Should I add sales tax to customer invoices?

[newyorker]

My company is a domestic LLC with a physical address in Albany, NY. However we do a business in New York City and New Jersey only. We offer airport pickup services where we match our bilinguals employees with clients that arrive to any of three airports in the city. We don't sell any products. My question is should I add sales tax to a total price when invoicing our clients?
All I could find is


Purchases above $110 are subject to a 4.5% NYC Sales Tax and a 4% NY State Sales Tax. The City Sales Tax rate is 4.5%, NY State Sales and Use Tax is 4% and the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District surcharge of 0.375% for a total Sales and Use Tax of 8.875 percent.

But I'm not sure if it's for goods only or for services as well. If so, any sales for less than $110 won't be taxed? And all sales above $110 must be taxed by 8.875%? Please help to figure this out.

Thank you.

[Harold Mansfield]

I've set up ecommerce sites with a zillion different tax rates for New York and it's a pain.
You need to consult a tax person, or go to the source and ask the tax office in New York. They should be able to give you all of the information you need as a business on what and how to charge the appropriate tax and whatever the different airport fees are.

[huggytree]

you need to ask your accountant and not strangers via the internet about this one

[Freelancier]

The NY Department of Revenue or whatever they call it should be able to advise you about whether you need to charge a sales tax. Because you're also offering services in NJ, you might need to contact them as well to see what's needed to be legal with them.

[shrinkme]

Ya, I would defer to your accountant.

[newyorker]

Maybe there is a good accountant from New Jersey or New York City here. You never know. I got a few advisors but will meet next Wednesday and ask them. They might know.

[tallen]

I never understand why people don't just go straight to the source, in this case the State of New York Department of Taxation and Finance, and just ask them directly!

[huggytree]

Maybe there is a good accountant from New Jersey or New York City here. You never know. I got a few advisors but will meet next Wednesday and ask them. They might know.

even if there was someone here claiming to be an accountant from NY here why would you take his advice??

call your own accountant and make him get the info for you...mine did for me

[Brian Altenhofel]

I never understand why people don't just go straight to the source, in this case the State of New York Department of Taxation and Finance, and just ask them directly!

Because in some states, the source might give you wrong information and leave you on the hook for acting on it. "The Government told me to do it" is not a valid defense in most jurisdictions. "My accountant told me to do it" also isn't, but at least you can recover damages from the accountant.

[Harold Mansfield]

I don't live in New York, but I've had experience with setting up the ridiculous amount of tax levels based on all of the tax jurisdictions and you definitely want to see a professional on this. From what I've seen it's mind boggling doing business in New York and New Jersey.

As far as the airport fees go, you should be able to get all of that information from the Port Authority since NJ and NY airports are run by a joint operation port authority. ( I learned that following the Christie Bridgegate story :))

[newyorker]

There is nothing to do with airport fees. International clients will book our services and we have to provide it and apply state/city sales taxes. As I found in another topic, New York is has a destination based sales tax which means I might need to add 8.875% to any clients from jfk and laguardia. I don't know anything about New Jersey but will ask. I asked that question only in hope that someone has done something similar before so don't judge. Thanks anyways.

[Harold Mansfield]

I don't think anyone here is judging anything. We're giving you the advice you asked for. And the common consensus is that you need to speak to a professional. Even if someone had done it before, taxes is not something that you want to take advice on from strangers because no situation is exactly alike. You want to make sure that you are doing it correctly for yourself, so see a local accountant or tax adviser.

I only mentioned airport fees because I know for a fact that most airports charge any vehicle picking up as a paid service or even a free shuttle, a service fee that is from the Department of Taxation. That's in addition to your normal sales tax.