Selling online & sales tax

[vberkesch]

Hi all,

Question for you. My sister & I are in business together. We have a web site & sell online. I live in wis. & charge wis sales tax to anyone ordering in state. Now that my sister is part of the business (she lives in Minnesota) should we be charging sales tax to ALL who lives in Minnesota or wisconsin?? We both do shipping.

She makes mineral makeup, soap & wax melts.

I make soap, felted, lotion, balm, wax melts & candles.

Example - the order is for soap, lip balm & candle for someone in minnesota. I will send out this order because she doesn't make the lip balm. Should this person be charged minnesota tax. Even though I sent it out from wisconsin?

It would be easy to just set paypal to charge for minnesota & wisconsin tax, but need to know if this is right??

Your answer is VERY much appreciated , Vanessa

[Sue Ellen]

I have just been reading info on this topic. I am in South Carolina, so not sure if your states would be different, but as I understand it you must charge sales tax to anyone you sell to who's shipping address is located in any state where your business has a location. So, (again as I understand it) yes, you should be charging sales tax to all persons with shipping addresses in Minnesota and in Wisconsin (and if those two states have a different sales tax rate, you should be sure to charge the correct rate).

The part in my reading that I found interesting (and this really has nothing specific to do with your question), but the customers who buy from other states should list their purchases on their end of year taxes with their state so they will then pay a consumption tax. (This is only for states which have a consumption tax, and I understand that most all states who have a sales tax also have a consumption tax.) As a consumer who likes to purchase stuff online I never realized that I was to be keeping track of my out of state online purchases so I could report them at the end of the year and pay a consumption taxes. (I'm thinking this is a bit nuts for the average person and should only be applied to those who purchase large amounts - but nobody ever asked me my opinion. LOL) But I did also see that as the seller, it is not our responsibility to tell the consumer to be sure to keep track of their purchases for the end of year taxes.

Sue Ellen