This is an interesting, and potentially scary, topic. I come from a graphic/web design background (living in California), where as a sole proprietor I never collected sales tax. I didn't know anyone who did. Then I ran my own photography & design company and learned all about the joys of sales tax :( Like sales tax on development services, there are so many different rules.
While it's certainly an over simplification, the easiest and safest thing IMHO seems to be, when in doubt, collect the sales tax. I learned this from dozens of respected business owners. One story that sticks in my mind is of a photographer in California who had to pay almost $50,000 of back sales tax. At that point, since it was from years back, he really couldn’t go back to the clients. So I feel like you’re safest collecting it up front. You’re not charging sales tax; you’re just collecting it. I make sure to stress that to clients. Of course, this is from the perspective of a sole proprietor or very, very small company. And i was not living in Texas. Each state differs. If you run a larger operation and/or have huge billings, it might make sense to pay an accountant to analyze all this for you. For me, it was just too time consuming and expensive to try to sort it all out. Plus, I found clients were more confused when you tried to explain collecting tax on just a percentage of the bill rather than the overall invoice. I need a new accountant too, and would love some recommendations. Happy New Year! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SHARI BARE UI / UX / Visual Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415.260.2614 / phone [email protected] creativehotlist.com/s-bare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 1:59 PM, Daniel Short <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks everyone for your input. Hopefully I can get it all figured out. > > Okay :), after all of this mess, who's got a good local CPA who's up > to speed on this whole interwebs thing who can straighten me out on > all of this junk. > > Dan > > On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 11:57 AM, Ryan Joy <[email protected]> wrote: > > Sales tax is ridiculously complex sometimes. For example, HTML > > programming is considered a Data Processing Service and is subject to > > tax. Contract programming is not taxable (i.e. you create a program > > and give exclusive rights to the client). But programming that is > > embedded in an HTML page (PHP, ASP, etc) is subject to the Data > > Processing Service sales tax. Also, only 80% of the data processing > > service fees are subject to tax. > > -- > Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Refresh Austin" group. > > [ Posting ] > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy > We do not accept job posts from recruiters. > > [ Unsubscribe ] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > > [ More Info ] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin > -- Our Web site: http://www.RefreshAustin.org/ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Refresh Austin" group. [ Posting ] To post to this group, send email to [email protected] Job-related postings should follow http://tr.im/refreshaustinjobspolicy We do not accept job posts from recruiters. [ Unsubscribe ] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] [ More Info ] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Refresh-Austin
