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However, not all states in the US have sales tax. At the moment just Oregon, New Hampshire, Montana, Hawaii and Delaware have sales tax, and different counties within these states have their own local sales tax. Local sales tax usually depends on the local lawmakers and taxpayers. So when you purchase a service or product that falls into the purview of sales tax, you will end up paying a combination of local sales tax and state sales tax.
Many times people living in states that have sales tax can get around paying it. This possible only if the person travels to an area where there is no sales tax and purchases an item or purchases something over the Internet. However, most online retailers impose sales tax but you get away from paying sales tax if you purchase items from small online businesses or auction sites. This said, these purchases also have to be mentioned in your state income tax return.
If a person reports the amount of sales tax he has to pay with his state income tax, this information is computed and calculated together. This means that many people can automatically apply their estimated state tax return to the amount of money they owe on any state sales tax, including local sales tax.
You have to pay your sales tax by April 15 of each year, which is the deadline to file and pay your tax returns. You can file for an extension but the estimated sales tax still has to be paid before the deadline. If you fail to pay your sales tax before April 15, you will have to pay late fees along with other penalties that the state imposes on you.
The IRS has a free sales tax deduction calculator and this online calculator already has the state and local sales tax rates built in, so calculation becomes very easy. If you are itemizing your deductions, first figure out whether sales tax deduction or income tax deduction will save you more money and based on that you should fill out your tax returns.
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