you pay the full price of the card, less a discount for returning your old card. so you pay tax on the full price.

Just love those tax laws. 

Yes, after all you are in fact Buying the New GPU.  EVGA Step-Up program is a Very nice - Value Added Feature - that no other Mfg is offering
 
That is just one of the Costs you have to factor in, when you use the Step-Up as a planned upgrade path (more tax if your area charges Sales Tax & shipping)
 
Look @ it this way .... just the cost for using your first GPU, while you waited to be contacted for the Step-Up GPU ... then it is not so Bad
 
Clearly defined in the EVGA Terms by the way EVGA Step Up Program

Nice.. since i didn't register 14 days after I bought the 3090, I get to also buy a extended warranty of 5 years for $160 just to enter the steo up program.

So:

$160
$400
$100 shipping..

$660 total ?? Nuts.

Oh and I also spent like near $400 on ek blocks for the 3090 so I lose their as well and anorher $2-300 for a new block whenever that hits.

Yeah.. I'm better off selling the card or keeping it for a 2nd rig.

ty_ger07

tizz78
Yep, Uncle Sam stiffs you twice. I'd have to say that's the downfall of the step-up. Overall many times you would be better off selling the original product and buying the next one.

You would pay the same taxes on the new card either way.

Agreed, but you already paid tax on the previous card was my point with my comment. So in my eyes you're paying full tax twice. I'm not saying the step up is a bad gig, you just get dinged in a sort because you didn't wait and buy the newer card the first time. Just my thoughts, others will disagree but it's whatever. Not EVGA, just the way things work. 
 
EDIT: And yes, I do understand you are buying 2 different cards and they are giving you store credit..

the_Scarlet_one

AHowes
Nice.. since the ti didn't come out till after the first 14 days after I bought the 3090, I get to also buy a extended warranty of 5 years for $160 just to enter the steo up program.

So:

$160
$400
$100 shipping..

$660 total ?? Nuts.

Oh and I also spent like near $400 on ek blocks for the 3090 so I lose their as well and anorher $2-300 for a new block whenever that hits.

Yeah.. I'm better off selling the card or keeping it for a 2nd rig.

No. The first part of your statement is severely misleading.

The TI never needed to come out within 14 days, it only needed to come out within 90 days. You only needed to register your product within 14 days, or buy the extended warranty to enter the step up. If you failed to register your product within 14 days, that is the only time you are required to purchase the extended warranty.

For the rest of it, you may be better off selling them to recoup some cost, but with prices dropping quickly, it’s a gamble either way.

Thanks.. haha. I wrote it right in another thread.. now edited.

Been with evga for decades and never used the Step up program. Never knew their was a rush to register a product from evga before.. just something I never think about before testing a new pc build. Waiting weeks for a new mb to come into stock before being able to build the thing to test it out.. also thinking I had a 30 day return window which is 14 days at evga. :/

kram36
It didn't used to be this way. You used to only pay tax on the extra cost over your trade in card. just like trading in a car. Not sure what law changed this, but it sucks.

I don't know how EVGA (or anyone) could justify not paying the full taxes on a new card. It just makes no sense any other way.
Imagine this: You buy a card from step-up and claim that it is only worth $200, because that is what you paid for it after store credit for the sale of the old card. You pay taxes on a "$200 product". Then, a week later, you sell it to someone else BNIB for $1900, because that is what it is worth. Wait! Is it a $200 product, or a $1900 product?
It is brand new and worth what a brand new card is worth. That is what you owe taxes on. Store credit is not tax exempt.
If EVGA was doing it differently in the past, they must have wised up.
Telling your state that you only owe $200 of use tax for something that you later admit is worth $1900 (for example) is fraud.
It's pretty simple.

Emparus
I could not find a law that references this specific case. You only have to pay tax on the money you have to pay. That is the sale.

Think of it differently.
What are you buying? What is the sale? A new card. What is a new card worth? The full price.
Store credit reduces how much you have to pay, but does not reduce the value of the sale. The value of the sale is the full price of a new card.
If it helps, consider the sale of the old card as a separate thing. If you sold it to someone else for the same price, you would have the same "credit" in your bank account, and you would buy the same card with the same value for the same price and pay the same amount in taxes. It makes no difference if you sell the old card to me or to EVGA when it comes to how much tax you owe on the new card. The store credit you get from EVGA for the sale of the old card is not tax exempt.
You are using the full product. You are buying the full brand new product. You owe use tax on the full product. You are not buying a fraction of a product. You are not buying something with reduced value. If you turn around and sell it to someone else, you will agree that it is worth its full value. That full value is what you owe taxes on.
It is not crippled, altered, or worth less. It is worth its full brand-new value, and that is the value you owe use tax on. Use tax isn't based only on the invoice amount. Use tax is assessed based on the value of the product, where you use it. Store credit reduced the invoice amount, but since store credit doesn't also cover the use tax, you still owe the full use tax.
Think of it another way: if you win money, does that mean you owe negative tax? No! If your winnings were a sales invoice, you would be "buying" in the negative. Buy you still owe taxes. Why? Because an invoice amount isn't what you owe taxes on. Tax is assessed irrespective of invoice amount. You have just programmed yourself to believe that the invoice amount is what you owe taxes on; because usually it is a directly related ... but not always.

Emparus
No, I buy an upgrade to the new card in exchange for the old card. which is $200.

No, you sell the old card and buy the new card. There is no such thing as "upgrade" when it comes to the taxes you owe.
The new card is the exact same model, with the same features, and the same value as any other card. You owe use tax to your state on that value.

When it comes to tax laws EVGA doesn’t make the rules on those.

Step Up is a trade in, so sales tax should be on the difference, just like how a trade in works for cars -
https://finance.zacks.com...hase-tradein-9018.html

https://www.nerdwallet.co...de-in-reduce-sales-tax

the_Scarlet_one

LFaWolf
Step Up is a trade in, so sales tax should be on the difference, just like how a trade in works for cars -
https://finance.zacks.com...hase-tradein-9018.html

https://www.nerdwallet.co...de-in-reduce-sales-tax

When you buy a car outside of the state you live in, and register it in the state you live in, the taxes you pay are for the state being registered, so there are 50 different rules to follow. The articles state “almost always” but isn’t definitive, because different states impose different laws, all set by the IRS, and followed by the selling company.

If you read the second article, 46 out of the 50 states work the same way. If I am not mistaken, the remaining ones do not have sales tax. So, trade-in does reduce the sales tax.

My wife understands the tax laws on trade in.. per her work. Thought I was stupid mentioning it.

So yeah.. enjoy thet double tax.

the_Scarlet_one

LFaWolf
If you read the second article, 46 out of the 50 states work the same way. If I am not mistaken, the remaining ones do not have sales tax. So, trade-in does reduce the sales tax.

Quick question, directly related to this.

When you trade in a car, do you get full MSRP of what you paid, or is it a severely reduced price?

Because it sounds like this is comparing apples to oranges, since there are defined guidelines that auto dealerships follow.

You are moving the goalpost in your argument. What EVGA or any car dealership gives you for your trade-in value has nothing to do with how the tax should be collected. EVGA can choose to provide a lower trade-in value if they want to, and the customer will need to pay a higher tax for the reduction in trade-in value.
 

kram36
ty_ger07, dude it used to be this way, here is the proof. I don't know what law changed in the last year to change this.

Why would I need proof? I didn't claim that this was always the way it was. What I said is that I am not surprised that this is the way that it currently is.

AHowes
My wife understands the tax laws on trade in.. per her work. Thought I was stupid mentioning it.

So yeah.. enjoy thet double tax.

What does that mean?