Do you include sales tax in your wedding package prices?
 

When you quote wedding package prices, do the prices include sales tax or do you add sales tax on to the package price?

An excerpt from my contract: "Price for the event including 2 camera coverage is $xxxx.xx; taxes extra."

This gives an easy number for the couple to compare your work to the others...

I do not include sales tax in my package rates. I tell clients that there is CA sales tax to be added.

I don't know anybody that quotes a price which includes taxes because it's not yours to quote. (i.e. it has nothing to do with you - it's a government imposed tariff).

I just give a fixed quote and add that "plus tax" dislclaimer to it.

I don't post taxes.
Clients see calculated taxes in contract just above the signature block.

Taxation will depend upon the laws of your state of residence. In Colorado, for example, I am classified as a primarily service oriented business. Producing a video is essentially service oriented, as is the work of photographers, engineers, attorneys, advertising agencies, etc. Basically, whatever goes into the service agreement does not quality as a sales taxable item.

However, I do not engage in exclusive service oriented business activity. Were I to sell additional copies of a video over the agreed quantity in my contract, those copies would indeed qualify as sales taxable items; not only to the state, but also to the city and county in which my business resides. Rental of any equipment I own must also be subject to sales tax if it goes to a private individual or business. Rental of the same equipment to another business with a legitimate business license, who chooses to pass the costs on to another customer, is considered a wholesale transaction. It will ultimately be subject to sales tax...but only when the final transaction becomes retail...not my responsibility.

Most of my business is classified as labor and not subject to sales tax.

Consult with the local representative of your state's department of revenue. They will be able to give you the perspective you need to conform to the laws of your state. Tax responsibility varies depending the kind of industry you sell and where your business is physically located.

taxes
 

So the above is pretty much the way things work for me as well. The production is a service, but additional copies of the video require sales tax. So I have a state sales tax ID (even a use tax ID, though I don't have anythign to rent out).

jason

No Taxes on Labor in most States
 

See posting:

http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=3464

Bottom line, labor and master copy is usually not taxable, but media copies and other materials are taxable.

Regards, Michael