So I am setting up a shopping cart for the website in my signature, but I have a couple questions regarding internet sales taxes. I have been currently only selling to tax-exempt organizations, but now that I will have a public payment option, I might start getting orders from people in which I might have to collect sales taxes. I just wanted to know if, when, and how much I must collect so I can configure the shopping cart further. Does anyone have a quick guide on this topic? Any info would help. Thanks
Well my advice here has to be consult a local CPA and don't take advice over the internet when it comes to taxes. However, when it comes to internet sales tax I believe this is the case in most US states (disclaimer: I don't actually sell goods on the internet)...if you're selling services or subscriptions no tax is required. If you're selling physical goods, sales tax is required in any state that you have a physical presence. So say you're headquarters are in Illinois, you have warehouses in CA, IL, and NC, and you have a satellite office in New York. You'd be required to charge sales tax in CA, IL, NC and NY but not from any other state. Now theoretically the person who orders the goods from any other state is required to pay a local use tax equal to the local sales tax (it's the same as the sales tax but payed by the buyer to the state instead of collected by the merchant) so internet shopping is in fact not tax free. But how many people do you know who actually pay that or even know that?