Last Word on Sales Tax

Now what?  How do you know what to do to stay within your legal requirements as a retailer? As a retailer you will be filing Form ST-1, Sales and Use Tax Return for each reporting period.  It must be filed on or before the 20^th day of the month following the end of the reporting period.  These dates will be printed on the Form ST-1 that you receive.  For most taxpayers this will be monthly. 

If you pay on time you will be allowed to take a discount on the total owed.  For late payments you will lose the discount and you will have to pay a penalty plus interest.  Like most things these days, you can pay the tax owed electronically through the EFT program.  In addition, instead of filing the return by mail you might be able to file electronically or by TeleFile.

There might be a time when you will make a tax exempt sale and these will need to be supported with certain records.  These include the purchaser’s name and address, the type of transaction (for example, to an exempt organization or for resale), the date, and the amount.

Finally, keeping complete and accurate records will make filing easy.  Sales tax is not really as complicated as it might seem at first glance.