Recommended Live Sales Tax Database

Looking for a provider for sales tax data.

[proc113]

My client runs an online retail yahoo store. I am looking for a solution to provide updated accurate sales tax information for orders being placed on their site.

They only need to provide tax information for orders being delivered to some states based on new state tax regulations, but are looking for updated tax data without having to constantly update their own taxation tables in yahoo stores.

Does anybody have similar tools that they have recently used that they can recommend?

Thanks in advance!

[8foldpath]

Hey. I love automation. I probably automate more things than most. But I don't think you need to make this table dynamic. The %'s don't really change very often. You shouldn't go through much trouble at all keeping this info current. Your hardest task will be getting a list of states.

I'd love to hear more arguments 'for' needing to automate this table and if anyone does it.

[proc113]

I was looking for a live solution, because there are so many zips and states to take into consideration for all the different levels of taxation. That would help to remove some of the responsibility from the client for having to recognize changes in local tax deals.

I suppose an updated tax table would also work, that they could then update regularly. Have you used a resource for this information that you can recommend?

[8foldpath]

You're only charged 'tax' at the state level and those values you very rarely change. Do you have a way of insuring the 'STATE' value? I think Yahoo should have a solution for you.. This sort of functionality is essential to all ecommerce sites.

[lampip]

Have the same question. I am building my own ecommerce website and it is mostly complete. We are in ny state and have to charge tax for anything delivered to ny state. From what I have read it is the sales tax rate of the shipping address. There are hundreds of zip codes in ny state and it would be very painful to maintain myself. If anyone has any suggestions on a site (happy to pay a reasonable fee) that allows me to send requests for the tax rate by zip i would appreciate it. And if anyone thinks i am still misunderstanding the law and could point me to something that explains it i would appreciate it (i looked on amazon's site and they said the tax rate is the rate associated with the shipping address).

thanks in advance,
peter

[proc113]

You are correct in that rates don't change all that frequently. However, a lot of states are now starting to enforce sales taxes on companies from out of state, meaning my client (based in Texas) is going to be responsible for collecting sales tax for orders shipped to California.

To make things even more confusing, California has different tax rates for different zones, not entirely related to zip, and definitely not statewide. So its not the frequency of change, but the necessity to manage all the different sales tax rates from so many different sources, any of which may change.

I was hoping to find a collected database that I could essentially upload into my yahoo stores account, and then update quarterly or annually when changes occur. Does anybody know of such a service?

[8foldpath]

Hmmm. This is going to make things sort of complicated. So now you'll have to file Use-Tax in 50 states ;) I have no idea how they plan to get people to enforce different tax rates for different zones in states like California. That sounds a little crazy. You're right.. At that point the Government is going to have to come up with some sort of National Tax API. Or maybe have it integrated into our Shipping API..

You would lookup the Shipping Costs with UPS API or something else.. Back would come the Various Ship Rates and the Tax Rate for that customer.

[lampip]

I see we all agree there is a need for an api or a data source, does that mean no one knows of one that already exists?

thanks,
peter

[jwolthuis]

Try CCH Sales Tax Solutions. They might be able to offer you a sales tax database.

[lampip]

Thanks for the reply, they look interesting, will follow up.

I did some more digging and found Strikeiron
they have a web service you can call with a zip code and get back the sales tax and other data. there is a monthly fee but it looks like it might be exactly what i am looking for.

thanks for your help, and if you know of any others let me know, always looking for the best/cheapest option.

peter

[edited by: lorax at 5:53 pm (utc) on Nov. 19, 2006]
[edit reason] no URLs please [/edit]

[willybfriendly]

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that a company was only liable for sales tax if they had a physical presence in the State where the purchase was made.

Now, I know that California would like to tax the entire world, but without Federal legislation I didn't think that they could hit out of State companies.

WBF

[Stores]

Now, I know that California would like to tax the entire world, but without Federal legislation I didn't think that they could hit out of State companies.

That is my understanding also. I think that doing so without Federal legislation would violate interstate commerce laws and would place quite a strain on CA catalog and e-commerce companies.

Try CCH Sales Tax Solutions. They might be able to offer you a sales tax database.

CCH seems to be a popular choice for tax tables.

[edited by: Stores at 4:23 pm (utc) on Nov. 19, 2006]