My store is based in the United States and I sell dessert themed candles and wax melts. I sell to anyone in the United States. This is my first time using Shopify, I’ve had it for about 2 months now. I switched from big cartel to Shopify.
I was wondering why taxes are not being charged on the orders I’m receiving?
I have a sales tax ID already.
Hey, @Britney20 .
Thanks for reaching out in our Community forum. I’m excited to hear about your new Shopify store. I’m happy to look into this together.
The good news is that Shopify’s system makes it easy to collect taxes from your customers. However, it’s important to note that it’s your responsibility to consult with local tax authorities or a tax professional to verify that you charge your customers the correct tax rates, and to ensure you file and remit your taxes correctly. In general, you’re obligated to collect tax in any US state where you both have economic nexus and sell taxable goods or services.
Since you have your sales tax ID, you can go ahead and set up your taxes by following these steps: Set up the Regions in which you’re Registered. Your sales tax ID is issued by states to allow you to charge tax in that particular state. Therefore, if a customer orders from outside of that state, they won’t be charged sales tax on the order. You need a sales tax ID number only if you determine that you need to charge taxes in a particular state. For more information, check out: Registration-based Taxes in the US.
Please let me know if you have any questions about getting that set up. In the meantime, I’d love to hear more about your business. Where do you currently market your candles and wax melts?
Hi, @Britney20 .
I’m so happy to hear that helped clarify things. Don’t hesitate to reach back out if there’s anything else we can do to help.
All the best with your new business,
Hi there, @brayanweldir !
I’ll be taking over this thread for Luna and helping you out 
I’m unable to tell you where to charge taxes in the U.S. since I’m not able to provide tax advice. However, even if you’re not located in the U.S., you will typically only need to charge taxes in states where you have a nexus. You can read more about nexus in our help document, and specifically pay attention to the Economic nexus section, as that applies to both U.S. and non-U.S. merchants. You can also review your US tax liability in your admin, and you can read more about that here! If you’re still unsure about where you need to charge taxes, you’ll need to get in touch with a tax professional to guide you. You wouldn’t have to worry about getting banned from Shopify unless you violate our Acceptable Use Policy or the Shopify Payments Terms of Service (if you’re using Shopify Payments).
I hope this helps — please let me know if there’s anything else you’d like clarification on!
Why would tax’s not apply if someone out of state buys it? I am having a issue with tax’s apply to every sale. I was informed from shopify that I didn’t have the right box checked in the tax’s & duties. and was told to change it and do a test payment which I did. But when sent a friend a invoice for 22 shirts the tax’s of 32 dollars showed in the invoice but when she went to pay it disappeared and now I’m stuck paying the 32 in taxes. That shouldn’t happen. As of now I don’t get customers that out right buy from the website its normally friends and followers that message me so I get their email and send them a invoice with custom product cause I add the tax in the price. But when I start getting sale from someone that comes to the website I would assume no taxes will be charged even though it is set up to charge. That is super confusing.
Hi, @simpleluc !
Thank you for your post, I’m happy to look into this with you.
Can you first confirm which state you’re located in, and which state your friend that placed the order is located in? If you are required to collect taxes in a certain state, you will want to make sure that you set up tax collection for that state in the admin. You can find the steps to do this in our help document. When you do that, taxes are automatically calculated for each order.
Once I have more information regarding this issue I will do some digging and provide you with more information. I look forward to helping you further!