Local Sales/Use Tax question....

bazooka

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This is bugging me and I can't find the answer anywhere...

So, at least in Texas, when you send in your sales tax collection, you include local tax as well, at least that's how I understand it. Correct me if I'm wrong.

So, for a photographer who will sell prints and provide services in MANY different local tax zones, how does the state know in which zones were the services or sales made so that the local taxes can be appropriated the correct tax zones? Does that make sense? Or do I have it all wrong? Are we supposed to know and record the address everytime we make a taxable sale?
 
Ok, so no takers on that question. Let me ask it differently...

When you send in your state and local taxes to the state, do you have to tell them at what address you performed that service or sale?
 
Isn't this something you should be asking your accountant?

But I can't afford an accountant

Maybe you can't afford 'not to have an accountant'.

;)
 
Funny you should ask, I actually asked my workplaces accountant who also runs an LLC and she doesn't know.

This seems like it should be a simple question that any in-business photographer has to know. Does noone pay state and local taxes?
 
This seems like it should be a simple question that any in-business photographer would know.
The issue may be specific to photographers in Houston...or in Texas...or in the US.
 
I finally found the answer... apparently I need to fill out the long version of the 01-114 tax return which has places to list all tax zones business is done in. Hopefully this info is helpful to someone.
 
I have an accountant. He is not 100% on Texas tax laws but for us they fill out a specific form when there is a differant rate. In NJ there is only one county that has a differant sales tax and it is a county I don't do a lot of business in so those clients tend to stick out because they know they get to pay 4% when everyone else has to pay 7%.

I really suggest you have an accountant. Not neccessarily on the payroll but someone you can go to for questions and to help you at tax time.

There are things I know I am not good at so I have to hire people who are. So I have a business manager, accountant and lawyer. I am now looking into hiring a sales rep on commision.
 
I'm in Illinois and perform work all over the state and in Indiana.

But I conduct business from one location. I don't have multiple offices. So no matter where I shoot, or where my customers are working/living, all sales are done through my one location.

-Pete
 
Double check... If you are DELIVERING the product in YOUR location you charge YOUR area's sales tax. If you are delivering at the client's location then you pay THEIR sales tax rate.
90% of time clients come to ME for pick up=my local tax rate.
 
Double check... If you are DELIVERING the product in YOUR location you charge YOUR area's sales tax. If you are delivering at the client's location then you pay THEIR sales tax rate.
90% of time clients come to ME for pick up=my local tax rate.

Yeah. I figure it's the "sale" that's being taxed, and all my business is conducted at one address. That's where the money comes in and goes out.

I think it's the same if I drop-ship the work to the client from a third location. The sale was made and completed at and paid to my one place of business.

-Pete
 
Really everything depends on the state you live in. That is why there are accountants that specialize in sifting through all the red tape and jargin. In the past 3 years there have been so many drastic changes to sales tax in CA, NY, KY, IL and a few others that what you have been doing may not be what you should be doing.''

The tax man commeth, don't bend over.
 
A Tampa photographer told me in 2009 she decided to save a little over $500 and do her own thing most of the year, and make use of turbo-tax accounting/online searches/etc. Then she told me it was the 1st time she has been audited, what her simple error cost her, and she went crawling back to her accountant for help.
 
Think of a store... If you go into a store in another city/municipality in your state do they ask you your zip code and charge you tax according to that? No. They charge you tax based on the municipality you are shopping in. When I was in TX it was the same guidelines for me there. Alaska had no sales tax so it wasn't something that I had to learn there. NY is the same-tax for the site of delivery.

Now from what I am told by ONE tax man... And they all tell you something different. Currently in NY if I ship to a client or deliver at the client's location within the state I have to charge the sales tax for THAT location-that is where delivery is taking place. HOWEVER I don't know how totally true that is because I know if I order from Adorama they charge me their sales tax rate which is higher than mine.
 
The issue is I am not a store persay. Stores don't move. That's where the business is done. But according to Texas tax law, the local tax is charged where the product is delivered from if it is from in state, at least from what I've read, although I definitely need to re-read some more. So if I sell a landscape at a show, I charge sales tax for that location, not my business address. Or if a wedding photographer performs a service in another city, they charge for the service based on that cities local tax rates. And when I report that tax, I must include the location so the state knows where to send the local tax they collect.
 

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