I use a fake address on Amazon to purchase US exclusive keys for Steam and PSN. Never had a problem since nothing needs to be sent. Right now though, I'm looking at a physical game. Physical stuff can't go to my fake address for obvious reason. I intend to purchase it as a 'gift' and send to my true address in New Zealand. Would there be issues doing that with a fake address on record? I'm not sure if I should just set up a second account for the local purchase.

7 years ago

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I think the card you're using to pay has to be registered to the address Amazon has on your account. Not 100% sure on that though.

7 years ago
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I've never had issues with that before, but I have heard of others that have.

7 years ago
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Assuming the item can be shipped to NZ another option may be to n in to .com with your regular account and wishlist the item then use the fake address account to buy from the wishlist. Similar to your original plan but if you've previously had no issue buying on the fake address account there shouldn't be one here.

7 years ago
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So to make sure I understand. You have a US Amazon account. You want to buy a physical item with that account. The address on file is "DeltaBladeX, 123 Fake Street, Springfield, USA" or something. You want to buy a gift as Delta and ship it to [your actual name] in New Zealand.

If I've got that correct I don't think there would be any issues so long as the shipping is available. I cannot see Amazon caring that you're sending it to somewhere other than the default address. People have multiple places to ship things all the time. The only issue would be if the seller/ Amazon is willing/ able to ship to NZ.

But the specific issue of having a fake address on your account shouldn't be an issue. If it were one, it would already be one. Or if you tried to ship to a place that doesn't exist, I guess, but I would hope that Amazon confirms an address before letting you pay.

7 years ago
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So to make sure I understand. You have a US Amazon account. You want to buy a physical item with that account. The address on file is "DeltaBladeX, 123 Fake Street, Springfield, USA" or something. You want to buy a gift as Delta and ship it to [your actual name] in New Zealand.

Correct

7 years ago
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I believe that should work then. Certainly no harm in trying!

7 years ago
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send it to your 'Sister' in New Zealand - remember they emmigrated ages ago and her birthday is coming up - this is better because you may have import taxes due on the item and gifts are dealt with marginally better than just purchases (we have sent stuff from UK amazon to Japan this way)

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It is illegal, but entirely unenforceable.

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ur mom

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Hopefully not your own mom, especially if doc is also your mom..
This split-personality time-bending gender-swapping clone-making mad science thing you're implying is just a bit too much to handle.

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7 years ago
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_evasion#Evasion_of_value-added_tax_.28VAT.29_and_sales_taxes

This means that consumers who purchase something in a lower-taxed or untaxed jurisdiction with the intention of avoiding VAT or sales tax in their home jurisdiction are technically breaking the law in most cases
[..]
In liberal democracies, a fundamental problem with inhibiting evasion of local sales taxes is that liberal democracies, by their very nature, have few (if any) border controls between their internal jurisdictions. Therefore, it is not generally cost-effective to enforce tax collection on low-value goods carried in private vehicles from one jurisdiction to another with a different tax rate.

Same principle applies to low-value digital purchases. By letter of the law, it's illegal, but it's never enforced for basic purchases within the states, because it's unfeasible for the government to do so.

What's really interesting, however, is when you claim home residency in your previous state of residence rather than your current one to avoid sales tax, as that's technically legal. Likewise, states have differing residency guidelines, so it actually can be fairly easy to be legally acknowledged as a resident of multiple states simultaneously, without you even being aware of that fact. Yet another reason why it's unfeasible for the government to pursue such matters.

7 years ago*
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7 years ago*
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Well, take it up with, for example, the Indiana Attorney General, who notes the fact rather explicitly. Keep in mind that so long as you're not paying sales tax in the state you should be, it doesn't matter where else you're paying tax- legally, you're considered to have defrauded the state you should have been paying in out of the full amount of sales tax, regardless of what you paid elsewhere. Legally, there's no difference between evading a sales tax by paying it elsewhere, and just outright refusing to pay it.

You're not a US resident, so perhaps it doesn't quite click with you that the States are individual legal entities, and state-related affairs are completely separate from federal ones. Hence, you're essentially trying to say "Oh, I didn't defraud government A, because I paid money to government B." Whether that's Italy and France within the EU, or Arizona and Illinois in the States, you're still going to find the regions involved will gladly ship you over to receive your legal comeuppance, without offering even passing consideration of the fact that you may have directed some amount of money their way.
[For this metaphor to sync up, assume you're not a citizen of either Italy or France.]

Likewise, for items that aren't "low-value", there have been plenty of legal cases that have evidenced the fact of law in that regard- though they didn't quite receive the death penalty such a crime held in China up till 2011, at least.

For the most part, non-bureaucratic elements of law are just based in pure common sense. And, anyone of any passing awareness of how the world works should find it pretty intuitive that there'd be laws based around protecting money any government feels it is owed.

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7 years ago
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If an individual knowingly or intentionally evades tax laws by failing to remit sales tax owed
[..]
Similarly, the office filed tax evasion charges against an individual who sold marked-down stereo equipment from parking lots without collecting, reporting or remitting sales tax.

I guess that depends on how you interpret individual on that page. But no, for large scale sales tax evasion, you'd pretty much have to be a business to accomplish it- and as noted, noone goes after low-value consumer evasions. It's a bit more challenging to find an example of what you're suggesting, as large scale sales tax evasion as a buyer is somewhat of an involved endeavor.

Nevertheless, it's a pretty well known legal element, and again, basic common sense. "I know I did something that's intuitively wrong, but I didn't think there was a way you could legally get me for it" is hardly gonna fly as an excuse with anyone.

In any case:

Consumer Responsibility
By law, where a merchant fails to collect the state sales tax, it is up to the consumer to report the tax due on his or her state income tax return and pay the tax to the state.
[>>]

But, while this ruling excuses Amazon.com, for example, from having to collect state sales taxes, it does not prevent the states from going after consumers for the taxes the retailer did not ask them to pay.
[>>]

I can't offer you more precise legal reference than that, currently, as I haven't the time nor professional investment to make bringing such information to my fingertips for you a worthwhile undertaking. All I know is, common sense understanding aside, it's one of those things that has come up regularly (especially in digital rights circles, as a sort of trailing end of the perspectives that gained prominence with RIAA/Napster concerns). I've no gain in emphasizing this matter further- rather, there's really only one important consideration for anyone to keep in mind: "Is this a risk worth taking?"
Much like with downloading illicitally obtained digital files, unless you're on the business (aka torrent seeder) end of things, you're probably going to be safe because, even if you're doing something illegal (such as seeding illegally distributed content in any amount), you're usually just not worth going after.
The fact that torrenting and minor sales tax evasion have both become fairly commonplace and typically reasonably safe activities, doesn't automatically transition them into being legally acceptable.

7 years ago*
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There shouldn't be any issue with this.

7 years ago
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I have like over 10 different addresses registered to my Amazon account. Stuff I've sent to friends, to family, houses I've moved in and out of. There's no way for Amazon to know when an address is fake or not, and there's a reason you can register multiple addresses to send items to in the first place. This includes when I've used Amazon.com with a fake address to purchase Steam keys, then using it again to purchase things for myself if there's something I want that isn't available on Amazon.co.uk. There's absolutely no chance you'd get into any trouble, I shall protect you.

7 years ago
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Would there be issues doing that with a fake address on record?

No. You don't even have to send it as a gift.

7 years ago
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