Plain-English guidance on state sales tax registration, seller’s permits, resale certificates and ongoing compliance – written by the team that prepares these filings every day. Ready to register? Start your sales tax application.
Shipping charges may be subject to sales tax, but there is no single nationwide rule. Retail sales taxes are state and local taxes, so a seller must determine whether a delivery charge is included in the taxable sales price under the rules…
Origin-based sales tax sourcing assigns a sale to its place of origin rather than automatically assigning it to the customer’s delivery location. Depending on the applicable rule, the origin may be where a product was shipped, where a service was performed, or…
Destination-based sales tax sourcing treats a sale as occurring in the jurisdiction where the customer receives the taxable product or service. That destination may determine the state and local tax applied to the transaction. It is not necessarily the seller’s store, office,…
Five states do not assess a statewide general sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. It is more accurate to describe them this way than to say they have a “0% sales-tax rate.” The distinction matters because the absence of…
Usually, a DBA is not automatically required just because you need a sales tax permit. The important questions are whether your business actually operates under a name different from its legal name and how the state or local jurisdiction treats assumed names.…
Sales tax and use tax usually address opposite sides of the same purchasing situation. Sales tax is typically collected by a seller when making a taxable sale. Use tax can become relevant when taxable property or services are used, stored, or consumed…
No—not necessarily. In the United States, “wholesale license” does not have one uniform legal meaning. Depending on the jurisdiction, the phrase may refer informally to a seller’s permit, a reseller permit, a resale document, or another business authorization. The correct answer depends…
A sales tax ID and an EIN are not the same thing. An EIN is a federal tax identification number issued by the IRS for a business or other entity. A sales tax ID usually means the state-issued account number or registration…
You may need both a business license and a sales tax permit because they address different legal responsibilities. A business license generally concerns permission to operate a business in a particular location or industry, while a sales tax permit concerns state sales-tax…
No. A resale certificate is not the same as a business license. A resale certificate generally documents that a qualifying purchase is being made for resale, so the supplier can support why sales tax was not collected on that transaction. A business…