By now you’ve probably heard about the South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, especially if you’re a retail merchant, small business owner, or a tax professional. But, what does that mean for Indiana?
First, let’s start by talking about what a remote seller is. A remote seller is a seller without a physical location in Indiana that sells to Indiana residents. All remote sellers must have a Registered Retail Merchant’s Certificate, obtained from the Department of Revenue, and should have begun collecting and remitting Indiana’s seven percent sales tax starting on Monday, October 1, 2018, if they meet the following criteria in the previous or current calendar year:
- The seller has gross revenues from sales into Indiana exceeding $100,000; or
- The seller performs 200 or more separate transactions into Indiana.
It’s important to note that the two requirements are measured on a calendar year basis even though the requirements are applied to both the current and the previous calendar year. For example, a remote seller with $50,000 of Indiana sales in all of calendar year 2017 and $50,000 in calendar year 2018 as of October 1, 2018 would not be required to register until they reach $100,000 in calendar year 2018, assuming the transaction count for each year was under 200.
However, a remote seller with more than $100,000 of Indiana sales in 2017, but $0 of Indiana sales in calendar year 2018 as of October 1, 2018 would be required to register, regardless of the number of separate transactions. The same analysis would apply for purposes of the 200 transactions requirement. Two options for registering are the Streamline Sales Tax Registration System or the Indiana’s INBIZ portal.
Contact your Somerset CPA advisor if this collection responsibility applied to your business and you need assistance with registration.
