Tuesday, September 23, 2014

On the Grid Part 2: EIN's, Sales Tax ID's, and Reseller's Certificates

Ok so now, Created by Ta Ankh is officially a business, so

it's time to get it straight with Uncle Sam.

The first step was for me to go online and get my EIN number, or Employee Identification Number.

This is kind of like the social security number for your business. It is free and takes about 5 minutes or


The hours of operation are Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. You can't apply at other times.

Once you get your number, you must save a copy of it. I printed mine for my files, saved a copy on my hard drive, and make sure the number is on me should I need it.

Once I was straight with the federal government, it was time to get straight with the state of New York. Paying taxes varies from state to state. Some have no taxes, some have taxes only on certain things, and some try to kill you, like New York. In addition, they call ability to collect taxes on your items by different names, like seller's permit, sales tax ID, etc. In New York, it's called a Certificate of Authority, and the number you get will be the exact same number as your EIN from the federal government. Here, once you get it you will be required to file your taxes quarterly for the first year, no later than 20 days after that quarter ends, and all done online unless there's some reason that you can't. They may switch you up after that, with some having to file monthly, or yearly or whatever.

I had to create an account with the state government (I already had one because I had received unemployment), but now I had to add a business section to it, and ask for access to all of their services. I then had to give them my EIN/Certificate of Authority number, or either my social security. I remembered that all

the accountants had said not to put your social all over the place. They had sent me a notice telling me when I

had to have my account up and running for, and when my first filing deadline was and they had given me a temporary pin number. I had to declare my jurisdiction and they determined what my tax rate was. I pay a tax rate that is a combo platter of New York State and New York City, and my first payment was about $22 and change, $21.50 because I got a little discount for being a vendor.

I was also interested in what if I wanted to buy wholesale as well. I found out that I could use my EIN/Certificate of Authority in those instances so I would not have to pay taxes on purchases, and that sometimes a Resale Certificate would have to be sent to the seller. Haven't done that, but I'm looking forward to buy my supplies wholesale to cut my costs in the future.

My Certificate of Authority had gotten lost in the mail, so I had to call and let them know, and they issued another one that arrived the very day my first filing was due. But all that time I was watching for it like I was getting a present or something. It kind of made me feel more legit, even though now I have to pay my taxes and file those forms. I'm glad that I can now get space at different fairs and things, because you need that number to get a temporary vendor's license in New York.

I'm on my way. We'll see soon what the ups and downs are of being on the grid.

 

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