I have been doing the Golden Fine Arts for over 10 years and always paid my sales tax at the end of the show. It was never a big deal and no city licensing was required. The only problem I ever encountered was one year I was told to go to the wrong place to pay by a volunteer. Now because some artists have skipped town with out paying, paperwork for a temporary license and a $50 deposit needs to be paid up front before the show. And to add insult to injury, the town Tax Auditor refers to participants in this upscale show as 'VENDORS". Thanks to all you schmucks who don't pay the sales tax.
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I have a Colorado state sales tax license and paying the state sales tax after a show is extremely easy to do online. But, they don't collect for so-called "home rule" cities, which includes every city where I'll be doing a show. Paying the city tax immediately after the show is very convenient. I don't care about a deposit, as long as the excess is refunded. (My art isn't expensive.) What I don't like is having to research how to pay for a city I'll rarely sell in. The online forms don't really seem to apply, and they ask for lots of information that I don't have. In one case, I just filled out part of some form and sent in a check. Haven't heard back, so I assume they are happy.
The bottom line is DON'T APPLY AS A CORPORATION when you want to do a show in another state. Just make that decision and stick with it. You don't have to operate as a corporation in other states.
I can't imagine needing corporation protection anywhere, anyway. But nobody's riding my art into any arenas, either.
If I was ever sued, heaven forbid, and lawyers found out I had operated outside the corporate umbrella for whatever reason, my goose would be cooked, sliced and diced. A nut case might even try to claim a "faulty spur strap". Now a days you deal with a lot of inexperienced riders who are on a learning curve. I delivered a headstall to one guy with expensive horses and he proceeded to put the bit in the horses mouth BACKWARDS.
A long time ago a promoter sent every exhibitor an email saying that if they were incorporated and going to sign up for a show out of their home state, sign up as yourself, not your corporation. You are legally an employee selling your corporation's products. The main reason is that more and more states are getting around to demanding corporate taxes since the corporation has a "physical presence" (your booth) in that state. Here in Vermont corporations must pay a minimum $250 income tax whether or not they make any money.
That's why I've been a sole proprietor since I started.
I personally like it when they collect the sales tax at the end of each show. Doing it this way completes the entire process for that show. It is not something I have to deal with when I need to focus all of my time and thoughts on all that I have to do to prepare for the next show.
Some cities such as New Orleans are a pain in the ass. I got an occupational license from New Orleans (couldn't do it online and had to drive 70 miles just to get it) and I only do one or 2 shows there during the year...BUT every single month they send me a form to complete even when I do no shows that month. You would think annually od semi-annually would make more sense (it does make more sense but they don't do it)...
Government? Making sense?
Sales tax, as we all know, is different state by state. We live in Michigan and had our state sales tax on file, mostly I believe you can sale through most Michigan events with no one asking for sales tax. At Ann Arbor though usually the tax collectors show up and they want payment now (unless you have their state sales tax license as we did).
New York State and New Jersey can be onerous. Be careful there.
Illinois pretty straightforward. Ohio - easy and fair. Some states want payment after each show and the best ones only request a yearly filing. Keeping it straight is important and tedious. Does anyone have a system they use?
My system is to pay the sales tax within a week of leaving an event if I wasn't returning to the state for the rest of the tour or year. For Florida I paid semi-annual since they allowed me to be a seasonal vendor with that twice-a-year status. Some states don't require a permit if the vendor will be their only once or twice a year. I like that. It can be a pain to keep up with this stuff. But it's necessary. So keep a calendar and when you sign up for a state, write the DEADLINE TO FILE in your calendar so you'll remind yourself to do it.
There are many artists commenting on seveal blogs about how a show, or shows were so down in terms of sales... and even of some shows where they zeroed out completely. If you have to pay an additional $50 tax deposit and then zero out it would be interresting to see how willing and how quickly a city or state would refund any amounts due from the deposit.
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