Sales tax rate for personal property lisa rogers asked 10 months ago
Sales tax rate for personal property

Hi,

Our house was a total loss from the Marshall fire. We live in unincorporated Boulder County. Since we do not receive city services (septic, non maintained gravel road, well), when items are delivered to our home, the tax rate is 5.185%. If we buy items in Boulder County, at the mall, etc… we pay whatever rate the tax is for that county. Our insurance is using the 5.185% tax rate for all of our personal property. Most of the items in our house were not delivered to the house. How does this work? Seems like we should be reimbursed at a higher rate, but I can’t seem to find the information online.

If they are reimbursing us at the lower rate which assumes our personal property was all delivered to the house, shouldn’t they reimburse us for shipping?

1 Answers
Michael Stoycheff Michael Stoycheff Expert answered 9 months ago
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Lisa,

The simple answer is if they’re taking that position they should reimburse for shipping at a minimum. The problem is I assume you will not replace everything lost nor will you have everything shipped. That’s just not practical in your case. They should be inclined to pay the higher tax rate across the board and if you incur shipping costs, they should cover that too. There are no Colorado State statutes that pertain to this scenario. I would suggest reaching out to the Colorado Division of Insurance and asking them this same question. A lot of times that organization can help compel carriers to do the right thing. Which in your case is paying for both the higher tax rate and shipping if you chose to go that route for delivery of the goods purchased. The other route you could take is submitting every single receipt for every item you buy and asked to be reimbursed for every dollar and cent you incur. That is how that coverage is intended. If you spend it, they owe it to you. That can become cumbersome in a total loss scenario. I would speak with your adjuster and propose the either or scenario but I truly believe they should owe you the higher tax rate as you will likely incur that as you start replacing items. Good luck.