Thursday, July 12, 2012

Today I spent half an hour on the phone with a tax company to try and decipher what I should be doing with my sales taxes.  It is so very confusing.  I filed for a tax number with my state about a year ago and received a quarterly form to send.  Not having a plethora of sales, when my income was zero, I didn't send it in.  I received a form letter the other day stating if I am no longer in business fill in the bottom portion and return. Oh, and in fine print it stated "Even if sales are zero, you need to file".  Well, they didn't tell me that at the licensing bureau when I paid good money for this tax number.  As a matter of fact, they didn't tell me anything.  I had questions but they had no answers.  Speaking to the rep today (thank you Sandy), at least I now have a game plan.  Online sales will not be charged local sales tax, in state sales will.  If it is not sold in state, I will not record in on the state form.  Just this little bit of clarity has me breathing a sigh of relief.  It is a very gray area for authors when it comes to taxes.  Did you know you need different tax id's for every venue you utilize?  In school sales verses bazaars verses public venues.  Oh, and if you sell a book in a different zip code then the license reflects, you need a new license for this also.  Does this seem right to you?  How is a new author supposed to know all these nuances to sales taxed?
Rant completed.  Thanks for reading.

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