What I mean is, if I go to the store and buy food, standard groceries aren't taxed. But you're buying a delivered service, kind of like a huge customized mini-bar. Does that change the way the items are taxed? Kind of like the difference in ordering a delivered fruit basket and going to the grocery to buy some fruit. I've never had groceries delivered - I just pick them up ahead of time since I drive in.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Could it be because it's a service? What I mean is, if I go to the store and buy food, standard groceries aren't taxed. But you're buying a delivered service, kind of like a huge customized mini-bar. Does that change the way the items are taxed? Kind of like the difference in ordering a delivered fruit basket and going to the grocery to buy some fruit. I've never had groceries delivered - I just pick them up ahead of time since I drive in.

I think that's the answer. I am not inclined to sift through the My Florida website, but somewhere in the back of my head, that sounds right. I know something like that happened to my parents recently when they bought a new dishwasher at Home Depot - since they paid for installation and the parts, they didn't have to pay sales tax on the dishwasher itself. I figured it had to do with it being part of the service and services not being taxable.

If I think about it, just for my own curiosity, the next time I pop in at my office, I'll ask my boss.

 

[CleveRocks]

It could be that they have to collect sales tax on the total because it's a service. Perhaps, by the law of Florida, you the consumer aren't buying each individual grocery item, but rather you the consumer are paying a total price for a taxable service. I don't know this to be the case, but it sure sounds reasonable to me.

I can tell you this. I had a great conversation with Brian, the owner, last year. He impressed me as a very nice, very conscientious person. Briefly, I based it on this. I'd read here that my arrival day was sold out, that Garden Grocer wasn't accepting any more orders for that day. I either sent an e-mail to or left a message with GG to make sure this was true, to make sure it wasn't a malicious rumor. Brian personally called me back, and we talked for about 10-15 minutes. What it came down to was that the demand for his business was growing very quickly, and that he was in the process of hiring and training new employees. He said that he didn't want to accept my order because if he overworked his staff he risked them making mistakes and not providing excellent service to me and to the people who had already ordered and who had already placed their trust in him. Maybe it's just me, but when I offer someone money and he doesn't want it because he thinks he might not truly earn it from me, I'd trust that person with just about anything. If somehow Garden Grocer is inappropriately collecting some state sales tax, I'm sure Brian doesn't realize he is collecting it inappropriately, and would like to know about it so he doesn't continue.

But my bet is that whatever he is doing is 100% correct and legitimate.

 

[magicaldisney]

Is there anyone out there who has used the other grocery delivery services (can't remember the names, I'm only familiar with Garden Grocer) who can verify if they were charged that same tax with them? Curious if they are all the same or is it just Garden Grocer.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm trying to remember but I believe we were charged a tax with wegoshop several years ago. I'll have to see if I can dig out the records from that trip.