Go To Great Panes

Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2009

The first thing about taxes and your small business is that sales tax is completely unrelated to your annual state and federal income tax.

Sales tax:

Collected and regulated on a state level, so every state has its own laws that govern the collection and payment of sales tax by sellers to the state. The laws vary widely, please always contact your state directly if you have any questions or get the info directly from your state’s official website.

If your state has sales tax, you need to register with the state to be authorized to collect it from your customers, then you pay the state the money you collected according to the schedule the state provides you, on special forms that are only for sales tax remittance.

Some states require sales tax be remitted monthly, some quarterly, some once a year. In some states the schedule changes depending on your sales. Your state will tell you how often you should remit it.

Income tax:

Paid by US citizens/residents and those employed in/selling from the USA at the federal level and at the state level (if the state has income tax). Due April 15.

I’ll be adding posts about sales tax in different states as we come across it, primarily I’ll be covering New York since that’s where we are located/most knowledgable, but please still double check the information–even if I’m posting it.

I’ll be adding information about small businesses and income tax soon too.