Charging sales tax to customers who live out of my state?

Question

Hi,

I own a small store. Many of my customers come in and look at items for sale. They ask me to ship it to them out of my state to their real address. They pay for the item from there home out of state with their credit card or mail me a check.They really live there and I'm actually REALLY shipping the item to them. Am I required to charge them my states sales tax? My understanding is they are responsible to pay their state tax.

Answer 1

If you have "nexus" in the customer's state, then you have to collect their sales tax.  As a small store, the only probable source of nexus would be that if you  _direct_ advertising to an (adjacent) state, you'd have nexus.  National advertising or focused advertising not specifically directed to an area in another state doesn't count.

Otherwise, you're correct.  You have no obligation to collect your (state's) or their (state's) sales tax.

Answer 2

Your understanding is correct.

Answer 3

If the state you are sending the item to has a branch of the same store, you must charge sales tax, otherwise no.

Answer 4

Delaware, for example, is a tax free state. You can send the items to anywhere in the country, and are not required to charge sales tax.

This was verified by a furniture store that shipped to out of state locations.  The tax office gave a ruling that no tax was to be collected by seller.