Inventory tracking app

[MEP001]

I'll have to ask my CPA about that. I was under the impression that 'vended items' coming out of a drop shelf or glass front vending machine were not subject to sales tax.

It's going to vary by state. In Texas, car washes aren't required to pay sales tax. Before the intra-state sales tax thing came down, Kleen-Rite wouldn't charge me sales tax on vending. Even though I would be legally obligated to pay the sales tax to the state, I had no sales and use tax permit, so I had no way to pay it, and the state had no clue that I wasn't and no avenue to audit and fine me for not paying it. Now that I pay sales tax to Kleen-Rite, I'm supposed to be paying the difference when I sell the items, but I still have no permit so no one really cares or can do anything about it. If I had a sales and use tax permit, I would need to put a sticker on each vendor stating that part of the sale price is sales tax, and I would buy vending tax-exempt. I would never get a permit because I'll open myself up to a possible audit which can get really expensive if you aren't tracking and paying everything correctly, and the small amount I'd save not paying tax at purchase would be more than offset by having to pay out sales tax. It's lose-lose every way you look at it.

 

[Randy]

You guys are getting off easy. In Washington state we pay 10% use tax on everything that we buy that's not for resale, parts, chemical etc. Vending items are not taxed until they are sold. We then pay 10.2% on qll sales at the car wash, wash bays, inbay automatics etc.
Getting back to original post. We've been doing this for so long that we pretty much know what we are going to need for the year so when KR has there big ICA convention sale so we load up then. We keep everything on shelf's so we know at a glace what we have on hand. We very seldom ever have to order anything once we place our yearly order.

 

[Rainway]

Mrs. OurTown is going to make a clean uncluttered copy of it for you. Send me a PM if you do not hear from me in a few days.

Shoot a copy to me as well if you don't mind.

You guys are getting off easy. In Washington state we pay 10% use tax on everything that we buy that's not for resale, parts, chemical etc. Vending items are not taxed until they are sold. We then pay 10.2% on qll sales at the car wash, wash bays, inbay automatics etc.
Getting back to original post. We've been doing this for so long that we pretty much know what we are going to need for the year so when KR has there big ICA convention sale so we load up then. We keep everything on shelf's so we know at a glace what we have on hand. We very seldom ever have to order anything once we place our yearly order.

Interesting points. My local sales tax is 5% (no state sales tax) and I remit it on everything - car wash kiosk, vacuum and vending. So all my prices include sales tax. I’ve thought about what I would do if a senior citizen said he was tax exempt and didn’t want to pay. I figure I’d have to manually account for it which would be a headache - or send them to the city to try to get it back from there with their receipts.

In Alaska everything comes by barge through Seattle. Lots of vendors don’t want to mess with shipping quotes to here but readily can quote price to Seattle. We used to be able to buy things shipped to a common carrier in Seattle without sales tax being charged. But then Washington politicians changed the rules where they charge it and then once a year I can claim a refund on the state portion but not county piece of it. Have never done it so I guess I’m paying to subsidize Washington roads and/or indoctrinate child public education.

 

[Rainway]

Rainway...sorry to hijack your thread.

No worries it’s a good discussion!

 

[Dan kamsickas]

Shoot a copy to me as well if you don't mind.


Interesting points. My local sales tax is 5% (no state sales tax) and I remit it on everything - car wash kiosk, vacuum and vending. So all my prices include sales tax. I’ve thought about what I would do if a senior citizen said he was tax exempt and didn’t want to pay. I figure I’d have to manually account for it which would be a headache - or send them to the city to try to get it back from there with their receipts.

In Alaska everything comes by barge through Seattle. Lots of vendors don’t want to mess with shipping quotes to here but readily can quote price to Seattle. We used to be able to buy things shipped to a common carrier in Seattle without sales tax being charged. But then Washington politicians changed the rules where they charge it and then once a year I can claim a refund on the state portion but not county piece of it. Have never done it so I guess I’m paying to subsidize Washington roads and/or indoctrinate child public education.

FYI, several years ago they passed new regulations that if a seller does a certain amount of business in a state they are responsible for collecting any state/local taxes and remitting it to the proper authorities. It was billed as going after places like Amazon but it gets everybody. It finally made it through the courts and we had to start doing it over a year ago. It means we have had to subscribe to additional software that helps us figure it out(some address have multiple levels of taxes) and add staff to manage it. Both of these are costs added to the cost of the products we sell. The taxes are based on the address the package is shipped to. There is a form that you can fill out if you have tax exempt status at that address but few car wash operators do.

 

[mjwalsh]

Would you be willing to share the Google sheet file? We're in the process of expanding to offer retail items and this would be very handy. Thank you!

I also would like to have what MrsOurTown did with setting up a Google Sheets template ... ready to start or slightly tailor to our specific facility. My email is info@kingkoin.com ... if you have trouble via the forum PM or other forum posting process. Thanks in advance.

 

[mjwalsh]

Here is something I found.

https://www.salestaxhandbook.com/ohio/sales-tax-taxability/vending-machine-sales#:~:text=In the state of Ohio,are considered to be exempt.&text=Sales of merchandise are subject to sales tax in Ohio.

On vended items in North Dakota OurTown's link applies here also. Mostly "Use Tax" is where we were on the receiving end of a very anti small business auditor back in the late 1990s. At that point, we were forced to set up with a sales tax permit on our vended items which were miniscule compared to the large parts & supplies (for nonvended maintenance in house purposes USE TAX) that we were getting out of state.

The crapo unreasonable auditor did not care if we were not aware of the specifics of the specific state sales-use tax law stipulations before he did his damage (12% compounded interest going back 7 years) My heart goes out to Randy & his fellow operators to have to pay 10+% on 100% of their gross. KR & many others including local Sam's Club have a copy of our sales tax permit so it is somewhat automated at least when we purchase from out of state for vended items.

When & if the former editor of the SSCWN (JJJ) warns us of gov't at every level wittingly &/or unwittingly creating "the wrong kind of damaging" impediments for both us & our suppliers ... you better believe we need to pay attention. Testifying before state tax committees & in private sharing valid concerns with various state "current at the time" big wigs is something that I endured several times during several sessions of our ND State Legislature over more than a few decades. That is why I tend to be more sensitized to election integrity 100% VALID concerns than the average citizen!

 

[MEP001]

The crapo unreasonable auditor did not care if we were not aware of the specifics of the specific state sales-use tax law stipulations before he did his damage

You're blaming him for your own ignorance?

 

[mjwalsh]

You're blaming him for your own ignorance?

Not really. I am pretty sure that it was not just the small business population who were buying from "out of state" without worrying about sales tax back in the 90s. In other words IMHO ... equal application of that "use tax" technicality would make very close to 100% of our specific state's citizens liable. I still believe that small businesses just happened to be EASY PICKINGS!

Later on ... I did find out from many irritated fellow small business people told me that they were also isolated with similar unfair "BLIND-SIDING".

Hopefully ... other states did not blind-side specifically their small businesses with the same "at minimum a borderline" deceptive way. Back in the 90s very few "out of state outfits" charged sales tax including Ebay! I have a terrible feeling that some in the industry support this kind of crapo ... more & more erosion of the ability of us small businesses to survive. Paying on GROSS .... definitely is a tougher prospect than NET ... just my opinion ... makes sense to me .... of course .... before someone or online weird collaboration decides to cancel me out with their political bad use of their online pull. The 12% interest going back 7 years was a real doozy!

 

[MEP001]

Not really.

Did this "crapo unreasonable auditor" do something illegal? You're responsible for knowing the laws and regulations of your city and state.

 

[mjwalsh]

No worries it’s a good discussion!

Rainway & others,

Based on actual long term experience ... you may want to look at a free &/or low cost source database program vs just a spreadsheet. One advantage is when each entry &/or multiple entries are entered .... you do not have to worry about saving the file or risk losing what you entered.

Control over previous versions of the database file ... I am pretty sure would also be easier to maintain.

For most generic sql style database programs ... you only need to save the file when you change the structure or layout of a form or a report! If the KR Stock App &/or Our Town's Google Sheets turns out to be not as good .... my still used for other purposes in Windows 10... older version of Microsoft Access might be tapped into. As much as I squirm about too much Microsoft ... I do like the way their earlier XP version of MS Access never became obsolete. We will find out with Windows 11 ... hopefully that will still hold true!

 

[catimestler]

There are now many services that help you keep track of stock levels. Moreover, it is possible to set up the number of stocks to be updated automatically. Such systems are used by large companies as it helps them timely replenish stocks. Every year there are more and more services that facilitate the business. For a while, I owned a commodity business and resold goods from China. When I ordered anything, I checked the location of the order through sendungsverfolgung, and for a good reason. Because of this, my customers were always satisfied.