New Texas Photographer (and possibly other states)
ShannonHeat
Registered Users Posts: 222 Major grins
I hope you find this information as useful as I did:D . I just thought I should share, considering I was a little confused at first as well.
Thank you for using tax.help email to inquire about your photography business and sales tax in Texas.
You are a photographer, and you do not have a studio. You work only on location, i.e., wedding, etc. You have not offered any taxable services at this time. You state that you will need a sales tax permit to sell portraits to customers. You asked how to fill out the permit when the permit asks for a business address.
Response:
Texas Sales and Use Tax Permit
Yes, you will need a Texas Sales and Use Tax Permit. The sales tax permit does ask for, and needs a permanent mailing address. This address can also be used as your origin-based standard for collecting local taxes.
The State of Texas employs a primarily origin-based sourcing rule which means that in most cases the place of business of the seller or service provider or the location from where taxable goods are shipped determines which jurisdictions are entitled to the sales tax collected by the seller. Under Texas law, there are some exceptions to the requirements for origin-based sourcing – cable television and waste disposal are two examples. Please review Comptroller publication 94-105 “Guidelines for Collecting Local Sales and Use Tax” which is located on our website at the following link field: http://window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx94_105.html.
Photographs
The sale of all photography, including portraits, is the sale of tangible personal property. Sales tax should be collect on all photography work by a photographer including labor. A photographer, when billing a client for finished photographs, must collect sales tax on the entire charge whether the billing is lump sum or separated including separately itemized expenses connected to the sale of the photographs (e.g., delivery charges, travel expenses, sitting or session fees, and hourly photography fees). It does not matter if the photographs are delivered by email, CD, or any other electronic methods, the sale of the photographs is taxable.
In the event that finished photographs are not purchased during the time that the prints are available to be ordered, a photographer may refund the sales tax collected on all charges attributed directly to the sitting fee.
Manufacturing Exemption for Photographers
Allow me to comment on your photography business.
In operating your photography business, you are acting as a manufacturer when you produce pictures for sale to your customers. You may wish to review our publication 94-124, “Manufacturing Exemptions,” available on our website at: http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx94_124.html.
In addition to the exemptions available to all manufacturers, photographers qualify for the exemptions available under Tax Code Section 151.318(t). Tax Code Section 151.318(t) exempts pre-press machinery and supplies used by photographers and others who print or imprint tangible personal for sale. The exemption includes computers, cameras, film, film developing chemicals, proofs of negatives, production art work, and typesetting or composition proofs that are necessary and essential to and used in connection with the printing process. Therefore, a photographer may give an exemption certificate to a vendor for purchase of the following equipment: cameras, flashes and batteries for the cameras, film, scanners that scan transparencies into computers used in editing images, computers and software used in editing images, image setting and proofing equipment, set materials and props. Your purchases of qualifying equipment and supplies may be made tax-free by giving exemption certificates to your suppliers in lieu of tax. Please refer to Tax Code Section 151.318 (t) because it enumerates items that may be purchased tax free that we have not discussed.
The fact that a client may buy only one photograph does not void the exemption and cause tax to be due on the purchase of the roll of film or the cost of developing the film used for a particular sitting. The film and developing may be purchased tax-free even if the customer chooses not to buy any of the prints. I should also point out that the exemption is not dependent on your customer receiving the negatives in addition to the prints.
General offices supplies used by a photographer, such as envelopes, paper, pens and other supplies may not be purchased tax-free on an exemption certificate because these items are not an ingredient of the finished product or are not transferred to the purchaser. Also, computers used for general business purposes rather than directly in the manufacturing process are not exempt.
Photographic paper, wrapping and packaging materials, such as negative sleeves, envelopes for pictures, etc. that are transferred to the customer may be purchased for resale.
A complete set of rules, the entire text of the Tax Code, and a wealth of other information are available through our website at www.window.state.tx.us. For sales tax information, click on “Sales Tax” under “Quick Links” on the left side of the page. To locate the rule cited above, select the “rules” link on the next webpage and scroll to the item of interest.
Thank you for using tax.help email to inquire about your photography business and sales tax in Texas.
You are a photographer, and you do not have a studio. You work only on location, i.e., wedding, etc. You have not offered any taxable services at this time. You state that you will need a sales tax permit to sell portraits to customers. You asked how to fill out the permit when the permit asks for a business address.
Response:
Texas Sales and Use Tax Permit
Yes, you will need a Texas Sales and Use Tax Permit. The sales tax permit does ask for, and needs a permanent mailing address. This address can also be used as your origin-based standard for collecting local taxes.
The State of Texas employs a primarily origin-based sourcing rule which means that in most cases the place of business of the seller or service provider or the location from where taxable goods are shipped determines which jurisdictions are entitled to the sales tax collected by the seller. Under Texas law, there are some exceptions to the requirements for origin-based sourcing – cable television and waste disposal are two examples. Please review Comptroller publication 94-105 “Guidelines for Collecting Local Sales and Use Tax” which is located on our website at the following link field: http://window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx94_105.html.
Photographs
The sale of all photography, including portraits, is the sale of tangible personal property. Sales tax should be collect on all photography work by a photographer including labor. A photographer, when billing a client for finished photographs, must collect sales tax on the entire charge whether the billing is lump sum or separated including separately itemized expenses connected to the sale of the photographs (e.g., delivery charges, travel expenses, sitting or session fees, and hourly photography fees). It does not matter if the photographs are delivered by email, CD, or any other electronic methods, the sale of the photographs is taxable.
In the event that finished photographs are not purchased during the time that the prints are available to be ordered, a photographer may refund the sales tax collected on all charges attributed directly to the sitting fee.
Manufacturing Exemption for Photographers
Allow me to comment on your photography business.
In operating your photography business, you are acting as a manufacturer when you produce pictures for sale to your customers. You may wish to review our publication 94-124, “Manufacturing Exemptions,” available on our website at: http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx94_124.html.
In addition to the exemptions available to all manufacturers, photographers qualify for the exemptions available under Tax Code Section 151.318(t). Tax Code Section 151.318(t) exempts pre-press machinery and supplies used by photographers and others who print or imprint tangible personal for sale. The exemption includes computers, cameras, film, film developing chemicals, proofs of negatives, production art work, and typesetting or composition proofs that are necessary and essential to and used in connection with the printing process. Therefore, a photographer may give an exemption certificate to a vendor for purchase of the following equipment: cameras, flashes and batteries for the cameras, film, scanners that scan transparencies into computers used in editing images, computers and software used in editing images, image setting and proofing equipment, set materials and props. Your purchases of qualifying equipment and supplies may be made tax-free by giving exemption certificates to your suppliers in lieu of tax. Please refer to Tax Code Section 151.318 (t) because it enumerates items that may be purchased tax free that we have not discussed.
The fact that a client may buy only one photograph does not void the exemption and cause tax to be due on the purchase of the roll of film or the cost of developing the film used for a particular sitting. The film and developing may be purchased tax-free even if the customer chooses not to buy any of the prints. I should also point out that the exemption is not dependent on your customer receiving the negatives in addition to the prints.
General offices supplies used by a photographer, such as envelopes, paper, pens and other supplies may not be purchased tax-free on an exemption certificate because these items are not an ingredient of the finished product or are not transferred to the purchaser. Also, computers used for general business purposes rather than directly in the manufacturing process are not exempt.
Photographic paper, wrapping and packaging materials, such as negative sleeves, envelopes for pictures, etc. that are transferred to the customer may be purchased for resale.
A complete set of rules, the entire text of the Tax Code, and a wealth of other information are available through our website at www.window.state.tx.us. For sales tax information, click on “Sales Tax” under “Quick Links” on the left side of the page. To locate the rule cited above, select the “rules” link on the next webpage and scroll to the item of interest.
Shannon 
Canon Digital Rebel XTI, 430ex, sigma 24-70 f2.8 macro, a crummy kit lens, 4gb cf, and tons of batteries.
www.heatonphotography.net
http://picasaweb.google.com/heatonphotography
www.myspace.com/heatonphotography
Canon Digital Rebel XTI, 430ex, sigma 24-70 f2.8 macro, a crummy kit lens, 4gb cf, and tons of batteries.
www.heatonphotography.net
http://picasaweb.google.com/heatonphotography
www.myspace.com/heatonphotography
0
Comments
BTW I'm the one who edited your post. HTML code doesn't show up in the forum and the black font is really hard to read for some people (including me) who leave their dgrin settings to the default theme.
www.zxstudios.com
http://creativedragonstudios.smugmug.com
Canon Digital Rebel XTI, 430ex, sigma 24-70 f2.8 macro, a crummy kit lens, 4gb cf, and tons of batteries.
www.heatonphotography.net
http://picasaweb.google.com/heatonphotography
www.myspace.com/heatonphotography