r s Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 I had always been under the assumption that services in California was not subject to sales tax. How does wedding photography work in the state of California? Is the cost for the physical components 'film, developing, printing, etc' broken out out of the total fee and sales tax then calculated on that part - or is the sales tax calculated on the total (including the part that is the 'service' (i.e. taking the photos, etc)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maury_cohen Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 Wrong assumption.Apparently the Board of Equalization views wedding photography as the product, wedding photographs. The act of taking the photos is hjust a part and parcel of the resulting photographs, which are the valuable entity.It's easiest to just collect tax on the total charges.In photo processing the negative processing used to be excluded from tax while the resulting prints WERE taxed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 California has alot of cool sales tax laws. Buy chewing gum and a Hersey bar; the gum is taxed; and the Hersey bar is not. Gum is not considered food!,<BR><BR>Talk to the tax board; and get a booklet of the rules. Charge the correct tax; an audit cost time and money. Your uncollected taxes will be added with interest...The states are hungry; the auditors will dig and find your mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_ Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 If California allows it, you should be able to get a sales tax exemption on the processing (negatives and prints,) along with film purchased for creating images for resale. Then the sales tax is collected on the prints you sell to your customer. (At least it can be done this way in Florida....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_dewberry Posted February 11, 2003 Share Posted February 11, 2003 The total cost of your wedding charge is subject to sales tax, thats it, plain & simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al_kaplan1 Posted February 11, 2003 Share Posted February 11, 2003 You may be able to get away without charging tax if the client supplies the film, and you give them back the unprocessed film at the end of the wedding. Then all you're supplying is labor, which many states don't tax. But you'll also be giving up most of your profit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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