When retailers sell their products to Missouri customers remotely—that is, through the Internet, by telephone, or via catalog—and ship them to Missouri from an out-of-state facility, Missouri requires that the retailers charge customers a use tax of 4.225%. The complaint for this class action alleges that Michaels Stores, Inc. charges Missouri customers a significantly higher rate of tax on their purchases.
The class for this action is all persons who bought a product from Michaels, for personal, family, or household use, through a remote sales channel, including the Michaels website, that was delivered from an out-of-state facility to a Missouri delivery address.
The plaintiff for this class action, Amber Kelly, lives in Blue Springs, Missouri. On January 4, 2023, the complaint alleges, she placed an order for twenty-one Gildan Short-Sleeve T-Shirts from the Michaels website that were intended for personal, family, or household use.
The complaint alleges, “Missouri state law mandates that retailers charge a ‘use tax’ on sales of their products through remote means …to Missouri purchasers that are shipped from an out-of-state facility. … There are also additional local use taxes that are imposed on sales made through remote sales channels based on the delivery address of the Missouri purchasers.”
According to the complaint, the Missouri Department of Revenue decrees that the appropriate tax rate for sales through remote sales channels to Kelly’s address is 4.225%. However, the complaint alleges that Michaels charged Kelly an 8.603% sales tax.
The complaint claims, “Michaels illegally and erroneously overcharges tax monies at a higher tax rate than the correct applicable use tax rate on products purchased through remote sales channels, including from Michaels’s Internet website, that are shipped to Missouri customers from an out-of-state facility, resulting in the overcollection of monies from Missouri customers.”
The complaint claims the company has violate the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act (MMPA) because Michaels’s actions are an “illegal deceptive practice” involving “deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, misrepresentation, unfair practice and/or concealment, suppression, or omission of material fact” with respect to the sale of the t-shirts to Kelly.
Another count is unjust enrichment, the complaint alleges, because Michaels “misrepresented the amount of tax due” for the items Kelly bought and kept the difference for itself.
The final count proposed by the complaint is “money had and received, for the excessive tax charges.
The complaint asks that the excess taxes paid be restored to class members who have been overcharged and also for “compensatory and punitive damages,” attorneys’ fees, and the costs of this lawsuit.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer, Taxes
Most Recent Case Event
Michaels Excessive Use Tax Charges on Sales to Missouri Complaint
February 17, 2023
When retailers sell their products to Missouri customers remotely—that is, through the Internet, by telephone, or via catalog—and ship them to Missouri from an out-of-state facility, Missouri requires that the retailers charge customers a use tax of 4.225%. The complaint for this class action alleges that Michaels Stores, Inc. charges Missouri customers a significantly higher rate of tax on their purchases.
Michaels Excessive Use Tax Charges on Sales to Missouri ComplaintCase Event History
Michaels Excessive Use Tax Charges on Sales to Missouri Complaint
February 17, 2023
When retailers sell their products to Missouri customers remotely—that is, through the Internet, by telephone, or via catalog—and ship them to Missouri from an out-of-state facility, Missouri requires that the retailers charge customers a use tax of 4.225%. The complaint for this class action alleges that Michaels Stores, Inc. charges Missouri customers a significantly higher rate of tax on their purchases.
Michaels Excessive Use Tax Charges on Sales to Missouri Complaint