We have people rent time on computers (cybercafe) and the rest is services bureau kinds of stuff where they pay for services (prints, fax, cd burns, etc.). I use the rule of whether or not we are giving someone a hard good that they can take away with them, or not. So prints would be taxable, as would CD-Rs that I burned, but not faxes or other things occurring in cyberspace (unless of course, we are talking about e-commerce, which is taxable in CA). And yes, the notion of having some solid service providers as part of your cowork residents is a solid idea, to kind of fill out the normal group of people you'd need to run a traditional business (books, tax, marketeers, web gurus, copywriters, etc.).
I'll see if I can get my tax guy to give me a yes no on a long list of co-work related things that people would be paying for (rentals, memberships, drop ins, donations, etc.) when I meet with him in March. Please folks, send me a list of things and I'll ask the questions when I go since I am already paying for the advice. Whomever mentioned setting up the CoWork site or wiki thing, please go ahead and do it, and we should put up a legal section, a tax section, and a business plan section. Email lists are idea for this kind of chat, but not great for collecting information in an organized fashion. On Sat, Feb 7, 2009 at 8:40 AM, Chris Kerins <[email protected]> wrote: > > David, are you referring to paying sales tax in CA for coworking > memberships or some other product? As an illustrator, my understanding > of CA sales tax is items are taxable when something tangible is > exchanged. Not sure about WA. Plus I know that illustration is in a > gray area already. BUT I am NO expert in taxes. > > How are some of you veterans handling this? What did you find out? > > I wonder how health clubs treat sales tax. that may be the closest > analog. > > Another line of thought: perhaps an accountant needs office space at > your location and will trade service for service? They would have > exposure to the rest of the members who might need their service too. > > Chris > > On Feb 6, 10:48 pm, "David J. Kordsmeier" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Molly, > > > > Can you produce the line of WA tax code that refers to what items qualify > > for sales (use) tax? Would help for some of us none WA residents to look > at > > what the situation is. In CA, I pay the FTB (state Franchise Tax Board) > > quarterly. It's up to the business to either charge sales tax on taxable > > items explicitly, or build tax into the price for goods/services. To > figure > > this out, you work up a spread sheet of your different revenue sources on > a > > quarterly basis, and then figure out which items are exempt from sales > tax, > > and take the remainder and apply sales tax to those items. You have > > actually to then (in CA), look at where your revenue occurred (City and > > County), and pay an additional levy on these taxable items (usually some > > small %, like in SF, it's less than one point). Interstate sales are > > treated differently, but you probably won't deal with that in your > > business. I find it surprising that rental services (which is how I > would > > classify the co-work) qualifies for sales tax, but maybe. As well, you > may > > want to bite the bullet and find a good tax person who does business tax > > prep (not H & R block) in your state who will be able to guide you > through > > the process. It will be the best money you ever spend on your business. > > > > And not to worry, if you mess it up this year, the state will eventually > > help you correct the problem ;) > > > > - > > David > > > > On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 7:22 PM, Heidi and Molly < > > > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Hello all. > > > > > In preparing our 2008 taxes, we've learned that although sales tax > > > isn't required for anyone renting full-time office space, anyone who > > > is renting part-time office space or using our office on a drop-in > > > basis,, and anyone using our conference room, is required to pay sales > > > tax (at least in WA they are). We haven't been doing that, so we're > > > about to embark on the process of paying back taxes, and then figuring > > > out if/how we need to change our rates to handle these added taxes. > > > > > I'm curious if anyone out there knows anything about this, or has any > > > advice or information they can share. > > > > > Thanks, > > > -Molly > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
