Dealing with Sales Tax Collection
If you're operating a home-based retail business in a state or province that has a sales tax, you'll likely be required to collect the sales tax from your customers at the time of the sale and remit it back to the state or provincial government. You'll need to apply for a state or provincial tax number and set up your bookkeeping so that you track taxable sales clearly. Check how often you need to remit the sales tax to the government: i.e., weekly, monthly, or annually.
If you travel out of state or province to consumer shows, you might need to collect and pay sales tax to the host state: Check to see which rules apply. You may also need to collect and remit the sales tax that's applicable in the state or province of your customer for mail- or Internet-based sales.
Dealing with sales taxes can be a cumbersome and time-consuming process, but researching it with government offices well ahead of time will save you many headaches later on.
