Do Services Have to be Taxed? A Comprehensive Guide

States such as Hawaii, South Dakota, New Mexico and West Virginia impose taxes on services by default, with exceptions only for services specifically exempted by law. In the rest of the 41 states and the District of Columbia, services are not taxed by default, but services specified by the state may be taxable. No two states tax the exact same specific services, but the general types of services that are taxed can be roughly divided into six categories. Service providers must have a much different perspective when it comes to sales tax in most states than retailers. Companies that provide services that are strictly tax-exempt do not need to collect or remit sales tax on their services.

You can receive income in the form of money, property, or services. This section looks at many types of income that are taxable or not taxable. It includes discussions about employee salaries and additional benefits, and income from bartering, partnerships, S corporations and royalties. The information on this page should not be interpreted as exhaustive. Other steps may be appropriate for your specific type of business.

Service charges are generally exempt from retail sales and use tax. However, services provided in connection with the sale of tangible movable property are subject to taxation. Transactions that involve both the sale of tangible movable property and the provision of services are generally taxable or exempt from the total amount charged, regardless of whether the charges for the service and the components of the property are indicated separately. As explained in subsection D of this section, the true object test is used to determine the taxability of these transactions. Determining the appropriate tax treatment of service and sales transactions; information services. To determine whether a particular transaction, which involves both the provision of a service and the provision of movable tangible property, constitutes an exempt service or a taxable retail sale, the true purpose of the transaction must be examined. If the purpose of the transaction is to guarantee a service and the tangible personal assets that are transferred to the customer are not critical to the transaction, then the transaction may constitute an exempt service.

However, if the purpose of the transaction is to insure the property it produces, then the entire charge, including the charge for any service provided, is taxable. If an artist is commissioned to paint a portrait, the entire transaction is considered a taxable sale, even though a significant amount of the charge represents the artist's work, since the goal is to obtain the finished product. Example of an exempt service transaction: Training program fees, which include charges for required workbooks and tapes, are exempt from tax as service charges since the goal is to obtain training services. However, charges indicated separately by workbooks and tapes are subject to tax. Additional copies of reports, letters D.

Data communication services, including equipment The purpose of exempt transactions is to obtain a service from the seller. However, if you charge a fee for copies of a faxed document, those charges are taxable. For example, if you are a Utah accounting firm that provides services to an Ohio client, you would claim tax for those services from Ohio since that is where the customer receives benefit from those services. Similarly, an accountant or accountant does not provide taxable data processing services when they apply knowledge of accounting principles to produce financial reports such as income statements, balance sheets or profit or loss statements or prepare federal income tax returns state franchises or sales taxes even if such work is done on a computer. Cable television service is distribution of video programming with or without use of cables to customers who subscribe or pay. However if a service is sold together with a tangible product but product is secondary or incidental then service may not be taxable at all.

Taxation of services provided to real property often depends on whether property is residential or commercial and whether project is newly built or remodeled. Rule 3.366 Internet Access Services Rule 3.334 Telecommunication Services and Rule 3.313 are being amended to reflect this change in taxability of Internet access services. It states that tax services follow “profit received” rule or “services provided” rule to determine supply of sales tax that is place where sale is taxed. Pest control and extermination collection or disposal of garbage and other debris cleaning and custody services (including sweeping or cleaning parking lots) garden and lawn maintenance (including tree surgery and plant leasing) and surveying are taxable real estate services See Section 151.025 (d) Texas Tax Code and Rule 3.313 (b) Cable TV Service and Combined Cable Service. The states (New Hampshire Oregon Montana Alaska and Delaware) do not impose any general state sales tax whether on goods or services. For example both Florida and Iowa are marked as “taxable” as “business services”...