CVS charging tax on pre-ECB total?

[cardewallen]

I have noticed that I'm paying more OOP at CVS in the past few weeks. Last week, I bought one of those 4-in-1 pumpkin carvers. The item was $1.99 and, I paid using the $1.99 ECB that I just got for purchasing the exact same item in a previous transaction. In the past, I would have just handed over the ECB and paid nothing OOP, but I had to pay $0.15 tax?? Am I losing my mind? What is going on here? I have noticed this on other transactions as well. Has something changed at CVS? TIA!

[nrpeace17]

I noticed the same thing. The supervisor said that they changed something in the system that is causing this. :sad:

[lmagee]

Where are y'all located. In Texas, they are not allowed to charge tax on the pre-coupon (ECB) price?

[vickib50]

Here in Tennessee, I have noticed in the past month or so the same thing. I am now paying tax on the ECB.

[Castingbread]

Yep, it changed here several weeks ago. If it is a manufacturer generated extra buck there is tax charged, if it is a CVS extra buck no tax is charged. If you look at the extra buck and has a manufacturer's name on it, it will not take the tax off, but if it is a CVS product OR if it is one that they "force" at the register from a rc they will work like the ecbs used to work--no tax. Look at your receipt and it will show "cvs coupon" or "cvs mfg coupon." One note, too, is that they will sometimes take off the tax if the last ecb is a mfg. ecb and it is more than the sub-total. I have had some negative totals before the tax is added (hope that is all clear). So whereas I'd go check out 5 times in a week and pay about .50 I now pay like $5--not going to be able to keep up with it at that rate.

Also think about rolling ecbs--I used to roll them on whatever, I could always find someone who wanted it, but now our tax is about 8% so if I roll a $10 ecb it will cost me .80 each time I roll it--eats it up reeeeeal fast!

[isis]

Think this started a couple months ago, which was a a big change for me too. ECBs are treated as Manf q's now (just like RR @ Walgreens), so you are taxed on pre-coupon prices. My OOP is higher than it used to, esp if I have a $20+ pre-coupon total. And at 8.75% for non food & 3.5% for food....adds up to alot!!

[maryccc]

That's been happening for me a lot the last few months but I did a transaction somehow and after my ecb's I only had to pay .06 and my total was over 20 bucks so I don't get it.

[lmcconne]

I saw instances last week where I was paying 7 cents per transaction too much and the difference was attributed to sales tax on my receipt. So annoying when you're not supposed to pay by the state's sale tax rules. However, I did not run into that problem yesterday.

[eiramnoaj]

Think this started a couple months ago, which was a a big change for me too. ECBs are treated as Manf q's now (just like RR @ Walgreens), so you are taxed on pre-coupon prices. My OOP is higher than it used to, esp if I have a $20+ pre-coupon total. And at 8.75% for non food & 3.5% for food....adds up to alot!!

Exactly. They now ring up as CVS MFR Coupon instead of CVS Coupon. The $/$ coupons still ring up as CVS Coupon and will reduce your taxable amount.

[cardewallen]

Thanks! Now I know I'm not crazy! :)

[server18]

We at work have two different types of coupons and we had to change the way we ring in one of them.

We are paying more taxes!!! CHANGE - sound familiar???

:hectic1::hectic1:

[jimboli]

Keep in mind that every state is different. In NY, if the reduction is "store" based (i.e. CVS marks down an item or provides the EB), the tax should be computed on the reduced price. If the reduction is from the manufacturer (or if the mfrg is reimbursing for the EB), then tax is charged on the full retail.

For example, if they put Coke on sale for $1 and the normal price is $1.50, if CVS is putting it on sale and not being reimbursed by Coke, then sales tax should be on $1. However, if Coke tells them to put it onsale and they will reimbuse them the 50 cents, then the tax should be on the full retail $1.50.

That being said, I think there is some confusion about what to do in a mixed transaction. Lets say you get an ECB for a non-taxable item (for an item that would not be subject to sales tax like cereal (in NY)) and try to use it against a taxable item. NY would say that you should be charged sales tax on the full retail since the ECB was for a non-taxable item. Really no different than a rebate program.

One other thing to keep in mind - all states and local taxing jurisdictions are hurting for money. Under the old system, you did not pay sales tax - but they needed to make it up somehow (service cuts, other fee increases). Now, you pay sales tax and maybe some of the service cuts or other fee increases can be decreased - or not go up as much. The government will get their money from us one way or another.

[maryccc]

I had a weird transaction today I bought the candle 6.99 and 8 small dove deo's 8.00 and 12 emerald nuts and I gave the 5/25 then .99 ecb then mfg coupons and my total was .68. I looked at my receipt and my subtotal says negative .50 it also has nc 8% tax .98 and nc 2% tax .20. Why do I have 2 taxes wth.

[maryccc]

What is that 2% tax? I can't understand what the extra tax is for could it be for coupons?

[Castingbread]

What is that 2% tax? I can't understand what the extra tax is for could it be for coupons?

My guess is the 2% is the food tax on the nuts.

[maryccc]

That's what I thought too. THe nuts were $12 and I had $12 in coupons so they were free. 2 percent of 12 is .24

[Kishme]

I just moved from Indiana with an 7% tax rate to California with a 9.5% and this little thing called CRV haha. And the tax is pre-coupon. It's rough to spend $2-3 extra dollars per transaction, on the other hand I don't think it's going to deter my shopping patterns since I mostly only buy products I use and figure I'll end up paying the tax sooner or later anyway. However because of this, I doubt I'll ever carry multiple cards for multiple deals to profit from.

I don't know if this has always been true, but my subtotal can go negative as long as tax is greater.

For example, I had a transaction this week where ECBs allowed me to go -$1.89 and my tax was $1.90 so I paid $.01 out of pocket...actually the cashier just laughed and told me not to worry about it haha:biggrin:

[CyndiO]

Sales tax has me changing where I am shopping. I am lucky to work right on the state line of Kansas and Missouri. Kansas = pay tax on the full amount before coupons. Missouri = pay tax after. So now I'm going to try and do all of my deals - at least the larger ones - in Missouri. Yesterday I was able to get over $53 worth of merchandise after coupons and ECBs for $8 where in Kansas it would have cost me $12.13.

[sarahinFL]

I had a weird transaction today I bought the candle 6.99 and 8 small dove deo's 8.00 and 12 emerald nuts and I gave the 5/25 then .99 ecb then mfg coupons and my total was .68. I looked at my receipt and my subtotal says negative .50 it also has nc 8% tax .98 and nc 2% tax .20. Why do I have 2 taxes wth.

I don’t know if this is going to make sense but here goes. Your taxable amount was reduced by $5 with the 5/25 since it is a CVS q. $5 is 18.53% of $26.99 (your subtotal before all q’s). Your food amount is $12 so you multiply that by 18.53% and get $2.22. Then subtract that amount from $12 and get $9.78. Your taxable food amount is now $9.78 and 2% of that is 20 cents. Same with the non-food…..

Non-food pre-coupon taxable amount= $14.99
Non-food taxable amount after 18.53% discount from 5/25 CVS q= $12.21
$12.21*8%= 98 cents

[maryccc]

Thanks but that is just too much math for me lol.
I was looking at my walgreens receipt and my total was 44.44 before tax and I was charged 3.56 for tax which is 8% but I bought some candy bars and didn't get the 2%. I wonder why? So rr's do count in tax but cvs coupons don't

[Castingbread]

Thanks but that is just too much math for me lol.
I was looking at my walgreens receipt and my total was 44.44 before tax and I was charged 3.56 for tax which is 8% but I bought some candy bars and didn't get the 2%. I wonder why? So rr's do count in tax but cvs coupons don't

I'm thinking candy is not considered food, so it is charged the 8% not the 2%. I bought fruit roll ups last night and noticed they are charged the non-food tax.

[bananafishfever]

This is going to make it less lucrative to roll ECBs if you have to pay tax OOP. Looks like the days of completely free stuff are over :(