sales tax

[nicess]

What all can you guys tell me about the law that we have to pay sales tax. Also how do you guys handle this, do you raise your prices to cover this extra cost? Any information about the law would help and any information about how you guys handle this would be great! Thanks

[Ground Works]

Hello

I kinda had the same question also if u are new here is a link I found for OHio business might be of great help for all the new start-ups

http://www.odod.state.oh.us/onestop/

Dayak

[Seascape]

Get your fed ID #. Thats your tax exempt #. Your vendors will ask you to fill out a exempt certificate. They wont charge you tax. Bottom line,,, someone has to pay it. Pass it on to your customer. If the state sees you didnt pay tax on a item ,, they can ask for an invoice where someone did. Better have it.

It used to be you only charged tax on materials. They changed it. Now dry cleaners,landscapers, and a whole list of service providers are to charge on gross invoice. Its an ohio law. Use your county index % . For those that dont know they just jacked it up 1% per county in 2002 for all state sales tax,,, not just us.

Also, havent heard an up date but at the same time they passed that,, they spoke of another 1% hike on all those services on that list. Some sort of luxury tax. Havent heard anymore on it. dont care either. I wont charge it. They can kiss my ass.

Some clients may argue that tax on labor. Ive been able to explain it to them. About 2-3 total have challenged me on it. You may want to get a copy of the ammendment and have it in your truck. Its a very old ammendment but im always amazed how many people dont know about it.

Mike

[clclawn]

mike
are you saying ohio has a service tax, or is it a sales tax.

do they charge a sales tax on mowing, or is just a project involving materials.

here in indiana they are talking about a service tax, but haven't been able to pull it off yet.

[nicess]

Thanks for the input. Seascape, say you mow a yard for 25 normally do you charge tax on that or do you mark it up to 30 or how do you charge the sales tax on a job that you would normally charge say 25? Thanks again guys.

[Seascape]

It would be 25 plus tax.

Im not sure that they call it a service tax. But in certain services,, landscape being one of them, its taxable.

mike

[mikeslawnservice]

In Pennsylvania you are only taxed on sales, not services.
I'm sure it's different in every state.

[CrissBrothersLLC]

here is the ohio sales tax ammendment that says that what we do is applicable.

if you have a service vendors license (which you should have), then you are required to charge sales tax.

this has been in effect for mowing and landscaping for several years now. snowplowing was just added last year.

http://tax.ohio.gov/Information_Releases/st200302.html

your sales tax is calcualted from the county the service occured in. not where your office is.

simply add a sales tax line onto your invoice every month.

depending on revenues, the sales tax must be filed and paid on a semi-anual basis. (1st period ending on june 31st, the second on december the 31'st.) The form you need to file is UST-1. This is available on the ohio dept of taxation's website. you can also pay online. this must be filed and paid within 23 days. if not, then you owe an additional $50 or 10%, whichever is higher.

My accountant gave me incorrect advice, and now i owe back sales tax, but we are straightening it out.

[Hammerslay]

In Wisconsin landscaping/lawn maintenance is a taxable service. Therefore you must charge your customers a 5.5% sales tax on all sales including labor and material. If your customer's bill is $100, you have to charge him a total of $105.50. The state basically collects that $5.50 off you when you file your quarterly sales tax form. Although I write a check to the Wisonsin Dept. of Revenue every three months, this money doesn't come out of my pocket, it comes out of the customers pocket. I purchase material at wholesale and tax free by filling out a tax exempt form with my supplier. I mark up the material and charge sales tax for that amount.

[The landscaper]

I was interested in this same topic. I was trying to figure out what i was going to do with sales tax this year. I didnt know that you had to actually put the sales tax on the invoice. I was just going to bump my prices up a few dollars to compensate for the taxes.

[Seascape]

The taxes must be shown on the invoice. If the irs comes in and sees taxless invoices in your computer,, theyll charge you the tax of that invoice amount plus fees and penalties.

mike

[jrservices]

Here in NY, you must charge sales tax on services. My invoices all show the cost plus sales tax, that is what you bill them. State sends me a form every 3 months, fill it out, and mail back to them with total sales tax $$$$ for that 3 months. In our county, tax just went up 1/4 % to 7 1/4 %. It just gets passed on to the customer. But this is interesting. My accountant told me also, since I also do work in another state( Vermont) on occasion, Any work that we do there we cannot tax. However, I will still have to pay NY sales tax on it, so we have to charge accordingly to cover our azz. My .02

[Ground Works]

cross borders ??

I am on the wv ohio border now when I do jobs in WV do I have to charge tax??? or do I just make sure when I do invioces it shows that they were Wv job??


Lin

[steve-o]

va. tax

anybody know anything about va. b/4 i call the rulers of the state . thanks.......

[mike bricker]

Every state has different laws regarding sales tax. Here is the current status in Arkansas:

RESIDENTIAL LAWN, LANDSCAPING MAINTENANCE: not taxable. Residential lawn care was taxable at one time, but that tax was removed about 5 years ago.

RESIDENTIAL LAWN, LANDSCAPING INSTALLATION: Landscaping business must collect sales tax on total of install, both labor and materials.

COMMERCIAL LAWN AND LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE AND INSTALL: All work done for any business or commercial enterprise, state agency, or income producing property must have the sales tax added to the invoice. This includes work done for realtors on residential property whether listed for sale or managed as rental property, all rental property for that matter. There are plenty of small time LCOs who are ignoring this requirement, but will pay big-time if the state ever audits them.

Every LCO in Arkansas should apply for a state sales tax permit. Ask your local Revenue Office for the application form. Even if you do absolutely no commercial work, many suppliers will not give you a break off of retail prices if you don't have sales tax number.

The sales tax in Arkansas is complicated because every county and most cities/towns have the right to add their own sales tax to the state rate. Most are doing this. If you work in my area where the towns have all grown together, for one work day you may have to calculate 8 different tax rates on invoices. When you file your Sales Tax Report you will have to have a separate line on the report for each locality you worked in during the reporting period. Major pain in the rear, but you get used to it. You learn to keep separate sales records for the different localities you work in.