Dear B&H Employee,
Today the NY Attorney General filed suit against B&H claiming that we should have collected sales tax from customers on instant savings discounts. We obviously believe these claims are without merit, especially since the entire consumer electronics retail industry takes the identical approach that we do. B&H will fight these allegations aggressively. It’s unbelievable to me that the Attorney General has singled out B&H and is misleading the public about our company, while ignoring the identical practices from much larger competitors.
We issued the following statement to the press:
“The Attorney General is flat wrong – and is trying to create a tax on discounts in order to make New Yorkers pay more. B&H is not a big box store or a faceless chain; we are a New York institution, having operated here for nearly 50 years with a stellar reputation. The tax department has done countless audits and never once – not a single time – mentioned this widespread industry practice.
“B&H has done nothing wrong and it is outrageous that the AG has decided to sue a New York company that employs thousands of New Yorkers while leaving the national online and retail behemoths unchallenged. The Attorney General wants to charge New Yorkers a tax on money they never spent. It’s wrong and we won’t be bullied.”
We regularly offer customers instant savings discounts. This is an industry wide practice. On a camera that regularly sells for $1,000 that has an instant savings offer of $200, the net selling price is $800 and we collect and remit sales tax on the $800. The Attorney General is claiming that we should collect tax based on the $1,000 and thus have underpaid sales tax for 13 years. Common sense, legal precedent, and years of sales tax audits approving our practice say we have done everything right.
I want each of you to know that B&H acts with the highest standards of integrity in everything we do, and I find this action offensive and very disappointing. I look forward to having our day in court to defend ourselves and our customers against these absurd allegations.
If you have any questions or receive any outside inquiries, please direct them to Jeff Gerstel or David Eisenberg.
Let’s make sure we commit 100% of our energy to serving our customers, as we always do, and exceeding their expectations every day. Please do not allow this frivolous lawsuit to create any distraction from our mission of treating our customers right.
Thank you,
Menashe Horowitz
CEO
The chickens have come home to roost. By your lack of voting, you’ve got Letitia. I love democracy. Enjoy.
As a typical liberal who want to tax the poor New York state consumers but want to make those evil greedy corporations pay for it, the AG claims that B&H failed to PAY sales tax not failed to COLLECT sales tax!! Big difference! She is trying to make B&H into a greedy corporation the refuses to pay its fair share in taxes. She wouldn’t admit she is really after the regular residents and visitors of NYS. She really wants the consumers to be paying more taxes not the business which just collects the tax and forwards it to the state!
i for one always wondered why costco charges tax on the pre-discount price
B&H has done about $1B is sales per year for the past 15 years. They are paying tax on that (1B * .08875 = >$88M per year). The entire lawsuit alleges a few million per year. The social media have gone wild with this.
So much for the value of what is spoken about on social media. Neither what is spoken about nor what is not can be taken at face value.
Slight correction – the lawsuit alleges only about half a million per year for 13 years!!!