Search Category: Sales Tax

Buying Goods for Resale – Grocers

Some of the items you purchase for your business are exempt from sales tax.

Taxable purchases

Examples of items you must pay tax on when you buy them include:

  • Fixtures, such as movable coolers, checkout stands, racks and shelving
  • Office equipment, furniture, automobiles
  • Price labels, stickers, ink, shelf labels (but not product labels that include commodity information)
  • Items that aren’t for resale (e.g., office or warehouse supplies)
  • Advertising inserts (see Persons Engaged In Printing, Sales Tax Rule 054)
  • Goods you take from your resale inventory to use yourself or give away, unless an exemption applies

If you withdraw food or beverages from your resale inventory to donate to individuals or to certain nonprofit organizations, you might not owe use tax. See Idaho Code section 63-3621, see (o) and (p).

However, if you donate any goods to any other organization, you must pay use tax.

Nontaxable purchases

Items you buy for resale, such as grocery items, are exempt from sales tax.

Other examples of resale items include:

  • Items you rent at your store (e.g., DVDs , carpet shampooers)
  • Merchandise containers sold with the product (e.g., grocery bags, soft drink cups, deli containers)

You must provide your supplier with a completed pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate.

Recordkeeping for Grocers

You must keep records of all the purchases and sales your business makes. Your records must show that you properly collected, reported and forwarded taxes to Idaho.

Grocers can ask for relief from keeping detailed invoices of nontaxed sales by completing and mailing us pdf Form ST-110 – Petition for Sales Tax Records Reduction By a Retail Food Store.

We’ll let you know if your request is approved and, if approved, how to use pdf Form ST-111 – Sales Tax Records – Retail Food Stores in documenting your sales.

Records you must keep

  • Normal books of account. (Books of account can include information stored on computers.)
  • Documents that support entries in the books of account.
  • All records of sales (and credit granted for returned items).
  • Purchases.
  • Tax returns.
  • Tax payments.
  • Copies of sales tax resale or exemption certificates (pdf Form ST-101).

What the records must show

  • Gross receipts from sales and services made in Idaho, even sales that you or your customer might consider exempt from tax. If you deliver the product or service somewhere other than your place of business, you must also keep records that prove where delivery took place.
  • The identity of customers claiming an exemption, the type of exemption, and what you sold them exempt.
  • All deductions claimed in filing returns.
  • The total purchase price of anything you bought for sale, rental, lease, or your own use.
  • The amount of sales tax you collected from your customer, or that you paid to a vendor.

You must keep all sales and use tax records for four years. You should keep records for seven years if you don’t file returns.

Laws and Rules for Grocers

Learn more about grocery sales:

Learn more about Idaho tax statutes 

Learn more about our Rules 

Food, Meals, and Drinks

This guide explains Idaho sales and use tax law for furnishing, preparing, or serving food, meals or drinks.

Basics Guide

Basics Guide

Sales Price

Sales Price

Coupons

Coupons

Food and Admissions

Selling them together

Admissions

Exempt Sales

Exempt Sales

Exempt Uses

Exempt Uses

Buying Goods Exempt

Buying Goods

Recordkeeping

Recordkeeping

Laws and Rules

Laws and Rules

Grocers

Grocers are retailers who are primarily involved in selling food for home preparation and consumption.

Basics Guide

Basics Guide

Sales

You must charge
tax on most sales

Sales

Coupons

Customers often use coupons, vouchers or gift cards to pay their bill

Coupons

Buying

Some of the items you purchase for your business are exempt from sales tax

Buying

Recordkeeping

How to keep records for grocers

Recordkeeping

Laws and Rules

Laws and rules
for grocers

Laws and Rules

Lodging: Basics

This section explains the laws for Idaho sales and use taxes, Travel and Convention tax, and auditorium district tax for hotels, motels and other businesses that provide lodging in Idaho. It describes:

  • How to charge your customers tax
  • When to pay tax on goods you buy to operate your business
  • How owners of short-term rentals and vacation rentals comply with these laws

Businesses that provide accommodations for a fee must charge sales tax when renting out lodging for 30 days or less. “Providing accommodations” means renting one or more temporary places to use or occupy.

Businesses that provide accommodations to the public include:

  • Hotels
  • Motels
  • Resorts
  • Bed and breakfasts
  • Campgrounds and RV parks*
  • Cabins*
  • Vacation homes*
  • Private residences*

*Including individuals who rent their home or property, such as a field, for money or barter

This website refers to these businesses as “lodging providers.”

Lodging: Types of Tax Due

These taxes only apply when you provide a rental for 30 days or less.

Taxes you forward to the Tax Commission

You might need to charge one or more of these taxes:

This chart shows which taxes are due for specific lodging types:

Accommodation TypeIdaho Sales TaxTravel & Convention TaxAuditorium District Tax
Sleeping room at a hotel, motel or resortYesYesYes
Meeting room at any lodging providerYesNoYes
Bed & BreakfastYesYesYes
Overnight spaces in campgrounds or RV parks that an Idaho government agency owns or operatesYesNoNo
Overnight spaces in campgrounds or RV parks that any other provider operates (other than the federal government)YesYesNo
Day-use spaces in any campgroundYesNoNo
CabinYesYesYes
Vacation homeYesYesYes
Private residenceYesYesYes

Other charges and amenities

The fee to rent lodging can include additional property and services. See this list of taxes you must charge for each.

Taxes on other charges

You forward all of these taxes to the Tax Commission.

Taxes local governments collect

You might need to charge local taxes and forward them to the local governments that administer them. See “City Sales Tax” for more information.

Loyalty and rewards programs

You might need to charge customers tax on the value of a free room if you have a loyalty or rewards program that gives them free nights. The “value” is the amount the customer would have paid for the room.

Charge room taxes* on the value of the free room if both of these are true:

  • A third party administers your rewards program.
  • Customers can pay for nights with points earned through credit card purchases, by buying points directly from the third party, or by other means.

Don’t charge room taxes on the free night if both of these are true:

  • You administer your own rewards program.
  • You can clearly document that the customer received a free night of lodging as a reward for staying “x” number of nights.

Also, don’t charge room taxes if the free night applies to a stay that qualifies for an exemption (e.g., it’s part of a continuous stay longer than 30 days). However, you must document the stay as an exemption.

* “Room taxes” include sales tax, travel and convention tax, and any auditorium district tax that applies to your area.

Short-term Rental Marketplaces

“Short-term rentals” and “vacation rentals” are residences rented for a fee for 30 days or less. This is a rental of lodging, and it’s typically handled in one of two ways:

  • Customers arrange short-term and vacation rentals through a third party that the owner hires to market and arrange the rentals. This third party is known as a “short-term rental marketplace.” Short-term rental marketplaces are responsible for collecting all taxes due on the lodging.
  • Customers arrange short-term and vacation rentals directly with the lodging provider, usually the owner of the property. Lodging providers are responsible for collecting all taxes due on lodging they arrange directly with customers.

After collecting tax from the renters, the short-term rental marketplace or lodging provider must forward tax as follows:

  • Forward Idaho sales tax and Travel and Convention tax on all rentals to the Tax Commission.
  • Forward applicable auditorium district tax on all rentals to the Tax Commission.
  • Forward any applicable local taxes (e.g., city sales taxes) on rentals to the city in which the property is located.

This table shows examples of tax responsibility in different short-term rental scenarios:

Short-term or vacation rental scenariosWho’s responsible for collecting and forwarding the tax?
The property is in Idaho and both of these apply:

  • The lodging provider rents out the lodging directly to the customer without using a short-term rental marketplace.

  • The customer reserves the lodging and pays the lodging provider directly.

The lodging provider must register as a retailer to collect, report and forward taxes on the sales price of lodging and related services.
The property is in Idaho and the lodging provider uses a short-term rental marketplace to arrange all rentals of the lodging.The short-term rental marketplace must register as a retailer, collect, report and forward taxes on the sales price of lodging and related services.
The property is in Idaho, and the lodging is:

  • Sometimes rented directly from the lodging provider.

  • Sometimes rented through a short-term rental marketplace that arranges all rentals of the lodging.

The lodging provider and the short-term rental marketplace are responsible for taxes as follows:

  • The lodging provider must collect, report and forward tax on the sales price of lodging and related services on rentals they arrange.

  • The short-term rental marketplace must collect, report and forward taxes on the sales price of lodging and related services arranged through its platform.

Lodging: Exempt Rentals

Lodging rentals involving certain government agencies, and qualifying organizations might be exempt.

Lodging rentals to certain government agencies and qualifying organizations

Only lodging rentals that are directly billed and paid by the federal government, Idaho state or local government, and qualifying organizations is exempt.

To rent lodging exempt, the buyer must complete and present one of these exemption certificates:

Note: Lodging is taxable if the employee pays and is reimbursed.

Lodging that religious organizations provide

Religious organizations can provide lodging rentals exempt if both of the following apply:

  • They use the proceeds of the lodging rentals only for the organization’s religious worship, education or recreation programs.
  • They offer the lodging only to members of the religious organization (e.g., it’s not available to the general public in regular competition with commercial businesses).

The religious organization doesn’t need attendees to fill out an exemption certificate, but it must keep records to show it met the exemption requirements.

Sales Not Related to Lodging

Many lodging providers make sales of property or services that aren’t related to lodging. For information about those sales, see the following guides: