Robert Blaise

The myth of tax free internet sales

Frequently in my conversations with our clients the question of taxes for online purchase is brought up. The most common questions are; should I collect sales tax? do I collect based on the State?  Am I required to pay taxes for online sales?  I am not an internet sales tax expert however in my research what I discovered was that whether you need to collect sales tax depends on where both you and your customers are located. If your customers are in the same state as the physical location of your business, they owe sales tax on items they purchase from you.

For an excellent resource for information on state tax rates and rules, check The Sales Tax Clearinghouse, www.thestc.com. Click on the link to “state tax rates and DoR Web pages” to find a link to your state’s sales tax authority. You can also click on “LOOKUP RATES” to find the sales tax — state, county, local, etc. — for any address.