Don’t Be Fooled by April 1 Sales Tax Updates

Despite all the jokes, April Fools’ Day marks a new quarter, and with that comes sales tax rate and law changes that may affect your business. These changes might be something as simple as a 0.1% change in a county level sales tax to a .125% rate change that only affects sales of food for home consumption in a county.

The tax calculation functionality that is now built into QuickBooks® Sales Tax has the depth and breadth to take all of the changes and seamlessly and effortlessly calculate the right tax, at the right rate, for every transaction. Users can also file their returns through QuickBooks Online (QBO).

This functionality eliminates the need for other sales tax return and calculation providers, streamlining the process and saving money. Additionally, Intuit® is a Certified Service Provider under Streamlined Sales Tax, and has its rates certified in several other states, which gives QBO customers even more assurance of high-quality and accurate results across all state and local jurisdictions in the United States.

* The rate changes for Alaska locals have separate links: Sitka ; Seldovia ; Skagway ;  Whittier

** The rate change files for all SST states can be found here .

*** The rate changes for Louisiana locals have separate links: St. Landry Parish ; Ouachita Parish ; Iberia Parish ; Lincoln Parish

Boundary Changes

Boundary changes will take place, effective April 1, 2019, within locals in the following states:

** The boundary change files for all SST states can be found here.

Rule Changes

Missouri – effective April 1, 2019 the sales tax rate for unprepared food for home consumption in the County of St. Louis, Missouri has increased from 3.00% to 3.125%.

Texas’ First Sales Tax Holiday of 2019

Texas will hold its first of three sales tax holidays this year in April. Texas’Emergency Preparation Supplies Sales Tax Holiday begins Saturday, April 27 and runs through Monday, April 29, 2019. During the holiday certain supplies used to prepare for severe weather may be purchased tax free.

Don’t Forget About Wayfair

Effective April 1, 2019, the following state’s Wayfair laws are live and ready for business:

• California has enacted new collection requirements for out-of-state retailers. Vendors with more than $100,000 in annual sales of tangible personal property and services or 200 transactions into California are required to collect and remit use tax beginning April 1, 2019. The new use tax collection requirement is not retroactive. The collection and reporting threshold is $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions.

North Dakota also changed its Wayfair requirements:

• North Dakota initially passed a remote seller law that mirrored the litigated South Dakota law. Once Quill v. North Dakota was overturned, the North Dakota law required remote sellers to collect North Dakota sales and use tax on their sales into the state unless those sellers failed to meet the $100,000 in annual sales or 200 transaction threshold. ND S.B. 2191 was signed into law on March 14th 2019. This new law eliminates the 200 transaction element from the threshold. The new threshold law went into effect for tax years starting after Dec. 31, 2018.

If you use QuickBooks Sales Tax , the system has automatically been updated to account for all these changes. If you are not using QuickBooks, you will have to track and maintain these 100+ local rate changes manually, which could leave room for error.