How to Register for Florida Sales Tax (Step-by-Step Guide)

Here at LedgerGurus, we help ecommerce businesses and ecommerce accountants to go from feeling frustrated, confused, and scared about doing sales tax wrong, to feeling calm and clear about what exactly they need to do so they can boldly expand their business with confidence. So let's dive in.

1:02

This is also part two of the whole series where I talk about sales tax roadmap. From doing a nexus analysis, this is step two. It's to register. And then in the next video, I will talk about how to set up your channels to start collecting sales tax. Then we'll talk about how to collect and remit your sales tax, how to file the return, the basic logics of that. So watch out for those videos that are coming out.

With registration, after you decide where you have nexus, which is where you have an obligation to register and collect. If you don't know exactly what nexus is, go back to this video that I just did a couple weeks ago, that walks you through exactly what you need to know about nexus as an ecommerce seller.

1:52 Information to gather and why states ask

So you already know what states you're going to register in. So now it's time to gather all the information you need before you start the registration process.

Every state asks for different things, but there is a list of things that is generic for all the states. They want to know your business FEIN, so you always need to have a federal employment identification number. They want to know where your company is incorporated, what your number is with that state when you filed for the establishment of your company. They want to know the business address. They want to know the mailing address, if it's different from the physical business address.

They want to know what products you're selling, what service line you're in, whether you are a marketplace facilitator or not, because that will change how you register and what type of tax you should register for. And they also want to know whether you have any physical presence in their state. Do you have people and employees and properties, warehouses, inventory stored in that state? Do you have any company vehicles that travel to that state?

Besides that, the most important part is they want to know the owner's information, the owners of your company. They want to know your Social Security number, your name, your address, your phone number. Some even ask for your date of birth. And some states like California ask for a copy of your driver's license to verify who you are.

3:25

And the reason for all of this very private information is because sales tax, in essence, is a fiduciary tax. It's a trust tax. The states are trusting business owners to collect on their behalf.

So by registering, you become the state's agent and you are saying, okay, I as a business owner will collect sales tax on my sales from customers in your state on behalf of you. And that's why the state really want the owner's information, because they're holding the owners liable for any future liabilities.

So you have to provide them with your Social Security number, date of birth, and in some states a picture of your driver's license. And if you are an international seller, they might need a picture of your passport. And that's just part of the process.

4:20 Finding the right page and what to expect

Okay, so after you gather all this information, you will go to Google, and the easiest way to search is "state" sales tax registration. So for example, if I want to know how to register in California, I would Google "California sales tax registration," and then it should take you to the page on their Department of Revenue. Do not click out any other pages if it's not an official government website. So that's where you will go.

The registration process takes anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour. And after you finish the registration, make sure to save the confirmation number so you have a record of your completed registration.

And then after that, some states will ask you to pay a registration fee, but most states don't ask for that. And the states that do ask, I think the most I've seen are like $19 or 20 something dollars. It's not a huge amount. And most states do not ask you to pay a registration fee.

5:32

After all that is done, the process time for the state is 10 to 15 business days. So two to three weeks. And you will always receive a confirmation in your email saying that your registration's completed. And in two to three weeks they will either contact you by your email address that you provided during the registration process, or they will mail you your sales tax license to the physical location that you provided on your registration.

So be sure to put in the location where people are going to be checking for mails, because those letters from the states usually contain very important information about your sales tax permit and the instructions on how to set up online filing so you don't have to file paper forms.

Okay, so we talked about the registration, what information you need to register, the process, how long it takes, and what to expect after the registration.

6:35 Florida walkthrough, creating a login

And now I want to walk you through an example of registering in Florida so you can see this process from beginning to end. And let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

Okay, so now I'm going to share my screen and walk you through the Florida registration. As I mentioned before, when you go to Google, I would just search Florida sales tax registration. And it'll take you to these various links. You check that this one is to the Florida Department of Revenue, and you can click on it to see the content that gives you lots of information on the account, registration, and information on taxation of remote sellers.

It tells you the threshold is a hundred thousand dollars over the previous calendar year. And what about if you are a marketplace facilitator? Information you need to register, which we kind of went through the general ones, but I always recommend sellers to look at the specific state ones. It tells you how you can resume a registration using your user ID and password.

8:00

So the sales tax registration is usually in one of these quick links, or if you go to another state, they usually have a big box saying "register your business." That's where you would go.

So on here, I would click on register online to collect and pay tax, and it asks you to create a username and password. This is how you can keep track of your registration. So we would click on create user profile. And then on here, I'm just going to say LedgerGurus and my email. And we'll create a password, create new user profile.

Okay. Check your email for a confirmation email from Florida. Click on the link and use the link to login with your profile. So they send the confirmation to your email to make sure your email is a valid email address. So this is what it looks like. Thank you for registering with the Florida Department of Revenue, click here to confirm your registration. If it doesn't work, you can use the link. So we'll just click here, confirm our registration, and then we can go back and log in.

Okay. So Florida business tax application, no existing application found. We'll start a new application on here.

9:12 Business information and addresses

So after we created the login and we logged into our business application, on this left panel it tells you all the information and the steps you need, and a green check mark will appear once you complete that section. So for the purpose of demonstration, I already entered information for all of them so I can walk you through the steps.

Okay, so the first one, under business information, you can see there's reasons for applying, [unclear], and then business detail, whether you're a remote seller, business addresses, activities, business type. And if you are a sole proprietor for your business, you enter your information. If it's LLC, you need to enter partner information and any background. And then it asks you about the products you sell for sales tax. Then it asks for any other related fees that you might be obligated to collect. And then if you have any employment tax, then you click on enrollment, and then you submit the application.

10:13

So under reasons for applying, it's usually new registration. But if you're in Florida, you're adding a new location, pick the appropriate reasons that are applicable to your business.

First date of Florida taxable activity. This I want to stress, because whichever day you put on there is the date Florida is going to ask you to start collecting sales tax. So if you are using a future date, it will be the date that Florida asks you to collect sales tax. But if you passed the economic nexus prior to the date you're registering, for example you passed it on January 1st, 2022, if you put January 1st of 2022, then Florida would ask you to pay and file taxes from January until now. So be really careful on what date you put on here. Most of our clients use a future date, just for reference.

11:15

Okay, then you click on save and continue. Sorry, let's go back.

Then it's business details. Name of the business, phone number. If this business is a seasonal business, usually no, but maybe you are, then you click on yes.

Then it asks for if you are in Florida, and if your business is outside of Florida. So if you are a remote seller exceeding the 100,000 sales, or if your business is outside of Florida but you are a marketplace facilitator, you have to answer both questions. Most of the time, if you're selling directly to consumers, it's yes and no. Also, if you are voluntarily registering in Florida without passing the economic nexus threshold, you can pick no on here as well.

Then it asks for business addresses. So you put your physical location and your mailing address on here.

Then it asks for business activity reporting. You can use an NAICS code and look for this exact industry you are in, or you can write a written description. So then it just shows what it is. This is just an example that I'm using.

12:33 Business type, activities, and submission

Okay. And then business type, you can select sole proprietor or partnership, corporation, LLC. And depending on what type of entity you are, the next page will ask for different information. So I picked sole proprietor, so then it asks for my personal information. But if you select an LLC or corporation, it might ask for different information about your business.

The background. Has your business ever been known by another name? No. Was the business in Florida issued a certificate of registration before? No. If you're registering a new business, these questions should be no.

13:16

Then sales and use tax. It asks if you're selling products to consumers, or if you are selling products at wholesale, or if this doesn't apply to you.

Then it's a questionnaire asking you, do you sell prepaid phones? Then you probably need to pay the E911 fee to Florida. If you sell tires for vehicles, or sell remanufactured lead acid batteries, then you are subject to an additional fee. And then if you have employees at this location, or if you will lease workers, then you are subject to the reemployment tax.

And after you fill out all of this information, it asks you if you want to pay and file return electronically. It's yes. It's so much easier to do it online, and then you can enroll now. And then it'll ask you for your ACH information, or you can enroll later, or you don't have to enroll in an ACH pull. You can simply say, okay, I want to file electronically, and then I can decide what method I'll pay for my tax later when I do my filing.

14:37

And then the last one is your email and signature. Let me just show you that page really quick. They'll tell you, okay, so you are registering for sales and use tax. And this is where you have to declare that you are giving all the correct information to your best knowledge, and you will notify Department of Revenue of any changes, if there were any changes that contradict the information you already provided on here. So just a lot of signatures, and then you click on submit application.

15:19 Applying this to other states

Okay, so that was it for Florida. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments.

The other states are very similar to it. Ask about your business, then it asks about the owner, the type of the business, your information, what products do you sell, what activities do you sell, lots of questions on additional taxes that you might be subject to, and then ask for a signature at the end.

So if you are registering for another state, follow the exact logics that I showed in the Florida registration. And let me know if you run into any questions or anything that you are not sure what to put in.

Again, the most important part of the registration is the nexus date, is when you started having taxable sales into that state. That's the date you need to put in, and know that that's the date the state will require you to start collecting and filing.

And another part of the information that Florida doesn't have, but some other states have, is they ask you for your estimated sales. So this number will give them an idea of your filing frequency. The more you sell into that state, the more frequently they would want to collect your sales tax for. So keep that in mind as well.

16:38

Information like this is part of the course we're providing for ecommerce sellers and accountants, to help them manage sales tax themselves. This is actually a little glimpse of what our module two looks like. It tells you the registration process, and we have downloadables for each and every single state, step by step, just like what I did for Florida, but for all the states. So if you're interested in our course, please go to LedgerGurusUniversity.com. I'll also put link below in the description, so you can check out our course.

The next video that I'm going to do is to set up channels, so you can start collecting sales tax correctly in preparation for filing your sales tax.

So let me know if you have any comments. Reach out to us if you are over 2 million and want us to help you with your sales tax or your accounting needs. Check out our course at LedgerGurusUniversity.com. And if you haven't, download our 10 Steps so sales tax doesn't burn down your business. I'll see you in the next video. Bye.