I'm drop shipping, do I still charge Tax on Shipping? (Florida)

Accounting & Taxes

Topic summary

Venta por drop shipping desde Florida y duda sobre si el impuesto sobre ventas debe aplicarse solo al producto o también al envío cuando se cobra por separado.

La respuesta principal aclara que la obligación tributaria depende del “nexus”, es decir, la conexión fiscal del negocio con un estado. En Florida, según la referencia compartida del Department of Revenue, el costo de envío no es gravable si aparece como una línea separada en la factura.

También se indicó que, en Shopify, existe una opción de configuración para cobrar o no impuestos sobre el envío al registrar el impuesto estatal. Como medida práctica, se recomendó dejar la configuración predeterminada si hay dudas y confirmar con la autoridad fiscal estatal o con un profesional local.

Resultado: la duda quedó esencialmente resuelta para el caso planteado; no se mencionaron objeciones ni información contradictoria.

Summarized with AI on March 8. AI used: gpt-5.4.
1

Hello!

I’m about to go live on my website and I just want to make sure i’m collecting taxes properly, if anyone here can help!

Background: I’m drop shipping using Aliexpress, but i’m based in Florida so I know I have to charge sales tax to customers in Florida even though I don’t have a physical location or personally hold inventory/make shipments.

What i’m confused about: Am I supposed to ONLY charge taxes on the products, or also charge taxes on shipping costs to Florida customers? (Shipping costs are not included in the product price, It is listed separately on the bill.)

If anyone can shed some insight i’d really appreciate it!

2

Hi @AnimeKyashi ,

Hyde here from Shopify. Great question!

What tax you need to charge depends on where your business nexus is. For the benefit of others reading this, there’s more information on what a nexus is here.

According to the Florida Revenue department, shipping is not taxable if the actual cost of shipping is listed on a separate line on the invoice.

You can choose whether you want to charge taxes on shipping when you set up your taxes and enter your sales tax ID. If you’re not sure whether you should charge taxes on shipping, then leave this option on the default setting and check with US state tax authorities or a local tax professional.

I hope that helps!

All the best, Hyde.

3

thank you!