Medical Excise Tax

WOW, people went shopping and were MAD!  The problem with the anger is it wasn't directed at the right source.

So let's just get to the bottom of this:

January 1 also brought the medical device excise tax as part of Obamacare. Based upon the Affordable Care Act, manufacturers, producers, and importers are required to add an extra 2.3 percent manufacturers excise tax levied on the sale of medical devices. 

So the tax comes out and businesses.....to be fair to them probably took a "better safe than anger the IRS" approach and taxed just about everything.

One receipt that is circulating is from Cabela's which is primarily a hunting, fishing store.  The person claimed that when they were handed the receipt the cashier said "welcome to Obamacare."  

I'm not going to go into detail about the law here I am going to talk about reactions.  If you want to read about it you can click HERE and read an article written for the National Law Review by Zachary J. Meyer and Pamela Emenheiser of Varnum LLP.

So who do we get mad at when we decide to go camping and we buy our supplies to find out we have been taxed?  If I am not going to get into a discussion about "bad retailer" as I believe in small business and if the truth be told we are all "afraid" of the IRS in one way or another.  

Let's look at another receipt:

According to Mondaq.com, this sale should have not been taxed extra:

“Items exempt from the tax include eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids and other medical devices determined by the IRS to be generally purchased by the public at retail for individual use.”

“Devices that are not covered by this safe harbor will be subject to a facts-and-circumstances test to determine if they meet the retail exception. The device must generally satisfy two requirements:

• The device is regularly available for purchase and use by individual consumers who are not medical professionals.
• The device’s design demonstrates that it is not primarily intended for use in a medical institution or office, or by medical professionals”

This is going to be a time of patience and learning as with any new laws, new taxes, new anything.  I do want to say that these businesses that sell any of the "new taxable items" should have been better prepared and for that I will blame the IRS, the Lawmakers, etc.  

We are in a time of change.  Whether you accept the change or not, whether you believe in the change or not, whether you think the change is good or not...we are here.  

If you are charged the Medical Excise Tax and do not believe you should have been ASK!  If you don't get the answer you want at the store....ASK a professional tax accountant.  If you don't care about what you are being charged...no one else will.  I say this with compassion because I have found (after I got home) that I was "over-charged" or charged for something I didn't get and when I do nothing about it....it is my fault not the stores.

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