# Taxed Off by Harris County Texas for 1U colocation personal server



## drmike (Oct 2, 2014)

Anyone here dealing with colocation of gear in Harris or Dallas County or any other Texas counties that have taxation on servers/gear colocated within their geographic boundaries?

I have multiple people in said scenario with personal colo units (typically 1-2U) who have received tax bills or request for assessment for tax bills.

The datacenters in these counties never make it known to new customers that they are handing their information over to taxing authorities and entering customer into contract with county.

What is also being done herein is the colocation customer is having his/her information transmitted to taxing authorities where such likely is going into public record.  I say this because people have said about receiving mail bearing the name/information on their colocation account from everything from charities to companies offering services in Texas.  Clearly the data is being leaked to 4th and 5th parties, illegally.

Has anyone dealt with these counties or others about the assessments and getting taxation removed (most are personal servers and perhaps non taxable in some of the counties)?


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## rds100 (Oct 2, 2014)

I don't know how it is in USA, but here you should always assume that the tax authorities have access to all the transactions / financial information. They can do a financial audit of any company whenever they decide to, and they will have access to all the accounting / financial information. No court orders required. And we are required to keep this information for 10 years, for future audits.


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## drmike (Oct 3, 2014)

Not like that @rds100 in the States... Opting people into such taxes without up front disclosure and transmitting data to government who then has utter disregard and puts it out to marketing/sales/lists is reprehensible.


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## rds100 (Oct 3, 2014)

If the tax is mandated by some law and it says the customer is responsible for paying this tax to the government, i don't think the host should do anything about it. The customer has to know the laws and take care about his tax duties.

For instance as far as i know in Germany there is some tax that everyone must pay for every "funbox" they own - like TV sets, tablets, smart phones, etc. It is paid every month i think. I don't think the shops that sell TVs would inform you about this tax, it is the customer's responsibility to declare and pay it.

edit: Similar to how the car salesman doesn't tell you about the car tax or insurance cost you have to pay every year.


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## drmike (Oct 3, 2014)

rds100 said:


> If the tax is mandated by some law and it says the customer is responsible for paying this tax to the government, i don't think the host should do anything about it. The customer has to know the laws and take care about his tax duties.


These are local laws in Texas only.  Maybe there are other counties that do such.  Unsure.  There are over 3300 counties in the US 

So these are kind of odd and not typical unless you live in Houston or Dallas.  Perhaps other TX counties do the same, I am unsure truly.


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## MattKC (Oct 3, 2014)

The fourth/fifth parties are pulling the info from public record which is available to anyone.


I completely agree providers should disclose they will release this info in impacted counties though. Not much they can do about the public record part other than disclosure...that's just part of the whole open government/freedom of information process. Everyone wants access to everything these days, whether it makes sense or not.


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## Wintereise (Oct 3, 2014)

Yes, this is required -- we've had to deal with it.

They perform a random assessment, and ask if it's correct. If not, you're free to calculate it and submit to them.


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## Jasson.Pass (Oct 3, 2014)

Is this why hosting down there costs more?


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## SGC-Hosting (Oct 3, 2014)

Yep... pay it every year.  They didn't tell me about it - but then again, it's not their responsibility to disclose it.  That's their local law, not a hidden fee on their part.  It's not that much.  One year I had an assessment worth 10x the actual value, all I did was fill in a form and it was corrected.

It certainly was odd the first time I received it.


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## fizzyjoe908 (Oct 3, 2014)

Texas has been assessing property taxes on servers within the state for many years now. WHT is full of surprised TX colo customers.


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## Jonathan (Oct 3, 2014)

Yep we pay taxes on our gear in TX.  Sucks, but that's the way it is.


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## coreyman (Oct 3, 2014)

Yea they sent me the bill for a company I sold off. I contacted them and they said 'you are still responsible'.... still haven't paid it. (Dallas County). Now they are saying they are going to take my equipment (over a $50 bill).... it's not even my equipment anymore....


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## texteditor (Oct 3, 2014)

rds100 said:


> If the tax is mandated by some law and it says the customer is responsible for paying this tax to the government, i don't think the host should do anything about it. The customer has to know the laws and take care about his tax duties.


Only in fucking Texas would they bitch and moan about how taxes hurt business so they slash them, and then try and make up the difference by charging tax to the outside customers bringing money into the county


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## coreyman (Oct 3, 2014)

texteditor said:


> Only in fucking Texas would they bitch and moan about how taxes hurt business so they slash them, and then try and make up the difference by charging tax to the outside customers bringing money into the county


Yea I'm confused as to why the colo doesn't pay the taxes - seems really weird to me.


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## devonblzx (Oct 4, 2014)

Texas is one of the few states without an income tax, so they have to get their state revenue from somewhere I suppose.

Florida also doesn't have an income tax, but if you ever drive through it, you'll see how they get their money.  Toll roads galore.  Only been to Texas once to be honest so I can't say much about them but I'm sure Florida's tourism brings in more money than Texas's so Texas probably has to find more ways to get revenue.

I hate doing income taxes but I'm pretty sure I'd hate  getting nickel and dimed for everything more.


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