Amazon Tax Exemption Information
Most of the university's retail purchases made for non-profit educational and/or research mission are exempt from sales tax. To be exempt from sales tax:
- The retail purchase must be made by the university using university funds (e.g., purchasing card, purchase order, university check).
- A completed exemption certificate must be provided to the vendor at the vendor's request at the time of purchase.
- The individual submitting a completed exemption certificate to a vendor for university purchases and claiming the exemption at the time of purchase for the university must be authorized to make purchases on behalf of the university.
IT IS UNLAWFUL FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO SUBMIT A COMPLETED EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE USING THE UNIVERSITY NAME TO A VENDOR TO MAKE A PURCHASE OTHER THAN FOR UNIVERSITY PURPOSES WITH UNIVERSITY FUNDS (ANY SUCH INDIVIDUAL WHO DOES SO MAY, AMONG OTHER THINGS, BE SUBJECT TO DISCIPLINARY ACTION).
Exemption Application
Tax exemption has been universally applied to the central Carnegie Mellon University Amazon Business Account. If you are not already registered for the central Carnegie Mellon University Amazon Business Account, you can find out how to register on the Amazon Business page. Once you are registered, the majority of your purchases will have tax exemption automatically applied with no additional action required. Because Amazon provides a marketplace made up of millions of sellers, from time to time there may be instances when sellers still charge tax on what is normally a tax exempt purchase. These items will be marked as such with restricted messaging to guide you to make a different product selection from a seller that does not charge tax in order to provide you with a smoother purchasing process. Should you need to still complete the purchase from a seller that charges tax, you will need to request a refund from the seller.
Requesting a Tax Refund
If you purchased an item from a seller that charges sales tax, you can contact the seller directly to request a refund. To contact the seller:
- From within your account, navigate to “Your Orders”
- Find the item that was charged tax and click “Contact the Seller”
- Enter the subject as “Tax Exemption Refund Request”
- Include the order number and the amount charged.
Note: In some cases the Seller may request a copy of a sales tax exemption certificate. To do this, click “add attachment” and upload the university’s sales tax exemption certificate. To obtain the properly signed materials to claim exemption, contact Taxation at taxdept@andrew.cmu.edu.
If you have any issues contacting the seller, or other order-specific related questions, please contact Amazon’s Business Customer Service team or via phone at (888) 281-3847.