US Sales Tax for eCommerce businesses
Sales tax is essentially a small percentage of a sale that is added to the sale by a retailer. Most sales taxes vary from state to state and may even differentiate further as most states allow local areas such as cities and counties to have their own sales tax. Sales tax is typically determined at a state level which makes it tricky, especially when you are managing an online retailer that is selling to customers from different states.
On June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of the state in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. This ruling allows the state to begin taxing remote sales via their economic nexus laws and as these changes, we anticipate regulatory tightening towards the end of the 2020 year for Gooten.
Additional sales tax resources:
- Dropshipping infographic
- Sales Tax Implications of Drop Shipping
- Sales tax nexus resources
- A State-by-state guide to economic nexus laws
Need additional help with getting tax-exempt?
For any questions regarding exemption certification submission or If you’d prefer our assistance with this process, please send a copy of your certificate(s) to GootenEC@sattarinc.com and we will review and upload the certificate(s) for you and confirm the exemptions.
If you have additional questions about the resale certificates or need other guidance related to sales & use tax issues, please use the email provided above and we’ll be happy to help.
Who is Avalara?
Avalara is a team of tax experts that provides a sales tax calculation and compliance platform that assists in business tax compliance. Avalara provides CertCapture which is a management tool that creates, validates, stores, and manages sales tax exemption and reseller certificates.
Why are we partnering with Avalara?
Currently, Gooten does not charge a sales tax to any of our merchant partners but with these tightening regulations, Gooten will begin to charge a sales tax to all merchant partners for each order in jurisdictions where they have crossed applicable sales tax thresholds. Gooten merchants that are registered or become registered as a reseller (with a valid reseller certificate) will not be charged a sales tax.
We’d like to make it clear that we are not tax experts, so we are partnering with Avalara to collect reseller certification information so that we will not have to charge you sales tax. Avalara’s solutions provide us the ability to automate sales tax compliance.
How can I get help with getting a reseller certificate?
Gooten support agents cannot provide tax advice.
Our Gooten support team provides assistance with any Gooten related issues, and since we're not tax experts, we do not provide advice specific to your business in terms of sales tax.
- We highly recommend consulting with a CPA, Tax Attorney, or the relevant State Department of Revenue (Taxation, Comptroller, Equalization, etc.) for sales tax advice and how to get a reseller certificate in your state/nexus thresholds or an equivalent of a reseller certificate if you're a foreign business operating with US customers.
What should you expect as a partner?
All merchant partners (the US and non-US) who sell products within the US are subject to sales tax and will be charged a sales tax on orders unless you get certified as a reseller.
All partners can manage their reseller certificates in the CertCapture platform.
- Use the Setting up Sales Tax Exemption article to get to the CertCapture platform directly from the Gooten Admin.
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Once you are on the CertCapture platform, you will simply need to provide your reseller certification information in CertCapture.
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Gooten is essentially collecting your registration information so that we can certify you are a reseller, collecting and remitting sales tax when you charge your customers.
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Once you’ve provided your reseller certification information into CertCapture, Gooten will essentially pull the data from CertCapture to validate that you are a reseller and you will not be charged sales tax for any orders shipped to jurisdictions in which you are certified as a reseller.