Charging Taxes

Do I have to?

[Brock]

Currently on my ecommerce site I'm charging a 7% tax on every product I sell. I was under the impression that I had to charge taxes because the products that I'm purchasing are out of Florida and since I'm not getting charged taxes then I had to pass it on to my customer..

I had a customer today ask why he had to pay taxes since he was in california..

So do I or don't I?
Please advise.
Thanks!

[jsinger]

Where are YOU (the ecommerce seller, I presume) located?

Note that a reseller never pays sales tax on mechanidse he BUYS for resale in U.S. jurisdictions, except in rare cases when the product is shipped to California which has some odd rules.

I'm charging a 7% tax on every product I sell

Why 7%? State sales taxes vary from about 8% to zero percent in a few states. What do you do with all this tax money you collect, pocket it or send it to each state?

[BananaFish]

You only have to collect state sales tax on items shipped within your home state. In the case of Florida, you only charge tax on items shipped within Florida. The tax form has entries for total sales and Florida sales, and you only owe the tax on Florida sales. You need not collect sales tax for any state other than the state where your business is located.

[Corey Bryant]

What does your accountant suggest you do?

-Corey

[BananaFish]

Or simply visit sunbiz dot org.

[King_Fisher]

Banana Fish, has it right. You only collect taxes on shipments made within
your state. This also includes any shipments made to foreign countries.
Their is occasional talk from D.C to change this but so far no action. KF

[Brock]

Thank you for the great advice, by all means I was not planning on pocketing anything. I will definitely make the change.
Thanks
Brock