Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2010
This post is copyrighted–you do not have permission to repost this content elsewhere but you are welcome to link to it if you’d like to share the information.
I’ve written up some info that I’ve shared across several lists/threads over time. This information doesn’t cover all areas of sales tax and when/how to apply it. This is based on my knowledge of NY State business info, and I advise you to re-check the info with NYS publications and employees yourself.
Please-please-please–Always double check info you get on-line with the authority in charge of dealing with it in real life.
Each state has its own regulations–posts for other states with limited info coming soon!
Helpful NYS document with the basics for NY Sales Tax–it’s a PDF file:
Pub 750: A Guide To Sales Tax in New York State
More NYS documents: Sales Tax Publications
Some New York Sales Tax info:
1. You can’t use Paypal’s sales tax calculator for NY Sales Tax:
NY has more than 10 different tax rates across the state based on county that can only be determined by using the buyer’s street address AND zipcode, which means you can’t set up Paypal to accurately charge NY sales tax.
Even if you put all the 5 digit zipcodes in the sales tax function on Paypal, it will not charge sales tax appropriately for NYers because the sales tax rates are determined by political zones which are not defined by 5 digit zipcodes since 5 digit zipcodes can cross county lines. (You could put in the 9 digit zipcodes, but I can’t imagine how long that would take since they change with every building.)
You can have two houses next to eachother in the same zipcode and each has a different sales tax rate because they fall under different political jurisdictions.
To find the tax for a specific New York address use this on-line form:
http://www8.nystax.gov/STLR/stlrHome
Don’t forget to make sure your items fall under the general sales tax rate by checking the blue “Limitations on Use” link on that page. Clothing, food items and other products may not get the same rate as everything else gets at a particular location.
Limitations on Use: http://www.tax.state.ny.us/e-services/stlr/stlrinfo.htm
2. In-Person Sales–Use the Local Sales Tax Rate:
For in-person sales, you must charge the state and local tax for the location of the sale–for example, when you are at a show you charge the rate based on the street address of the show.
In-person rate is based on the location where the item is sold.
3. Shipping Items You Sell–NY Uses Destination-based Sales Tax:
If you sell through the internet, by mail or by phone, the location is the address to which the item is shipped regardless of the location of the buyer or seller.
This means that collecting the tax based on YOUR location is not correct unless you happen to live in a zone with the same tax rate as the delivery address.
If the buyer lives outside NY, but is having the item shipped to NY, you still must charge sales tax based on where the item is being shipped.
See this FAQ page from the NYS website:
NYS website: Sales tax based on “point of delivery”.
4. There is Sales Tax on Shipping:
NY sales tax is also applied to shipping charges, unless you have a third party ship your items, in which case they charge you tax on their service. For example, a pack and ship store will charge you sales tax on their services, and you pass that cost on to your buyer in the total cost; you don’t re-tax that amount since sales tax has already been paid on it.
Continued here New York Sales Tax–continued
Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2010
This post is copyrighted–you do not have permission to repost this content elsewhere but you are welcome to link to it if you’d like to share the information.
