WAHM Forums

Hello!

I have a silly question...when filling out client orders, do you charge taxes on the Subtotal, or the total after S & H? I want to make sure I'm doing it right!

Thanks!!

it depends on the state i think, in maryland we charge tax on shipping and handling.

Does anybody know what the rule is for MN?

maybe you can figure it out if you look at your order history on beautinet to see if you are being taxed on shipping and handling????

Edited by: spagirl

I don't think shipping is taxable in DE, ID, MA, MT, NH, OK, OR, or WY. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

I'm from MN and I just looked back on my orders and I was charged tax on my shipping.

I actually took Alyssa's advice and looked at my previous invoice from B.C. It looks like I should be charging taxes on the entire total (pre-discount, and including Shipping & Handling). Also, taxes went up in my county (Hennepin) because of the new baseball stadium so I should be charging 6.65% in taxes, not 6.5%. Good to know, and thought I'd share for any other Minnesotans, especially those in Hennepin Co.

OK girls I just want to throw this information out there. I'm not really sure either but I received this information from the MK board:


Here is a link to Form 168 for the MN Dept of Revenue....they have a specific publication just for Direct Sellers:<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
http://taxes.state.mn.us/taxes/sales/publications/fact_sheets_by_name/content/BAT_1100092.pdf (http://taxes.state.mn.us/taxes/sales/publications/fact_sheets_by_name/content/BAT_1100092.pdf)

It really is one of the better publications that I have seen...it walks you through step-by-step on how to get your own ID (starting on page 2 - there is a phone number for you to call in order to register your business with the state and they will issue you a number)


A few things:

1. There is not a state in this country where it is legal to charge sales tax on anything but the actual selling price. It doesn't matter what sales tax you prepaid and are trying to recoup.....you may only charge sales tax on the amount you are charging your customer for the product.

2. Coupons are another issue altogether and do not apply to your Mary Kay Business when it comes to charging sales tax(some states do allow the coupon to be taken off the post-tax price). So no, you can't print up a bunch of coupons and use that to "get around" the law against charging sales tax on the retail value rather than the actual selling price.

3. In most states, you can apply for and receive your own sales tax license. Once you have your tax #, you would still pay sales tax when you purchase the product from MKC, but then turn around and use the Sales Tax Refund form (on InTouch) and send it in with a copy of your sales tax license that you received from the state. MKC would then issue you a full refund for the sales tax you paid and you would simply remit your sales tax to the state as you made sales to customers. Your state will put you on a timetable, depending on your "volume" (quarterly, semi-annually or yearly). PLEASE NOTE: If you are not a good recordkeeper, then don't do it this way. Of course, I firmly believe that if you aren't a good recordkeeper/bookkeeper you have no business being in business for yourself anyway, but that's another story <?:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /></v:stroke></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:ulas></v:path><o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"></o:lock></v:shape><a href="http://www.wahm.com/forum/smileys/smiley15.gif" target="_blank"></v:></v:shape>

4. So far, the only state that I have found that does not allow people involved in retail DS/MLMs to get their own tax licenses and handle the tax themselves is Texas. This is likely due to lobbying by the large number of DS/MLMs headquartered in <?:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State>. So if you live in <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State>, #3 is not an option for you.

5. Since you cannot legally recoup the excessprepaid sales tax from the customer, MKC will issue you a refund for the uncovered sales tax when you use the Sales Tax Refund Request Form (that's what it was called when I was in MK, the name may have changed, but it can be found on InTouch). This is not something "nice" that MK is doing....this is something that they are legally obligated to do.

6. Sales tax refunds on your personal use items are tricky. I was personally denied a refund on my personal use items (and was assured that if I re-sold the items to anyone else, including my dog the refund wouldn't be refused). <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State> law specifically says that a DS/MLM company MUST issue a refund to Distributers for the items they use for personal use. So far, I have found no other similar wording in the tax laws in other states. So, if you are including a refund request for personal use items, do not put your own name on the sales slip....use your husband, neighbor or pet hampster

well that's interesting. i don't know what to think.
i was told by my director in a previous direct sales company and by my BeautiControl director to charge tax on s/h.
BeautiControl charges tax on my s/h, so i would think that it is legal to do so in my state.and from what i can tell by looking online, a lot of online retailers charge certain states tax on their s/h

Yeah, I'm getting confused now. I'm going to my first unit meeting tonight so I will try and get some answers!