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My Bass Is Stuck In Customs

#102
I brought in a bass from Bass Gallery in 2021 and don't think I got a tax bill from Ca. I wonder what the applicable tax code is. Also, I bought my Barefaced cab from the UK with no Ca. tax. I wonder if TBG messed up some paperwork, triggering the Ca. tax.
 
#103
red_rhino said:
The bill from customs I expected. What I wasn't expecting was receiving a bill from the State of California for sales tax several months later.
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lala said:
That’s bizarre. Cannot be right? Sales tax from a UK purchase?
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MingusBass said:
California will find a reason to tax you for air soon.
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I freaking hate the California state government. They once stole money from me by withholding state income tax when I was going through military training in California, even though my home of record (the basis on which income tax is withheld from people in the military) was a different state. It took months to get them to stop taking my money, and I never did get the money they took from me back.
 
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#105
Nephilymbass said:
There’s basically a CITES endangered species list for certain trees now. This is a big deal for some kinds of wood like rosewood, but not an issue for other like maple and alder. Although sometimes mistakes are even made in identifying the types of wood. This isn’t new by the way. It’s been a thing for years and why many guitar and bass manufacturers have moved away from using woods like rosewood for their mass produced stuff and are now using pau ferro for fretboards. For example you can still buy fenders with rosewood boards but their big sellers like the made in Mexico stuff has stopped using rosewood,
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The cites ban on rosewood as been lifted the 26 November 2019.
 
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#106
A few years ago I purchased a bass direct from Blast Cult in the UK. They sent it via FedEx but ran into similar issues. They got it sorted but it was stuck for a few days in customs and until they provided certain info, it couldn't be released. There were a few other issues (like one of the strings was skunk when I got it - had to deal with that on my own), but at the end of the day, I got it and it was ok. Same thing will probably happen here, OP. Sorry it's happened to you.

Also fun fact: I live in MA and had to pay use tax on the bass (basically sales tax) for importing it. Some states here do that and you won't find out later until customs eventually tells the state. Learned my lesson the hard way. It wasn't a ton of money, but another lesson learned.
 
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#109
California ruled a few years back, that anything purchased outside of the state and brought in was subject to sales tax. Amazon and others were the first to comply. California businesses lobbied for it and were happy. The State was even happier. Win, win for everyone, except...
 
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#110
BlueTalon said:
I freaking hate the California state government. They once stole money from me by withholding state income tax when I was going through military training in California, even though my home of record (the basis on which income tax is withheld from people in the military) was a different state. It took months to get them to stop taking my money, and I never did get the money they took from me back.
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That was your finance office, not the state. The state doesn't pay you, and therefore can't withhold. Your finance office withheld and sent that money to the state.
 
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#112
I think this nightmare may soon be over. Knock on wood. Yeah but what kind, Brazilian Rosewood?

IMG_3632.jpeg
 
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#119
MingusBass said:
As a welcoming gift I just had to pay $366.38 in customs and brokerage fees for the honor to get my bass delivered. Yay government.
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That stinks! It also strikes me as odd. I have made two overseas gear purchases--a bass from The Bass Centre in London, and a Sadowsky SA-200 tube amp from Ikebe-Gakki in Japan in 2020. I paid no customs or brokerage fees either time. And I was living in Chicago at the time.
 
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