If you do have to pay taxes per your state, I would for sure think you should only pay the value difference between the 2 games since it was a trade.

If they were treating it like a car sale, the tax would be the difference between the new car price and the trade in value. So just say they were of equal value. If they want to really get into it they might make you (and possibly the other guy) sign an affidavit to that effect.

What required paperwork? At customs? Or did you open up a can of worms by sending in a state form.

Was it a used item purchased from an individual? If so, seems like someone in Harrisburg misclassified it. Generally private sales aren't taxed unless it involves titles, like cars, boats and houses.

I'm interested in the transaction though. How much are they after and how did they estimate its value.

How Much? Couple bucks or couple hundred? I agree with Woody, should only pay difference of value.

What's the PA position on personal property tax? Only certain classes of items are usually taxed (e.g. cars, boats, motorcycles, etc), but each state has their own guidelines.

Or is this a sales tax?

I'd just pay it unless it's a crazy amount. You're in for a mountain of paperwork if you try to pay the difference - how do you classify the value of the game you traded? How do you arrive at the number you and the other party valued each game at? How can you show and prove that you did in fact ship the game to them, and there were no additional related transactions?

My advice: don't take tax advice from people you meet on the internet...even if they have experience in this space their experience may be from a different place/state (or from a different era) and may not be pertinent to you. Call your CPA and follow his/her advice. Just my personal suggestion.

Well that means you spent over 15K from a retailer, so yeah, I see why they followed up on it. Good luck.

And by the way, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so you should believe my tax advice!

Then I don’t understand PA math. $1,000 taxes @ 6% equates to a $16,666 purchase.

They probably looked up to price on Ebay

I read on another thread [sorry couldn't find that post again] a while ago that they treat a cross-border trade like you sold the games to each other and tax it like its a "pure buy".

In PA they call it "use tax" and anything sold outside of PA brought into PA (new or used) is suppose to have sales tax paid directly to the state. They started this about 3 years ago and have been cracking down on people more and more. Not something to mess with - pay your taxes and be done with it.

A use tax? Time to move!

Portability, FTW.

What a crock. The State has no right to seek taxes on this item. It wasn't sold in state. It wasn't even sold in country. It is straight up theft.

I don't agree with the law but it is the law. In my opinion NOTHING used should be taxed because tax was already collected when it was sold new. But like every other thing involving our government they keep doing less and wanting more of our money. Used vehicles bug me the most because they are typically a big ticket item that gets taxed every time a vehicle changes hands?