Search Category: Sellers/Vending

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

Laws and Rules for Online Sellers

Learn more about Idaho tax statutes 

Learn more about our Rules

Questions

If you have questions about your responsibilities in this area, please contact us at Submit a question or call (208) 334-7660 in the Boise area or toll free at (800) 972-7660.

Please note that due to the volume of emails we’re receiving, you should receive a response within 5 to 7 business days.

Click-through Nexus – Online Sellers

Are you out of state and have referral (“click-through”) agreements with Idaho retailers?

This sometimes is called relationship nexus.

You must have a valid Idaho seller’s permit, collect sales tax, file sales tax returns, and forward the tax to the state if you meet all these criteria:

To get an Idaho seller’s permit if you don’t already have one, see Take these steps.

Watch the Taxing Remote Sales in and into Idaho video

Explanation of Terms – Online Sellers

Economic nexus

As of June 1, 2019, retailers without a physical presence in Idaho (out of-state retailers) must collect Idaho sales tax if their sales in Idaho exceed $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year.

Marketplace facilitators

A marketplace facilitator is a person that provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. You’re a marketplace facilitator if you meet all three of the following criteria:

  1. You contract with third-party sellers to help them sell their products through a physical or electronic marketplace.
  2. You receive consideration for performing the contract (consideration payment, benefit, or even deduction of fees from a transaction).
  3. You engage, directly or indirectly, in any of the following:
    1. With respect to the seller’s product, you:
      1. Provide payment processing services
      2. Provide fulfillment or storage services
      3. List products for sale, set prices, or take orders
      4. Brand sales as those of the marketplace facilitator’s
      5. Advertise, promote, provide customer service (including help with returns or exchanges)
    2. You communicate the offer or the acceptance of the offer between buyer and seller.
    3. You own or operate the infrastructure (physical or electronic) or the technology that brings a buyer together with a seller.
    4. You provide a virtual currency that buyers use to purchase products from sellers.
    5. You or an affiliated person conduct software development or research and development described in section 3.a. (above) if the activities are directly related to a physical or electronic marketplace you operate for third-party sellers.

Physical presence

If you make sales in Idaho, you’re required to collect Idaho sales tax on those sales if you have a physical presence in the state (whether permanent or temporary). This includes:

  • Having an office, warehouse, sales or sample room, or storage place
  • Maintaining a stock of goods
  • Renting or leasing property (other than real property) to a customer who uses the property in Idaho
  • Servicing tangible personal property in Idaho
  • Having a salesman, agent, or representative who comes to Idaho to sell, deliver, install, or take orders. (It doesn’t matter whether the salesman, agent, or representative is your employee or lives in Idaho or another state.)

Presence also can be established by the relationship of one business to another that’s doing business in Idaho. See Idaho Code section 63-3615A.

VIDEO  Taxing Remote Sales In and Into Idaho

Guides for Different Business Types – Online Sellers

This guide provides information for these businesses:

  • Out-of-state retailers (see sections A and B)
  • Marketplace facilitators (see sections C, D, and E)
  • Idaho retailers (see sections E and F)

A. Sales of $100,000 and under

This category of sellers means:

  • You’re a retailer without a physical presence in Idaho.
  • You have Idaho sales.
  • Your total sales in Idaho, including any made through a marketplace facilitator, didn’t exceed $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year.

If you meet all these criteria, you aren’t required to get an Idaho seller’s permit. Review your total sales in Idaho periodically to determine whether that changes.

B. Out-of-state retailers, sales exceeding $100,000

This category of sellers means:

  • You’re a retailer without a physical presence in Idaho.
  • You have Idaho sales.
  • Your total sales in Idaho, including any made through a marketplace facilitator, exceed $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year.

If you meet all these criteria, as of June 1, 2019, you’re a retailer engaged in business in Idaho.

You need to get an Idaho seller’s permit if you don’t already have one. See Take these steps.

For Idaho third-party sales you’re making through a marketplace facilitator, see Third-party sellers.

C. Combined sales of $100,000 and under

This category of sellers means:

  • You’re a marketplace facilitator without a physical presence in Idaho.
  • You have Idaho sales, Idaho third-party sales, or both.
  • The combined total of your own sales in Idaho and your third-party sales in Idaho didn’t exceed $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year.

If you meet all these criteria, you don’t have to get an Idaho seller’s permit.

Review your total sales in Idaho periodically to determine whether that changes.

D. Marketplace facilitators, sales in Idaho exceeding $100,000

This category of sellers means:

  • You’re a marketplace facilitator without a physical presence in Idaho.
  • You have Idaho sales, Idaho third-party sales, or both.
  • The combined total of your own sales in Idaho and your third-party sales in Idaho exceeded $100,000 in the current or previous calendar year.

If you meet all these criteria, as of June 1, 2019, you’re a retailer engaged in business in Idaho.

You need to get an Idaho seller’s permit if you don’t already have one. See Take these steps.

Note: If you already have an Idaho seller’s permit for your own sales, you need a separate permit for any third-party marketplace sales. You can register for another Idaho seller’s permit at tax.idaho.gov/ibr.

E. Idaho retailers who are also marketplace facilitators

This category of sellers means:

If you meet all these criteria, you need a separate permit for any third-party marketplace sales as of June 1, 2019. You can register for another Idaho seller’s permit at tax.idaho.gov/ibr.

F. Idaho retailers who make sales through a marketplace facilitator

For Idaho sales you’re making through a marketplace facilitator, note that as of June 1, 2019, Idaho law requires marketplace facilitators to collect and forward Idaho sales tax on third-party sales in Idaho. Have your marketplace facilitator provide written verification of the sales tax they’re reporting. If your marketplace facilitator isn’t collecting and forwarding tax on your sales, please include it on your own seller’s permit.

VIDEO  Taxing Remote Sales In and Into Idaho

Online Sellers Guide

Should you be collecting sales tax on your Idaho sales? Are you a remote seller or do you operate an online marketplace?

An Idaho law affects retailers and marketplace facilitators as of June 1, 2019. Idaho passed the law in response to the U. S. Supreme Court Wayfair decision regarding economic nexus.

  • You might need to collect Idaho sales tax on sales in Idaho, even if you’re not located in the state.
  • If you already have an Idaho seller’s permit, you might need to get an additional permit if you operate as a marketplace facilitator.

Law requirements

Out-of-state retailers

Retailers without a physical presence in Idaho must collect Idaho sales tax when their sales in Idaho exceed $100,000 in the current or previous year. See Sections A and B of Guides for Different Business Types.

Marketplace facilitators

Marketplace facilitators without a physical presence in Idaho must collect Idaho sales tax when the combined total of their own sales in Idaho and their third-party sales in Idaho exceeds $100,000 in the current or previous year. They must have separate seller’s permits for their sales in Idaho and their third-party sales. See sections C, D, and E of Guides for Different Business Types.

Idaho retailers

Retailers with a physical presence in Idaho who also are marketplace facilitators must collect Idaho sales tax on their third-party sales in Idaho. They must have separate seller’s permits for their sales in Idaho and their third-party sales. See sections E and F of “Guides for Different Business Types.”

Retailers with a physical presence in Idaho must collect Idaho sales tax on their sales in Idaho. Read our Retailers guide for more information.

Out-of-state sellers who have certain agreements with Idaho retailers can find more information on the Click-Through Nexus page.

VIDEO  Taxing Remote Sales In and Into Idaho

Sales Tax: Filing and Paying

When you need to file and pay depends on the type of seller’s permit you have. You must file a return even if you didn’t make any sales. This is true no matter what type of seller’s permit you have.

If you’re late filing or paying

Interest

You owe interest on the overdue tax from the original due date of the return until the tax is paid. See annual interest rates.

Penalty

You owe a penalty if you:

  • Don’t file a tax return on time. The penalty is 5% of the tax due for each month the return is late, to a maximum of 25%.
  • File a return but don’t submit the tax due. The penalty is 0.5% of the tax due for each month the tax due is late, to a maximum of 25%.

Note: No penalty is due if no tax is due. The minimum penalty is $10. Even if your return or payment is only one day late, you still owe the entire month of penalty.

Filing and paying on temporary seller’s permits

For both types of temporary seller’s permits, you’ll use a simple form to report sales and submit the sales tax you collect. You must file a return even if you don’t make any sales.

Due dates

Temporary seller’s permits for your own sales activities and Idaho events where you sell

  • File and pay within 15 days after your permit’s expiration date.
  • Report all sales, including event sales.

Temporary seller’s permits for a specific event where you sell

  • File and pay within 15 days after the end of the event.
  • Report all sales for this event.

How to file

Online

Use TAP (if you have a TAP account). You can’t use TAP if you take a credit for Sales Tax Paid on Resale Merchandise.

Paper form

By mail or in person. Use the form we emailed you. Contact us if you can’t find that email.

How to pay

You must send in any sales tax you collect by your filing date. See the E-pay page for ways to pay.

Note: You can’t use Quick Pay.

Filing and paying on a regular seller’s permit

You must file a return even if you don’t make any sales.

With a regular seller’s permit, your schedule to file and send in tax is based on how much you sell. Before your due date, we’ll mail you a customized Form 850. If you have a TAP account, you’ll also see your return there.

Sales tax is due on the accrual method of accounting. That means you forward sales tax to the state with the return for the period in which you made that sale. This applies even if your customer hasn’t paid you by the time your tax return is due.

Due dates

We’ll set you up to file returns on a monthly, quarterly, semiannual, or annual basis.

  • Most retailers file returns every month. They forward the tax due for each month by the 20th day of the following month. If the 20th falls on a weekend or holiday, the return and payment are due on the next workday. For example, the taxes you collected in July are due by August 20.
  • Retailers who owe less than $750 tax per quarter pay their taxes quarterly. These taxes are due within 20 days after the end of the quarter.
  • Semiannually or annually. If you’re a distributor or a wholesaler with only a few sales, you can apply to file returns and forward taxes every six months, or once per year. Taxes paid every six months are due by July 20 and January 20. Taxes paid once per year are due by January 20.

See Due Dates for Sales/Use, Travel & Convention, Auditorium Districts, E911, and Withholding

 

Video: I missed my tax due date

What to report

Report all your sales on your Form 850. This includes any sales you made at events.

Important: Don’t report any sales you make through registered marketplace facilitators or short-term rental marketplaces that already report those sales to us.

How to file

You can file in one of these ways:

Online

Use TAP (if you have a TAP account). You can’t use TAP if you take a credit for Sales Tax Paid on Resale Merchandise.

Paper form

By mail or in person. Use the Form 850 we sent. Make sure the form is:

  • Preprinted with the correct period. (Don’t use forms from a previous month, quarter, or year.)
  • Preprinted with the correct employer name and account number. (Don’t use forms for a previous owner.)

Contact us if you can’t find the correct form.

Filing if you have no sales

You must file a return even if you don’t make any sales.

If you report “$0” sales for 12 months in a row, we’ll cancel your permit. A cancelled permit isn’t valid, and you can’t use it to make sales or buy goods for resale.

Filing an amended return

How to pay

You must send in any sales tax you collect by your filing date. See the E-pay page.

Buying Exempt for Resale

Goods retailers buy for resale might qualify for an exemption. Goods retailers buy that aren’t for resale are generally taxable. 

Resale or exemption certificates

ST-101

If you buy goods for resale from a seller doing business in Idaho, you must give the seller a completed pdf Form ST-101 – Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate. The seller should keep this form on file and not charge tax on your future qualifying purchases.

To complete the form:

  1. Write the name and address of both the seller and your business at the top of the form.
  2. In section 1 “Buying for Resale,” line a — write the nature of your business and describe the products you sell.
  3. On line b — check the first box and write your Idaho seller’s permit number.
  4. Under “Buyer” at the bottom of the page — sign the form. Fill in the rest of the fields (name, title, EIN or driver’s license information, and date).

Out-of-state businesses

If you buy goods for resale from out-of-state businesses that are registered Idaho retailers, you can complete the Uniform Sales and Use Tax Certificate – Multijurisdiction instead of form ST-101.

To complete the form:

  1. Write the name and address of both the seller and your business at the top of the form.
  2. Check the box for “Retailer.”
  3. Write your Idaho seller’s permit number in the ID section.
  4. Sign and fill out the bottom of the form.

Items retailers pay tax on

You have to pay tax on items you buy that aren’t for resale to your customers.

Sales Price – Retailers

“Sales price” and “purchase price” mean the same thing. They mean the price a buyer pays. Tax is due on the sales price or purchase price no matter how the buyer pays the seller:

  • Cash, check, credit card, PayPal, electronic payment methods
  • Financing agreement – including I.O.U., or other promise to pay
  • Barter – paying with goods the buyer owns

What the sales price includes

Charge tax on the following even if you list them separately on the invoice:

  • Inbound transportation – fees charged for shipping the goods to the retailer
  • Manufacturer’s or importer’s excise tax – U.S. federal taxes that are charged to the retailer before the retail sale, but may still be a separate item on the bill to the buyer
    • Examples: Taxes on cars, beer, wine, and cigarettes
  • Services performed by the seller as part of the sale
    • Examples: Fee to assemble an item; clothing alteration charge
  • Surcharge for paying with a credit card or gift card
  • Prompt payment discounts encouraging the buyer to pay the bill on time, such as a 2% discount if a bill is paid within a certain number of days. Charge tax on the amount before the discount is given.
  • Manufacturer’s coupon or rebate deduction amounts are included in the amount tax is calculated on if the manufacturer reimburses the retailer or the buyer for the discount given to the customer.

Special rules apply to rebates for motor vehicles.

What the sales price doesn’t include

Don’t charge tax on the following if you list them separately on the invoice:

Trade-in allowances

This is the value of goods traded in on other goods, whether in part payment, full payment, or more than full payment. The item accepted in trade must become part of the seller’s inventory.

Trade discounts offered by a retailer

This discount can be a retailer’s coupon, a marked-down price, or a customer discount offered to a good customer.

The retailer can’t receive money or reimbursement from a third party for a discount on the purchased item. A prompt payment discount offered by a manufacturer can’t reduce the taxable sale price.

Interest, carrying charges, service charges, or financing charges on goods sold

Special rules apply to interest, service, and financing charges on leases — see our guide, Renting and Leasing Tangible Personal Property.

Other examples of what the sales price doesn’t include:

  • U.S. federal excise taxes that are charged to the customer at the time of the retail sale. The retailer pays the supplier the tax when buying the items for resale, then charges and separately states the excise tax on the invoice
    Example: New large tractor-trailer units
  • Shipping and handling charges for shipping the goods directly to the consumer. You must separately state the charges.
  • Installation labor, such as the labor to install a television in a home. You must separately state the labor.
  • Repair labor to repair a customer’s goods isn’t taxable when separately stated, but the parts sold to make the repair are taxable.
  • Insurance charges on goods rented or sold – when separately stated

Separately state sales tax on the invoice

You must separately list the amount of tax on the sales invoice. Customers must know how much tax was charged and be able to show they paid tax.

You can’t offer to pay the tax yourself or advertise that you won’t charge tax.

How to calculate the tax

Calculate the sales tax by either:

  • Using the sales tax “bracket card” that we mail to you with your permit, or
  • Multiplying the total taxable sales amount by the tax rate in effect.

Tax is calculated on the total of taxable items in a sale. For example, if you sell three taxable items totaling $10.50 together, tax is calculated on the total, rather than the individual prices of the three items in the sale.

Collecting Sales Tax in Idaho

Retailers must collect tax correctly on all Idaho sales. It’s important for retailers to understand:

  • What is a taxable sale?
  • How does a taxable sale become exempt?
  • Which sales aren’t taxable?

Taxable sales

Retail sales of the following goods and services are taxable in Idaho:

Tangible personal property

Anything you can feel, see, touch, weigh, or measure, other than real property

Admission charges

Examples

  • Tickets to a movie
  • Cover charges at a club
  • The price to see an entertainer

Fees charged for use of a facility or for use of tangible personal property for recreation

Examples

  • Membership fees to health clubs
  • Renting a park for a picnic
  • Greens fees at golf clubs
  • Participation in a recreational sports league

Providing hotel, motel, lodging, or campground accommodations

Examples

  • Renting a room for 30 days or less, including personal homes as well as commercial hotels
  • Renting a banquet room at a hotel
  • Renting a campsite

Custom-made tangible personal property

Examples

  • Materials and labor for a custom-built desk
  • Materials and labor for a made-to-order suit or dress
  • Materials and labor for a commissioned piece of art

Labor to produce, process, or fabricate tangible personal property

Examples

  • The labor fee to make a table from a customer’s lumber
  • The fee to cut or form a customer’s metal
  • The fee to embroider a logo on customer-owned clothing
  • The labor fee to assemble a bicycle, either by the seller or a third party

Any publication, or labor to print or imprint

Examples

  • A subscription to a newspaper or magazine
  • A newspaper bought at a grocery store
  • The fee to have business cards printed
  • The fee to engrave a customer’s trophy

Food, meals, and drinks and the labor to prepare or serve them

Examples

  • A hamburger and soda at a drive-in
  • A cocktail at a lounge
  • The price to cater food for a party
  • Personal chef service

Renting or leasing tangible personal property

Examples

  • Renting a boat
  • Leasing a car
  • Renting bowling shoes at a bowling center
  • Leasing a copy machine
  • Renting clothing

Exempt sales

Some goods and services can be exempt from tax if the buyer gives the seller a completed resale/exemption certificate. These sales usually fall into one of the following categories:

The buyer is exempt from all sales tax

Examples

  • Idaho Foodbank Warehouse, Inc.
  • State and federal credit unions

The buyer’s industry is exempt from all sales tax

Examples

  • Nonprofit hospital
  • Nonprofit canal company incorporated solely for farm irrigation

The buyer will use the goods in an exempt activity

Examples

  • Manufacturing company that will use the goods more than 50% of the time to produce tangible personal property for sale to others. The goods must be directly used in and necessary to the production process.
  • Church that buys food for its food bank

The buyer will resell the goods or services

Examples

  • Registered Idaho retailer
  • Wholesaler that doesn’t make retail sales

Accepting a resale/exemption certificate from your customer:

  • Your customer must give you a completed form pdf ST-101, Sales Tax Resale or Exemption Certificate
  • The exemption certificate must have all applicable questions answered, and be signed and dated
  • Keep the certificate and don’t charge tax on future qualifying sales to the customer

Note: A few items are exempt for all taxpayers (no exemption certificate is required):

Examples

  • Bullion
  • Membership fees in a nonprofit hunting or shooting sports organization
  • Official documents (e.g., deeds, licenses)
  • Electricity, water, and natural gas delivered to a consumer through pipes or mains

Nontaxable sales

Sales of the following goods and services aren’t taxable in Idaho:

Real property sales, rentals, or leases

Examples

  • Office space
  • Living space
    But motel or hotel rooms rented for 30 days or less are taxable
  • Lockers, such as those used at amusement parks, gyms, and airports
  • Boat docks
  • Billboards
  • Parking spaces
    But campground or trailer park accommodations of 30 days or less are taxable
  • Storage space
  • Booth space at fairs
    But renting personal property for use in the booth is taxable
  • Facilities rented for recreation if:
    • There’s a charge for admission to the facility, and
    • Tax is collected on the admission charge

Telephone tolls and utility charges

Transit fees

Examples

  • Taxicab fares
  • Bus tolls
  • Airplane tickets on chartered or regularly scheduled flights

Software that isn’t tangible personal property

Examples

  • Custom computer software
  • Software delivered electronically
  • Software loaded by the seller and left on the buyer’s device
    No discs, drives, etc. left with buyer
  • Some remotely accessed computer software