[deltasickT]

Whats going on everyone,

I'm a little confused about sales tax through the internet. If my online store is FL based, how do I figure out what sales tax to charge someone buying a shirt through my website that lives in an another state?

Appreciate the help thanks.

 

[kimura-mma]

You don't charge sales tax for orders that ship to a different state. You only need to collect sales tax for orders that ship within FL.

 

[deltasickT]

You don't charge sales tax for orders that ship to a different state. You only need to collect sales tax for orders that ship within FL.

Appreciate the help!

Do you have any addiditonal information on sales taxes in FL, more specifically regarding T-Shirt sales?

If not, can you point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

 

[kimura-mma]

collecting sales tax in florida - Google Search.

 

[GN]

Yes I can help because I'm in the same boat - out of Florida.. the good news you only need to collect when you ship to Florida.. the bad news is that Florida has about 50 or so different counties. The worse news is that inside each county there is anywhere from 10-30 zip codes! And it gets even worse.... every zip code/county has a potential different TAX rate! Which means you have to manually set up your cart to recognize each zip code and plug in the correct tax to charge. I have been told there are some carts and some software that does this automatically, but I've yet to find it. So plan on spending at least a day plugging in all those numbers. Some states have just ONE tax.. whcih would make it so easy.. but nope, not Florida! ha ha. BTW, I called Tallahasse Tax office and they confirmed that the information I'm giving you is correct and they understand our plight with online sales. I asked, "well what if I just charge everyone the highest tax bracket?" (which is 8%) and he said while I could do that, I could also get sued (by the consumer) for charging too much in taxes and taht the IRS would not look favorably upon that. So then what if you just charge the minumum? (6%)... well thats fine too.. but come tax time you will end up oweing money. So my advice, is bite the bullet and start plugging away at those numbers. Once input it's not so bad as there are usually only a few changes each year.

Here are your counties: List of Florida Counties
then.. look up the zip codes for each county here: ZIP Codes by County

Then you have all the zip codes and have to manually enter each tax charge by zip code. (your tax certificate should give you how much to charge each county.) If your wondering why you can't just enter one county (instead of ALL the zip codes for that county) it's because your check out is determined by zip code.

Hope this helps.. if someone knows a faster- easier way I'm all ears!

 

[debz1959]

In Nevada we have the same problem, having to collect different rates for different counties. I just set my shopping cart at the highest one and re-imburse the customer the difference. Some don't even notice that the rate is higher than the county that they live it, just assuming that I have to collect tax at my county rate. (By the way, it's that way in California - the rate that you charge is the county that you live in, and shipped from, not to where it is delivered)

 

[Swisha]

I'm sooo glad I ran into this thread. I'm trying to set up a online store and had no idea the tax part was so complicated. I just thought I could add it with the shipping price.

Do you think you have lost customers because of this? I mean does the tax differences cause a big gap in prices for different places?

 

[n2mouse]

Thanks much for the above info GN, it worked like a charm to collect all counties with applicable zip codes to determine Sales Tax from the two links you provided. If anyone is interested in a .csv file thereof in the format that MAGENTO (Community) needs, I tried to attach here, but this site didn't accept .csv. Though you should be able to paste the content into a .csv file and upload to Magento. If the link here doesn't work, I would be happy to email it, just send me a PM.

Also, two tips I found out browsing online:

1) The FL State and County Sales Taxes apply to the actual Item as well as the Shipping charges. So if the seller resides in Florida and a customer living in Miami purchases an item that costs 7 USD and shipping of 3 USD is added, then it follows that the State tax of 6% is applied plus the Sales tax for Miami-Dade County (1%) to the total of 10, resulting in a price of 10.70 USD charged to the customer who lives in Miami.

2) when you go through Magento, the tax should be coded as "added" not "compounded".

I hope this helps.

Sorry, but I cannot guarantee all info are correct or up-to-date, this is to the best of my knowledge