The PA governor is proposing adding a sales tax on professional services. Apparently it is only on services provided to individuals (not business to business), so it would not affect me (I only work for other companies usually as a sub).
How many other states have this? Seems like it would be difficult to distinguish which jobs are taxable. etc.
That does sound like a pain. We don't have it, just a tax on us as a service which is a gross tax. We do have a lot of little Cities trying to tax us to death though. We get licensing fees if we work in their City, which is fairly impossible to check for them and completely painful for us. Bureaucrats trying to hard not to live within their means
John Hamilton, post: 346836, member: 640 wrote: The PA governor is proposing adding a sales tax on professional services. Apparently it is only on services provided to individuals (not business to business), so it would not affect me (I only work for other companies usually as a sub).
How many other states have this? Seems like it would be difficult to distinguish which jobs are taxable. etc.
Texas requires we collect sales tax professional services involving sale of real property (ie boundary surveys) and insurance (final EC's).
The Texas sales tax actually is levied on any survey that involves anything in relation to the location of a boundary and the use of a boundary for other locations.
Once the construction baseline has been established and used as control, no tax is collected for the rest of the project, unless it is necessary to go back to the boundary to set control.
To make the whole stupid ideal complex - The tax rate that is used is reliant upon where the work is performed and whether the work is generated from your office, home or project and/or a combination of all three or more factors concerning location.
To add to the equation, an inventory and record of supplies on hand concerning what we buy to set and use on our projects.
It is also necessary to keep up with a certificate that allows us to be able to buy supplies without paying sales tax for items that once we use and/or sell them we must collect sales tax.
I've go to check and see if the current rate has changed because I read about the state approving an additional amount to cover paying for some statewide expenses.
It never ends and is truly maddening to think about............
"please continue to lobby for the repeal of this tax"
That proposal appears every so often in the California legislature. Fortunately, most legislators come from some manner of professional services background or a business background so that they can easily imagine the impact upon them personally once they term out, so it rarely makes it past the middle of any legislative sessions before fading away.
Do you have to get a license for every city in which you work? In Georgia the courts have ruled that since we are licensed by the State we only need a business license only in the city (county) where we maintain an office.
Andy
We collect sales tax on any billed amount in WA.
And then there is the B&O tax...
But we have no individual income taxes.
Andy Bruner, post: 346885, member: 1123 wrote: Do you have to get a license for every city in which you work? In Georgia the courts have ruled that since we are licensed by the State we only need a business license only in the city (county) where we maintain an office.
Andy
Yes, right now we are getting hit from just about every City, some are too small and some aren't as greedy. I need to ask the bookkeeper how many, but, 15 would not surprise me. We need a ruling like yours, and I am sure it is coming
Yes, right now we are getting hit from just about every City, some are too small and some aren't as greedy. I need to ask the bookkeeper how many, but, 15 would not surprise me. We need a ruling like yours, and I am sure it is coming
Washington does not require us to collect sales tax as we have B&O. You may want to double check with your accountant, but, I have asked this question many times and the answer has not changed
It has come up and gone done quickly several times.
Adding 9 percent or whatever it is to all doctor bills and lawyer bills really makes the idea seem unworkable. A high percentage of the public get those kinds of bills and have no interest in them being any bigger.
John Hamilton, post: 346836, member: 640 wrote: The PA governor is proposing adding a sales tax on professional services. Apparently it is only on services provided to individuals (not business to business), so it would not affect me (I only work for other companies usually as a sub).
How many other states have this? Seems like it would be difficult to distinguish which jobs are taxable. etc.
Arizona currently does not have it. Every few years it comes up as a topic.
New Zealand has a 15% Goods and Services Tax
(aka GST or Grab Snatch Take or Government Sponsored Theft)
It applies to pretty much everything - including our surveying work. There are only a few very limited exemptions
On the Federal tax forms there is a place for expenses paid for professional services. The only profession that falls in that deduction box is a Lawyer.
My accountant told me money I paid to other surveyors (as a sub) does not count.
Just my own thoughts are, the state would have to change their tax forms for a deduction.
I can not find the word "professional" (by its self) in any of my legal dictionaries. Alone it is an adjective.
I think I would go along with a tax on surveys, only if the money went strictly toward improving the land tenure system within the state. Like building and maintaining a real, surveyed and legally binding land registration system which would give the public more certainty as to the title and location of their real properties.
Jim in AZ, post: 346981, member: 249 wrote: Arizona currently does not have it. Every few years it comes up as a topic.
You are correct, of course, but I know a surveyor who includes a sales tax in his invoices. One wonders what happens to that money.
GST, gonna use that one!