It is very important to pay your taxes and file tax returns on time. Still, many people find the US tax system to be a very daunting and stressful thing– it goes true for the experienced tax filers too. But, there is an option; a person can follow a few steps that will make sales tax filing a smoother and simpler process. One of the best advice will be to get a bit organized and begin this process at the earliest and not wait for the last moment. In today’s post, we will look at the top 6 tips that will prepare you for the tax filing deadlines and how to file it easily without any stress.
- Sales tax filling on almost all networks
Many times businesses are tripped up while selling goods or services on one or more channels, for example, sales tax in the brick-and-mortar shop, Amazon marketplace, and even social media. Suppose you have got business tax nexus, you must collect the sales tax from your customers residing in that particular state, on the sales channels. Also to know that sales tax nexus isn’t channel-specific.
- Check out consumer use tax
Another common area is the consumer use tax where unpaid and miscalculated tax will be found in the audits. To know more about use tax, it can be defined as the tax on the use of tangible personal property that is otherwise not related to sales tax. In other words, the purchaser has to pay use tax on the taxable products that are bought in which they have not paid any sales tax or they have paid less tax than applicable. It is not like sales tax; remittance responsibility is on a buyer. In a few cases, the purchaser can be the business, like distributor or manufacturer producing goods outside their state or on the internet.
- Make sure you file your sales tax return
You will have to file the sales tax return when you did not collect sales tax over its taxable period. The reason is sometimes states are sticklers in “checking in” over the registered sellers, though your business was not very active during that financial year. But, failing to file zero return will result in a $50 penalty of having the sales tax license to be revoked. So, it is always better to file sales tax on time.
- Do not forget to send tax invoices after every sale.
The tax invoice will be the legal document that talks about your business’ information, tax IDs, customer information, tax rate, and much more. So, sending your invoices is important, as buyers will not pay you till they get the legally-compliant invoice! Make sure you stay on the safer side either by hiring one person who handles this thing or any invoice apps which automatically does it for you, and always follow the guidelines for the right tax invoice. You can send the right tax invoices after every sale.
- Check out sales tax complexity
Many businesses assume wrongly that they have got sales or use tax handled as the sales tax procedure has worked right in the past—thus have incurred fines and penalties. But, when your business grows the sales tax obligations get tough to manage it efficiently.
- Talk with the skilled tax professionals
Businesses who are trying to collect, file, or report sales rightly or use taxes face an uphill battle. For many companies, outsourcing and automating such a process to the professionals is the matter of course. This logic even applies to highly complicated sales tax management.
Conclusion
There are some things that you may do to ensure that the money hits your account fast:
Never file a tax return on a paper. Generally, the IRS takes around 8 weeks to process the paper returns. Whenever you file online taxes your return must get processed in 3 weeks. The state tax authorities accept electronic returns that mean you can get the state tax refund much faster.
Get the refund sent via direct deposit. If you file the tax return, you will have your IRS deposit the refund straight in your account rather than sending the paper check. This cuts downtime for the mail.
Finally, you must track down your IRS refund status and state refund on the internet.
