What are sales and use taxes?

Sales taxes are assessed to purchasers of products from commercial sellers. Use taxes are assessed when purchasing goods from a separate jurisdiction that charges less than the applicable use tax rate. 

Each is discussed below.

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What is Sales Tax?

Businesses that sell any sort of good are subject to sales and use tax. Sales tax is the amount that the merchant must charge to customers who purchase goods for use (rather than resale). Sales tax is generally a fixed percentage of the value of the good. Other taxes that accompany sales tax may also apply for specialty occupations, such as merchants selling luxury goods, hotels, and restaurants. The merchant must collect the tax from the customer and not simply pay the taxes from the proceeds of the sale. The taxes withheld must be deposited with the states department of revenue on a regular basis. The taxing state is the location where the good was sold. It does not matter the location where the seller is located.

• Example: I buy widgets from a wholesaler and then resale those goods to the public. Each time a customer purchase a widget for $10, I also charge the customer 6% sales tax. This means that the final amount is $10.60. At the end of month, I transmit all sales taxes collected to the state department of revenue in which I collected the taxes. This requires that I keep track of my location when I sold the goods and the location of the customer.
• Note: Note: The sales tax rules become tricky when a retailer sells over the internet in a state where she does not have a physical business or significant presence. Generally, if the customer is located outside of the state where the retailer is located or has business operations, and the retailer ships the item to the customer, the retailer does not have to collect and deposit sales taxes in the state where it does business. They question becomes, does the company have to collect sales taxes in the state where the customer is located. Prior to June 2018, the rule was that a company must have a physical presence in a state to be subject to state sales tax collection rules. So, online retailers did not have to collect tax in the state where the item was sold. This was a big advantage for online retailers over in-state retailers. In South Dakota vs Wayfair, Inc (2018), the Supreme Court determined that states can tax internet sales in a state if the company has an economic interest in the state. With this ruling, most online retailers selling in a state (regardless of physical presence) would be subject to sales tax collection.

What is Use Tax?

Use tax is a separate tax that is similar to sales tax and applies to the purchase of goods by individuals or businesses. Use tax is assessed when goods are purchased for use or consumption and sales tax is not paid on the item. This scenario may arise when a merchant purchases goods for resale, which is done free of sales tax, and then converts the item to personal use. Another common use-tax scenario is when an individual or business purchases a good in a state other than the state in which the goods will be primarily used, consumed, or located. If the sales tax assessed in the state of purchase is lower than the sales tax in the state where the goods will be used, consumed, or stored, the purchaser must pay the tax rate difference to the state where the good is used, consumed, or located.

• Example: Tommy decides to purchase a new truck. He lives in Wyoming, but travels to Montana to purchase the truck. Montana has no sales tax; while Wyoming assesses a 4% sales tax. If he pays $30,000 for the new truck, he will owe use taxes of $1,200 to Wyoming, as that is the state where he will use the truck.