European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 10, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Can be by Mary Neth consumer editor re american bazaars unnecessary lading the crowds who push Down the aisles Al these popular even in Germany almost. Always assume they Are paying prices minus the 14 percent sales lax. In Nusl cases their Assumption is false. Yet there is a Way he tax could be. Hent naked. Contracts to. Sett at bazaars generally Are Between the Vendor and a dub. Since clubs Are private organizations they do not Quality for lax Relief under the status of Forcada agreement. Tex is exempt Only when the contracts Are with a non appropriated fund inst Tutti map such As a local morale welfare and recreation Lund. Few vendors at bazaars Point Oul that taxes Are lacked on. For a customer buying an expensive item such As a $406 Rug. That lax is significant. Purchase Price of the Rug minus the tax would be s350 a savings of $56. There s a Way to avoid the tax. Harold h. Moore director and Robert Forna. Con racing officer of the Usa eur non appropriated fund Supply acquisition and contracting Naf Sac Agency in Aschaffenbur Germany say that he  prob Tam card be solved by having the contracts processed through their office. Contracts can be written specifying Hal the vendors Are supplying a service for the Naf Sac office then vendors will be exempt from charging tax and All Bazaar items will be tax free. With the Naf Sac proposal the individual clubs would not have to make local Nafi contracts nor would they have to eel up a value added tax office at the Bazaar. To eliminate the lax some bazaars have set up such offices although i involves a complicated and time consuming procedure for the customer. Naf Sac already has handled the Vendor contracts for a three Day Bazaar of the Pir Masens officers wives club. The club look care of the paperwork showing that the value added lax need not be paid and. At the end of the last Day issued checks to the vendors Lor their percentage of the sates. It the Naf Sac plan were put into effect command wide a Standard contract could be drawn up with All terms and conditions he same for each Vendor. Al present says Fornal " he vendors have to adjust their prices each time they enter a contract in a different Community " the Naf Sac of lice would keep a list of All vendors that could be used by All Bazaar chairmen in selecting merchandise for their events. It is estimated that there aia close to 800 merchants now sailing at american bazaars. Centralization also could Lead to belter coordination end monitoring of sates practices now. Different bazaars olten Are held on the same weekend making it impossible for a Vendor to sell at More than one says Fornal. With centralized control there could be belter scheduling we also could ask for performance reports on the vendors after each Bazaar and could keep better rack of the whereabouts of the different salespeople says Fornal. Lynne Moses director of the Heidelberg officers no to Mirter 0mfcni Wafai us Bazaar often Goott from Vendor hem allow the world is photo wives club Bazaar is very enthusiastic about the idea of Naf Sac office Vendor contracts. She Points Oul that for smaller bazaars the Cost of setting up a vat Booth is Loo expensive. The clubs can l afford to have ii staffed. The proposed plan also would provide a list of reputable merchants and ones that have been the cause of problems. Moses also believes having a Central contracting office would save the government Money. Now she says every time a Bazaar is held contracts have to be approved local in. A few clubs such Ai the Ramstein and Mannheim officers wives clubs do Malo it possible for customers to obtain tax exemption by setting up a value added lax vat office at the Bazaar. Tax Relief then can be obtained for each individual Purchase of More than $50. The customer Musl first obtain an invoice from the Vendor showing the amount of his Purchase with and without lax. This invoice is then taken to the vat office where he customer pays Tor the merchandise minus tax in Cash or by personal Check. A member of theoflice then converts the Dollar amount to Marks and makes out a Mark Check in that amount. The customer takes it along with the required German tax Relief forms  to the Vendor. All this Dona. He can pick up his Purchase w. Lew Iwlew owner of Vladimir aria who frequently Sells at bazaars contends that tens of thousands o dollars Are forfeited each year by americans who pay taxes on Bazaar items unnecessarily. He Points out that Lor an hem costing 1100 at a Bazaar in Germany a Vendor must charge $143 45 to cover his costs 8 percent or $11.48 for credit card service 14 percent or $17.62 for the value added tax and 10 percent commission or $14.35 to the sponsoring club. When it comes to total sales at a Bazaar this can add up to More Money being received by the German government in taxes than the sponsoring organization receives in commission. Yel the Revenue irom commissions is the primary reason bazaars Are held. Clubs use it to help support Many local Community programs. Iwlew has prepared toilers to explain to clubs that they can Otter tax Relief at their bazaars and to encourage them to do so. He and other merchants Hope that in bazaars learn about the possible savings. They will have a local morale welfare and recreation office request Naf Sac contract support. Saving sales Taxt he exemption from the German value added tax or  is provided for All nato forces in the status of farces supplementary agreement sofa. The agreement in Germany grew out of its status As an occupied country after world War h. Other nato countries have different supplementary agreements to the sofa which Don l Grant such exemption from sales lax. The German sates tax when first levied in 1968, was 11 percent of the Purchase Price. Today it is 14 percent. The items thai carry a sates tax have remained the same. They include most purchases or services other than agricultural goods entertainment Bene Lical Community services and professional services. A smaller tax is levied on the these other items. The canadians and British forces were the first to set up programs to enable their troops to take advantage of the exemption. The Canadian program was made available to All members of nato and by september 1974,90 percent of the business done by the Canadian transactions office a tax Relief office was for americans. Then in december 1974, the . Army set up its own tax Relief system and shortly Hare alter the . Air Force followed suit those eligible Lor the program Are us. Military personnel on Active duly stationed in Germany and . Citizens employed in the country by appropriated and non