“Services” are generally not subject to sales tax while tangible personal property generally is subject to sales tax. This oversimplification can get you sideways in various states as there are lots of exceptions to these general rules. Kentucky is the latest in terms of taxing specific services.

This was previously published in Monitor Daily – check out the article now!

https://www.monitordaily.com/opinion-posts/sales-and-use-tax-for-leasing-not-as-simple-as-you-may-think/

Most of us are familiar with the scrutiny placed on cryptocurrencies by the IRS. The next federal 1040 has an even longer set of probing questions about crypto transactions.

A new tax law in Maryland seemed ready to rattle every company that sold digital products in the U.S. But a court has now invalidated the Maryland Digital Advertising Tax.

If you’re a construction contractor – especially if you’re engaged in contracts in different states – you have to evaluate your sales tax responsibilities in each state where you have customers.

Our Halloween-month look at tricky items concludes with a natural: candy.

Our Halloween-month look at tricky items for sales tax continues here with a few items it’s hard to live without…

We’re fond of saying that nothing’s ever easy in sales tax. And here we’ll kick off our run toward Halloween with a look at one of the newest and trickiest areas of sales tax: electric vehicle chargers and charging.

Many tech companies consider themselves a service provider exempt from sales and use tax. But the 2018 Wayfair decision expanded the definition of nexus and and more of these businesses are now subject to sales and use tax collection, including on one of their product staples: apps.

A contractor is generally defined as someone who provides improvements to real property on a lump sum contract basis. From a sales and use tax perspective, there isn’t much of a difference between a subcontractor and a prime or general contractor. 

Determining your sales tax obligations hinges on if your products or services are taxable and whether you have sales tax nexus which can be defined as either a physical presence or economic presence. That by itself is confusing enough, and unfortunately it gets more confusing.

Complying with your sales tax obligations involves a lot of variables – your nexus, taxability of your products, type of customer you are selling to, etc. Another key factor that effects your sales tax obligations is related to exempt transactions and exemption certificates.

Summer vacation season is here – and it’s yet another area where sales tax shows up.

Determining your sales tax obligations hinges on if your products or services are taxable and whether you have sales tax nexus which can be defined as either a physical presence or economic presence. That by itself is confusing enough, and unfortunately it gets more confusing.

You’re trying to run a business and sales tax is not at the forefront of your plans. Nevertheless, you can do a quick check for the most common errors. Make sure you aren’t making these common tax mistakes to ensure you have sales tax in order and aren’t at risk for penalties and fees in the case of an audit.

Not paying attention to your sales tax obligations is never wise. 

True, it’s a relatively new requirement to collect sales and use tax from remote customers, but it’s one the taxman has always taken seriously from businesses – and that seriousness is only intensifying. 

It’s also mostly up to you to determine your sales tax obligation, and the rules for complying change frequently. A recent TaxConnex survey found that four out of five respondents were not confident about how their company handled its sales tax obligations.