Who Pays Sales Taxes on School Yearbooks?

Over the years we have discussed this question with accountants, lawyers, Departments of Revenue and other “experts” in the field. As expected, we have received many different answers. There is no one answer that fits every school in every situation. The answer lies with your state’s taxation authority. For example, in Florida it is the Florida Department of Revenue. In California, it would best be answered by The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. PLEASE NOTE: No matter what you call it in your state, whomever is responsible for the collection of sales taxes should be your direct contact to best answer this question.

So Who Pays Sales Tax On School Yearbooks?

Each school and each situation are different. In order to determine who pays the sales tax for your school yearbooks, you should start by answering the following questions:

• Are you, as a school, purchasing all yearbooks on behalf of the students?
• Are the parents of each student purchasing yearbooks online from the yearbook publisher’s website or from a school provided website?

Your answers to each of these questions may required you to collect sales tax, depending on your state’s taxation laws.

Then there’s the whole topic of Nexus and how your yearbook provider having Nexus designation in a particular state may affect their responsibility to collect sales tax. We could discuss this for days, but we will spare you the boring details.

Applying for Tax Exemption on School Yearbooks: What You Should Know

If you think you are exempt from state sales tax, virtually every state is going to require you to have some sort of sales tax exemption documentation. To get this documentation, you will need to apply for it directly from your state. Without a valid tax exemption certificate or the like, you will be required to collect sales tax. If you haven’t already applied for this tax exemption, we recommend doing it as soon as possible.

If you’re not getting the answers you are looking for and it seems the answer is ambiguous, we recommend paying the sales tax to your state. The fines and penalties for not paying the required sales tax could end up costing more than the sales tax itself.  Also, don’t forget to collect any surcharges your county might add on. Yep, your county may want a piece of the action also.