I would argue that you could get better advice from a professional organization than from a Tax Commission/Board/etc.

At least here in California, the State Board of Equalization is famous for reserving the right to give misleading advice.

If they tell you that certain services are taxable, even giving it to you in writing, it is not binding on them.

This means that if you use this fact in your business, you have no recourse.

They are also making a statement about what services are taxable right on the sales tax return form to the effect of "all labor except repair is taxable" which is absolutely not true.

In practice, you have to either dig out the right law text yourself, ask a pro organization in your field, or in some cases get lucky with an online search on the tax agency's web site.

And the latter is not my favorite way of getting lucky.

:O)

<Should I be charging sales tax on video shooting and editing?>

I wouldn't think there is any state where you wouldn't need to charge (and pay) sales tax. As for New Mexico, the procedure would be to go to your local city hall and purchase ($35 annually) a business license and they can give you all the info regarding the percentage to charge for that particular city (which also includes county and state). Then you pay those taxes quarterly or semi-annually.
Randy

Randy,

In some states, I think Georgia is one, services are not taxed. Only materials, such as DVD, videotape, etc.

Dave T2

Here is an example of a letter on the the subject of sales tax on video production from the CA BOE (Board of Equalization - deals with state taxes): http://www.bealecorner.com/D30/misc/CA-BOE-Response-Oct2005.pdf

In the second to last paragraph on page two you'll note that the letter expresses an opinion which may only be relied upon by the addressee.

I always thought that the Constitutional prohibition on bills of attainder meant that laws are supposed to apply equally to all citizens. Maybe I was wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_attainder

The problem is that even their written opinion shouldn't be relied upon, even by the addressee.

I could be wrong, but I think the IRS does it better. Your letter opinion from them should hold up in Tax Court.

One simpler test in California and probably most other states is that if there is a physical delivery involved, everything is taxed (oversimplificiation, but that's the BASIC concept).

This means if you can deliver everything via e-mail/FTP/ElephantDrive.com, etc. you'll likely not need to charge sales tax in many jurisdictions.

But if you send as much as a booklet or DVD cover or whatever pertaining to this, you're swimming in deep waters.

Since you don't live in California, and therefore don't necessarily face the same problems Coursedesign outlines, I'd take skibumm's advice and check with the State taxing authority.

Here in Washington, for example, the tax people are extremely helpful, quick to point you to appropriate sections of the tax code, and even provide their names and phone numbers should you need to contact them again.

And here in Washington, how things get taxed is not obvious. For example, there is no sales tax on shooting a wedding and providing the bride with a copy of the edited project. Additional copies of the tape/DVD are subject to State Sales Tax of 8.8%, however. The shoot itself is subject to Business and Occupation tax, an entriely different rate than the sales tax.

If I were facing an audit , I'd want to be able to say "This is what I was told to do by the State Tax people." Even if they had given me the wrong information, at least I tried.

Good luck,

Jack

Hmmm, maybe I need to do some more research; it would sure be nice to not have to be a "Big Louie" for the government!
Randy