Taxes or Registration of Online Business in PA?

Question

I live in Pennsylvania and want to start a business online I have already sold on eBay and other sites that are like it but now I wanted to open my own site and sell through it. What I will be selling is Party Packs like everything you need for a party in a box. I will be buying some things wholesale and other things I will be making.

My questions are if I need to charge tax and if so how to go about doing that? Do I need some kind of Business licensee? I tried looking this stuff up but I go so many different answers like that you don’t need to do anything unless you make over $10,000 a year or that you don’t need to pay sales tax at all since the business is completely online. So now I am so confused on what I am suppose to do.

This will be just a small business that I will do on the side and sell to people in the USA and Canada.

If someone could please give me some answers a to my question it would be great.

Answer 1

1. You must charge PA sales tax to residents of Pennsylvania and anyone who purchases (picks up) goods you sell inside the boundaries of the state.

If you are mailing goods to an address outside of the state you do not have to charge PA sales tax.  (In theory the recipient of the goods is supposed to pay a use tax to the state they live in -- but that is not your concern.)

You must contact the office of the secretary of state in Harrisburg and obtain a license which will entitle you to collect sales tax on behalf of the state and to conduct a business in the state.

Depending on the laws in the township you will be doing business in you may be required to obtain some kind of license.  (Just ask at the township building.)

You do not have to pay sales tax on purchases YOU make in Pennsylvania providing that the goods being purchases are either being used as component parts of what you sell or are being resold by you.  (You may be required to show or send in a copy of your license to prove you are legitimate.)

You do not have to pay sales tax on goods you purchase out of state and have shipped or mailed to you in Pennsylvania.

If you personally pick up goods in another state you probably will have to pay their local sales tax.