Hello Everyone,

My sister is helping me build a website this weekend to promote my book and other writing materials. Do I have to have a sales tax number to sell my book over the internet? If I earn money by providing links to other sites do I have to record it in a certain way? Need someone with experience to fill me in on the 'nitty gritty' so I don't get my self into trouble! Thanks!

Hi SO, I don't have much experience other than I created my site myself. I do not have a sales tax number, but you should have an ISBN. Did you self publish? I record all my book sales, no matter the point of sale, but I've yet to have an income that would impress the IRS. I just moved from St. Joseph, Missouri 6 months ago! Where are you in Missouri? My second book takes place entirely in Missouri. Good luck, Lynn

Dear SO:
Are you registered as a business?
What I know is that you need to charge tax for books sold in your state. And keep track of it so you can return it to the IRS, either quaterly or once a year.

Safest way is to call your local tax office to avoid surprises later on.

So, you need to get a tax ID number and file quarterly. Call the local chapter of the Small Business Administration and they should be able to give you specific directions. It's fairly simple. Just lots of forms to fill out. You'll get the hang of it once you do it a few times.

I thought that if you shipped out of state, there was no sales tax???

Dianne, as far as I know... No out of state sales tax, just your own state tax.

I just read this posting so I may be a day late and a dollar short (my life story) but what the heck, I will give this a whirl.

I too am selling my book on my own website. In order to sell my book I had to do these steps.

1. Obtain a business license in the county I live in.
2. Obtain another business in the city I live in.
3. Obtain a tax ID number (you can get those right over the internet from the IRS).
4. Collect sales tax for IN STATE sales only.
5. When collecting instate tax, be sure to collect enough. You will have to pay 2 separate entities (state AND city tax). But your state should give you a chart to go by.
6. You do not have to collect sales tax on orders that are shipped out of state.
7. When creating your website and the "price" to charge, be sure you include all the little hidden costs that we don't see on a daily basis but add up nevertheless. (i.e. envelopes to mail your book, labels, postage, gas, mastercard/visa charges, tax)

That's all I can think of for now.......hope that helps!

Teresa