Sales tax

23:53 Jun 12, 2013 

Thank you all for your contributions. I am told that the document is a draft and will be subject to revisions.

10:53 Jun 12, 2013 

....given that French is an official language of Algeria? It strikes me that the drafter of this document may not be au fait with Algerian taxation and was using "foreign" (i.e. British or American) terms.....needs some thinking about

10:36 Jun 12, 2013 

The reason why “sales tax” and “VAT” are used in the same sentence may have to do with the fact that our Contractor operates in various jurisdictions, thus being subject to all these and many other taxes. But again, this is irrelevant to what the Asker is looking for: a translation of a term describing a foreign concept.

10:13 Jun 12, 2013 

has it been written by a lawyer who knows nothing of the Algerian tax system?
You need to consider this carefully, asker

10:01 Jun 12, 2013 

Is the English based on Algerian law??

09:58 Jun 12, 2013 

Hello AllegroTrans and Tony M, this is taken from a Front-End Engineering Design Services Contract for a project in Algeria (all the names of the various parties are crossed out)

08:07 Jun 12, 2013 

I'm sorry, but I very strongly disagree; sales tax and VAT are NOT exactly the same thing, as is made clear in Asker's source text, which lists BOTh 'sales tax' AND 'value added taxes'.

And as I have already been at pains to explain at length, 'turnover tax' is something quite different again; please can you provide any refs. at all to support the idea that 'turnover tax' is the same as 'sales tax' (other than where it means 'a tax on (a company's overall) sales')?

From Wikipedia:

"A turnover tax is similar [my italics] to a sales tax or a VAT, with the difference that it taxes intermediate and possibly capital goods. It is an indirect tax, typically on an ad valorem basis, applicable to a production process or stage. For example, when manufacturing activity is completed, a tax may be charged on some companies. Sales tax occurs when merchandise has been sold.

In South Africa, the turnover tax is a simple tax on the gross income of small businesses. Businesses who elect to pay the turnover tax are exempt from VAT. Turnover tax is at a very low rate compared to most taxes, but it is calculated on gross income without any deductions."

07:55 Jun 12, 2013 

… (nature-wise) viewed from different perspectives (buyer’s vs. seller’s), hence the different names. :)
But this discussion, I'm afraid, hardly helps our Asker to translate what seems to be a cultural specificity of the US tax system. I’d suggest going with Merline’s option (only changing the preposition “de” with “sur” as here http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxe_sur_la_vente) and, perhaps, adding a short (translator’s) footnote explaining the cultural differences to the Francophone readership...

05:16 Jun 12, 2013 

Even though US 'sales tax' is something similar to VAT, I don't see how one could ever describe this as 'turnover tax' — which would describe the overall tax on a company based on its annual turnover.

22:14 Jun 11, 2013 

"Sales tax" is the US version of VAT, which is an indirect tax on consumption.

19:55 Jun 11, 2013 

which country are we referring to here please? essential context!!

12:52 Jun 11, 2013 

AFAIK, 'taxe sur le chiffre d'affaires' would be a mistranslation of 'sales tax' as applied in normal (usually retail) contexts; that would represent a tax on sales / turnover.

I wouldn't worry, therefore, about that, but go on searching for the right term — assuming the definition you found does indeed correspond to your context (which I believe it does); in the UK, this kind of 'sales tax' used to be called 'purchase tax', so that might possibly be another avenue for research?