Sales Tax 101: I’m in a Drop Shipping Relationship Now What?

Drop shipping is a great way for e-commerce businesses that have limited or untested inventory to expand their customer offerings. However, drop shipping can have an adverse affect on sales and use Drop shipping sales tax taxes and thus, negatively impact the return on investment. But, if you sell a product to someone in New York, you aren’t required to pay sales tax because you don’t have a nexus in New York.

But before we get into all that, let’s start with some of the basics when it comes to drop shipping. But we’ll lay out the general scenarios you encounter, when purchasing from a dropshipper and when selling to a customer. Dropshipping is an e-commerce technique that allows online entrepreneurs to sell products from their business, without ever owning or storing the product themselves. The Tax Academy offers a range of free courses provided by LOVAT to help you learn and simplify your taxes, and it also includes an entire section on VAT. It also offers Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Registration, for any businesses selling in Europe. This is becoming an important factor to include as more countries in the EU require reporting on packaging recycling.

Taxes & rates

XYZ is the first retailer (drop shipper) and owes the sales tax even though 123 (second drop shipper) is engaged in business in California. XYZ is the first California retailer engaged in the series of drop shipment transactions beginning with the purchase by the true retailer (ABC). A California consumer orders and pays for a doghouse from ABC Supplies (ABC), an out-of-state retailer who is not registered to collect and pay California sales or use tax. ABC buys the doghouse from XYZ, a California retailer, and directs XYZ to deliver the doghouse to the California consumer.

The good news is that most states have a simple online platform for sales tax, so it’s as easy as logging in and paying according to the state’s schedule. States look at whether dropshippers have a nexus in their jurisdiction to determine if you need to pay taxes in that state. For example, maybe you live in Arizona, but if you make most of your sales to customers in California, it means California will probably want to tax you. Sales tax requirements will become more complicated but reliable accounting and e-commerce software can ensure proper compliance within every state. For more information on sales tax and maintaining your compliance, read our complete guide to sales tax. There are several ways to establish sales tax nexus with a state, but the two most common are through physical presence (physical nexus) or economic activity (economic nexus).

What is a drop shipment?

Some states only accept in-state issued certificates, while others accept multi-state certificates. In this post, we’ll explain the general rules around sales tax for dropshippers, plus how to comply with tax rules in major world markets. All things considered, we sincerely hope we managed to clarify the confusion around this topic. By learning how to pay taxes on dropshipping, you’ll ensure you stay on the safe side of the law and comply with all tax obligations. Beware of your tax obligations especially if you’re dropshipping from multiple suppliers since things can get more complicated in that case.

Regardless of whether you’re an EU or a non-EU resident, you’ll have to charge VAT if your customer (shipping address) is in the EU. So, if you found yourself in one (or more) of those four cases, you probably have a nexus and have to collect sales taxes in those states. Sales taxes are imposed by states where the product or service is sold.

If you are a legal entity (LLC or Corporation, for example), California now requires you to pay an annual franchise tax fee of $800 plus filing a state income tax return. These costs add up but, again, are likely less than the sales tax you would pay out of your own pocket, especially considering California will likely represent 13+% or more of your overall total sales. California will charge sales tax on your selling price PLUS a 10% assumed markup if they don’t know your retail selling price. Of the two questions, the issue of nexus is vital to determining the responsibility each party has for sales tax in the destination state. As noted above, the first transaction involves the sale of the property from your vendor to your company. Finally, let’s say all three parties are located in different states.

• Start to research trending products to sell and add them to our online stores.
• As a professional Chinese dropshipping supplier, we offer you a one-stop dropshipping solution.
• Or, if you need help determining where you have sales tax nexus, you might benefit from our Sales Tax Starter Kit service.
• If you failed to pay the VAT payment all together, you would be fined 1% of the VAT due per month of delay.

In response, they have begun requiring retailers to either pay sales tax or present valid resale certificates or other documentation. Unfortunately, the type of documentation required varies by state and is sometimes difficult and costly to acquire. In most states, sales taxes are only levied on retail sales, not wholesale transactions.

That’s a sticky situation because without a nexus, the retailer cannot charge that tax back to the customer unless they are registered to collect sales tax in that state even if they don’t have a nexus there. Of course, having the True Retailer register in the states allows for the collection of sales tax from the consumer and takes any tax collection responsibilities away from the Drop Shippers. The problem is properly pushing the tax liability to the consumer. Absent a resale certificate or other specific exemption, all 45 states with a sales tax and the District of Columbia will tax drop shipments of retail sales of tangible personal property. The key question for the manufacturer or wholesaler is which resale certificate, if any, is acceptable.

Some legal steps to get your dropshipping business up and running in the US

As a dropshipper, you could qualify for a tax exemption certificate. Because you resell products, you can apply for an exemption from the Multistate Tax Commission. Keep in mind that this exemption only applies to 36 U.S. states, so this won’t exempt you from sales tax everywhere, but it can certainly lighten the load.

However, Debbie Drop Shipper may have sales tax nexus in the state where Bobby is located. Since Debbie is drop shipping the product to Bobby at her ship-to address, Debbie would be required to charge sales tax from the buyer, Ron Retailer, if Bobby is located in a state where Debbie has nexus. If outside of the US, you may only need to pay taxes to the federal government.

What is Drop Shipping?

You in Virginia, the vendor in Oklahoma, and the customer in Texas. To start collecting sales tax, you need to get a sales tax permit from the state. Every state is different, but you can Google, “[State name] sales tax certificate” to find the process to apply for a permit. That’s because all retailers — dropshippers included — have to pay sales tax in a state if they have what’s called a “nexus” in that state.

Regardless of the jurisdiction, both retailers and suppliers must be aware of where taxes should be remitted. That’s why in this post, I’ll be covering what your tax obligations are when using Chinese based Aliexpress dropshippers. We’ll also take a look at what the new supreme court ruling means for you, plus an easy way to get Shopify to automatically collect tax for you. The second transaction will determine the resale certificate that is required (between seller and vendor). While Spark Shipping can’t help you with your taxes, we can automate several areas of your dropshipping operation to give you even less to worry about.

Services

Every business inside of the EU, including dropshipping, must charge VAT on every EU sale. If you’re dropshipping imported goods under €150, VAT is required. Any income under €10,000 must be charged tax at their home country’s rate. For amounts over €10,000 in the EU, tax is charged at the destination country’s rate. And similarly to the US sales tax, VAT is the tax you collect from customers in EU countries.

Suppliers have the largest potential for liability in various respects because they are the middlemen in these transactions. When the retailer is purchasing a product from the supplier and shipping it somewhere else, that could create liabilities in the state of the retailer, supplier or customer. More than likely, however, it will create a liability in the state of the supplier or the customer. If your company drop ships merchandise, it would be a wise decision to call me. Unless you keep on top of all of the various state sales tax regulations, you could find yourself in arrears to multiple states. It is very complicated to keep abreast of all of the ongoing changes in the states’ regulations and that is where Brotman Law can help.

In the following section, you’ll learn which software can help you best manage your dropshipping taxes. When starting your dropshipping business, you’ll need to register for an Australian Business Number (ABN). Seek professional advice if you’re looking to register as a company, so you make the best decision for your business. Once you’ve done this step, you’ll be ready to set up your tax structure. It’s where the retailer purchases inventory and stores it in a warehouse (or spare bedroom or garage).

Does Shopify Automatically Collect Sales Tax?

Mistakes on the part of the Drop Shippers’ employees or auditors could lead to unnecessary tax assessments. So, when the PoS is the customer’s “ship to” address, the supplier will have to charge a sales tax from you as the dropshipper. Another scenario where you have nexus in a state and have to collect sales tax is if you’ve made over $100,000 or 200+ transactions in that state. The fact that you’re dropshipping in multiple states doesn’t mean that you have nexus in all of them. In most cases, dropshippers have nexus only in the state they have a physical presence (business, warehouse, employees).

Chair Maker must document the exempt nature of the sale by keeping shipping records that demonstrate the goods were delivered to Furniture Four’s customer outside of Washington. Chair Maker would report the sale under the wholesaling B&O tax classification and take an interstate and foreign sales deduction for the amount of the sale. If Chair Maker has nexus with Washington, Chair Maker owes wholesaling business and occupation (B&O) tax on the drop shipment delivered to the customer in Washington. A drop shipment occurs when a customer orders an item from a seller who does not have the item in stock. The seller then orders the item from another business and has that business deliver the item directly to the customer. Our intent with this blog post is to untangle this mess and help give you clarity on where you should register for sales tax permits.

But if your business is in the US, you are usually required to pay state and federal taxes on the profits made in your dropshipping business. If you want more info, read how to pay taxes as an online seller. Once you’ve determined your locations, you need to register for sales in each state and know the tax nexus threshold in those states. The amount of sales you do in that state will also determine whether or not you need to pay dropshipping taxes there.

• Many states will accept an out-of-state resale certificate, multijurisdictional form or alternate documentation in a drop-shipping situation.
• Shopify automatically collects the right amount of sales tax on an order.
• So, when the PoS is the customer’s “ship to” address, the supplier will have to charge a sales tax from you as the dropshipper.

If your customer is in the same state as your supplier, you may need to collect sales tax from your customer. This depends on the state, however, so it’s critical to know the location of your suppliers and customers, so you can properly charge sales tax at the time of sale. Usually, you do not need to pay sales tax on the orders you make from your suppliers. That’s because there’s a sales tax exemption for purchases intended for resale.