How Do I Know If I Need To Pay Sales Tax In A Given State?
To establish whether or not a state can impose a sales tax upon your business, there first needs to be nexus. Nexus relating to state sales tax is established by a connection between the state and your business. How this connection is defined has been subject to fairly recent changes that reflect changes in the way business is conducted in modern times.
Traditionally, the nexus has been established by the business having a physical presence in the state. However, due to the explosion of e-commerce, physical presence within a state is no longer a requirement for sales tax nexus. In the case of South Dakota v. Wayfair, the courts eliminated physical presence as the major requirement for creating nexus. It still should be noted that physical presence is considered an important requirement to allow a state to collect sales tax and is still one of the first considerations for sales tax.
Do All States Charge Sales tax?
Some states do not charge sales tax. Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon do not charge sales tax on a state level. Alaska and Montana do allow municipalities to charge sales tax on retail goods at a local level. A tax retail certificate is not needed in these places concerning a state sales tax.
What Happens If I Do Most Of My Business In A State That I Am Not Incorporated?
If you primarily do business in a state you are not incorporated in, make sure you apply for a Foreign Qualification (also known in some states as a Certificate of Registration or Certificate of Authority). This is the process of registering your company, which is considered domestic to the state in which it was originally formed and foreign to all other states, as a foreign entity in the states in which it operates. The retailer can then legally conduct business outside the state where the company was originally formed and, therefore, should be able to apply for a tax resale certificate.
What Are The Different Methods In Which The States Establish Sales Tax Nexus?
The definition of sales nexus can vary greatly from state to state. Here is a list of the different ways in which states can determine sales tax nexus:
- Click-Through Nexus Legislation
- Affiliate Nexus Legislation
- Marketplace Nexus Legislation
- Notice and Reporting Requirements
- Economic Nexus
Click-Through Nexus Legislation- This usually requires a remote seller to meet a minimum sales requirement in the state resulting from an in-state referral agent who is a state resident. The agent must make commission payments to the referral agent for any sales resulting from the click-through referrals from the agent’s website.
Affiliate Nexus Legislation– A remote retailer holds a substantial interest or is owned by a retailer located within the state and sells a similar product under a similar business name. Instate retailers can also promote or market the product to in-state customers. Affiliate nexus does not require common ownership and may not include services such as sales and delivery.
Marketplace Nexus Legislation– This definition applies to marketplace facilitators who operate a business in the state and provides e-commerce infrastructure, customer service, payment processing, and marketing services to individual sellers. The facilitator is the one that is required to register with the state and collect the sales tax rather than the individual sellers.
Notice and Reporting Requirements– This legislation requires that a retailer does not collect the state sales tax themselves but notify their buyers that they must report state use tax on all their purchases. The retailer might be required to send the purchaser a statement of all their purchases.
Economic Nexus– An out-of-state retailer generally must collect and remit sales tax once the retailer meets a set level of sales transactions or gross receipts activity (a threshold) within the state. No physical presence is required.
Please visit the sales tax institute to learn more about state sales tax.
What Happens To Goods That I Do Not Sell?
You might wonder what becomes of goods you do not sell on which a sales tax has not been collected. These goods could be subject to a use tax.
What Is The Use Tax?
Use tax applies to purchases made outside the taxing jurisdiction but used within the state. Use tax also applies to items purchased exempt from tax which is subsequently used in a taxable manner.
What Do I Do if I Purchase Goods In Multiple States?
The tax resale certificate can be challenging if you purchase and sell goods in multiple states. It can mean keeping track of many types of certificates for different vendors. The multijurisdiction resale certificate, a blanket retail certificate, or a uniform sales tax certificate can help ease this burden. As its name suggests, this document can be used over multiple states. However, the document itself can be confusing, and it is not accepted the same way in every state. It is important that the document is filled out correctly and that the retailer knows the different issues that can arise if applied incorrectly.
Do All States Accept The Multijurisdictional Resale Certificates?
One should also recognize that the following states do not accept the multijurisdictional resale certificate:
- California
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Washington
Do All States Charge Sales tax?
Some states do not charge sales tax. Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon do not charge sales tax on a state level. Alaska and Montana do allow municipalities to charge sales tax on retail goods at a local level. A tax retail certificate is not needed in these places about a state sales tax.
What Happens If I Do Most Of My Business In A State That I Am Not Incorporated?
If you primarily do business in a state you are not incorporated in, make sure you apply for a Foreign Qualification (also known in some states as a Certificate of Registration or Certificate of Authority). This is the process of registering your company, which is considered domestic to the state in which it was originally formed and foreign to all other states, as a foreign entity in the states in which it operates. The retailer can then legally conduct business outside the state where the company was originally formed and, therefore, should be able to apply for a tax resale certificate.