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