Sales tax compliance can get complicated as a company expands, and understanding the varying sales tax laws can complicate things even further. In this article, we discuss the differences between sales tax and use tax.

Sales tax compliance can get complicated as a company expands, and understanding the varying sales tax laws can complicate things even further. In this article, we discuss the differences between sales tax and use tax.

## What is sales tax?

Sales tax is a tax imposed on the sale of goods and services, calculated as a percentage of the purchase price, and added to the final cost of products or services. The sales tax rate varies in each state, with different states and localities having their own rates. In the United States, sales tax is not a federal tax, but rather a state and local tax.

## What is use tax?

Use tax is a tax that is imposed on the use, storage, or consumption of goods and services that were purchased without paying sales tax. It is typically imposed by the state or local government where the goods or services are used, and the rate is often the same as the sales tax rate. Use tax is designed to ensure that people who purchase goods and services from out-of-state vendors or online retailers pay the same amount of tax as they would if they purchased the goods or services locally.

## How are sales tax and use tax different?

Sales tax and use tax are both types of taxes that are imposed on the sale of goods and services. The main difference between the two is that sales tax is a tax on the sale of tangible personal property, while use tax is a tax on the use of that property within a state.

Sales tax is generally charged by the seller at the time of the sale, while use tax is typically self-assessed by the purchaser when the seller has not charged sales tax. Use tax is often applied to goods that are purchased outside of the purchaser’s state and then brought into the state for use, as well as to goods that are purchased online or through catalogs.

Historically, in-state sellers collected the sales tax, while purchasers paid the use tax on sales that occurred out-of-state or in interstate commerce. In the post-*Wayfair* world, a remote seller is often required to collect the tax, whether the state labels it a sales tax or a use tax.

Understanding the difference between sales tax and use tax

Is shipping taxable?

Managing Product TIC Mapping with Product Catalog

Sales Tax Holidays & Product Codes (TICs)

TaxCloud Taxability Information Codes (TIC)

Taxability and TICs

Calculating sales tax on Digital Goods

Calculating sales tax on P.O. Boxes

Does TaxCloud Calculate Sales Tax for International Orders?

Guidelines on When TaxCloud May Cover Penalties and Interest (P&I) for Sales Tax Fiilings

How does New York handle sales tax on apparel under \$110?

How does TaxCloud round sales tax?

Is the plus 4 zip code extension (9 digit zip) required to calculate sales tax?

What is Sales Tax Sourcing?

What is Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) and do they cover TaxCloud services?

How do I know if I've reached Economic Nexus in a state?

What is Nexus?

What is Washington B&O Tax?

Tax Concepts

What is TaxCloud's Premium Trial?

How to Take Your Integration Live

Preparing For Onboarding

TaxCloud Onboarding Webinars

How to Set Up and Manage Locations

Getting Started

How Payment Methods Are Used For Billing and Tax Funding

How can I get a copy of my TaxCloud invoice receipt?

How do I change my default payment method?

How to Add a Payment Method in TaxCloud

Billing and Payments

How to create a TaxCloud account?

Account Setup

TaxCloud Account Lockout Policy

I have a new EIN. How does that impact my TaxCloud account?

How to Close Your TaxCloud Account and Cancel Subscription

How to Use Multi-Account Login

How to add/remove a contact from your TaxCloud account.

Verify Your TaxCloud Account is Complete for Calculations

Video: How to complete your TaxCloud Business Profile

How do I reset my Password?

How to Enable & Disable Tax Collection in a State

How to Update My New Business Address With The States?

Best Practices for your TaxCloud Account

Account Management

Account and Billing

Changing your TaxCloud Subscription Plan

Fee Schedule: Understanding TaxCloud Fees

Understanding the difference between TaxCloud Starter and Premium Plans

Plans and Pricing

TaxCloud System Status

Where to Find Your API Key & Login ID

What are API calls and what do they do?

TaxCloud's APIs

Understanding Nexus Threshold Calculations

How do I confirm a rate with TaxCloud?

How do I find my Merchant Number?

Is TaxCloud collecting Illinois Retailer's Occupation Tax (ROT)?

What Services Does TaxCloud Provide?

What happens if I go over my allotment of orders?

What is a voluntary seller?

What is an order in TaxCloud?

Can TaxCloud help with my State Income Taxes?

How to Speak to a Member of Each State's Tax Authority or Department of Revenue

How to Speak to a member of each state's DOR

What are Home Rule States?

What is a multi-state id or sstid?

Does TaxCloud collect the Colorado Retail Delivery Fee (CO RDF)?

Understanding the Minnesota Delivery Fee

General

What is an Exemption Certificate?

How to Upload Exemption Certificates in Bulk

How to Add an Exemption Certificate to TaxCloud

Exemptions and Certificates

How to contact TaxCloud?

TaxCloud Audit Support Overview

Support and Resources

Michigan - Business Taxes Registration Summary of Changes

Rhode Island - Failure to Renew

Colorado SUTS Filing Reminder Notices

Texas - Notice of Tax/Fee Due

Texas - Sales & Use Tax Return Paper Form

Florida - Credit Memo

Florida Hunting, Fishing, and Camping Sales Tax Holiday (Sept 8 – Dec 31, 2025)

Arkansas - Excise, Waste Tire or Withholding Wage Tax

Louisiana State Sales Tax Rate Update

Does TaxCloud Handle Sales Tax License Renewals?

How to register in a new state and obtain my Sales Tax License

Indiana - Notice of Proposed Assessment

Nebraska - Enforcement of Lien Notice

New Jersey - Certificate of Registration

North Carolina - Certificate of Registration

Tennessee - Notice of Overpayment

When To Forward a State Notice to Taxcloud

Wyoming - License Certificate

Connecticut - Delinquency Notice

California - CDTFA Statement of Account

State Notices and Licenses

Navigating Your Tax Dashboard

Understanding the Dashboard in Your <PERSON> Account

Navigating the TaxCloud Portal

Uploading Historical and Marketplace Transactions via CSV

How to Import Partial Refunds via CSV

CSV Template Required Fields and Column Descriptions

What is TaxCloud's policy regarding Transaction import timing?

When is the deadline to upload my transactions to TaxCloud?

Why are exempt sales taxing in my import?

Uploading Transactions via CSV

How to Upload Transactions via CSV

Transactions: Import and Export

Can I edit a transaction?

How to Locate a Transaction URL in TaxCloud

Managing your transactions

Transaction Timestamp Policy

How to Filter Transactions with Advanced Search

How to manually return a transaction in TaxCloud?

Setting the Transaction Shipping Destination

How to Manually Add a Transaction

How to View and Share Transaction Details

Transactions: Overview

Using the Download Center for Reports

Does Washington B&O (excise) Tax Appear in Your TaxCloud Reporting?

Understanding the differences between TaxCloud Tax Reporting and Your Platform's Tax Reporting

When does TaxCloud pull my tax funding?

Understanding Tax Reports and Drilling Into Transaction Details

Reporting

Transactions and Reporting

Managing Your Tax Thresholds

South Dakota - Sales & Use Tax Return Paper Form

Does TaxCloud File in Louisiana?

Filing: State-Specific Workflows

Enabling Filing in TaxCloud (via Thresholds Page)

How can TaxCloud assist with Filing?

How do I confirm my filings have been submitted in SST / Streamline member states?

How do I know if TaxCloud is filing for me in a state?

I just got a filing frequency change notice, what should I do?

Understanding TaxCloud's Filing Costs & Filing Subscription

Why might my Direct Filing ACH be less than what TaxCloud is saying I collected.

How to Request TaxCloud to Begin Filing Sales Tax Returns

How to Stop Filings with TaxCloud

Filing: Managing Filing in TaxCloud

Does TaxCloud file Withholding Tax?

Understanding Your Tax Reporting Page

What are TaxCloud Filing Fees?

What does it cost for TaxCloud to file for me in non-SST states?

Filing: General

Filing and Compliance

Building a custom API connection with TaxCloud

Building a direct API integration with TaxCloud

Reviewing and Submitting an Exemption Certificate

How to Add and Manage Integrations in TaxCloud

Video: How to add or disable an integration

General Integrations

How the QuickBooks Online Integration Works

Connecting TaxCloud to QuickBooks Online

Changing the Sales Tax Display Mode for QuickBooks Online

Managing Exempt Customers in TaxCloud for QuickBooks Online

Managing Invoices with Multiple Payments in Quickbooks (Real-Time Integration)

QuickBooks Online Integration: How to Resolve a Missing Account, Product Code, or Sales Tax Item Error

Troubleshooting QuickBooks Online Tax Calculation Errors

Managing your QuickBooks Online Product Catalog TICs in TaxCloud

Calculating Sales Tax on QuickBooks Online Invoices

Calculating Sales Tax on QuickBooks Online Sales Receipts

Calculating Sales Tax on Estimates

Calculating Sales Tax on Credit Memos

Calculating Sales Tax on Refund Receipts

QuickBooks Online

How to Download Debug Logs in TaxCloud for WooCommerce

Connecting TaxCloud to WooCommerce

Enabling Exemptions In TaxCloud for WooCommerce

How to Configure WooCommerce Order Capture Behavior with TaxCloud

Understanding WooCommerce Integration Modes

How to Enable Rate Limiting in TaxCloud for WooCommerce

WooCommerce-Plugin-Settings-Reference

WooCommerce

How to connect my Odoo store to TaxCloud

How to Connect my TaxCloud Account to Odoo Sale (Loyalty)

How To Connect my TaxCloud Account to Odoo Sale (Loyalty) - Delivery

How to Connect my TaxCloud Account to Odoo eCommerce

How to Connect my TaxCloud Account to Odoo Sale

How to Connect my TaxCloud Account to Odoo Amazon/TaxCloud Bridge

How to Connect my TaxCloud Account to Odoo TaxCloud & Subscriptions

Upgrading TaxCloud Modules in Odoo

Odoo

Connecting TaxCloud to BigCommerce

Marking a Customer Exempt in BigCommerce

Upgrading from the Legacy BigCommerce Integration

Why do my TaxCloud orders have Fallback rates in BigCommerce?

BigCommerce

Connecting TaxCloud to Shopify

Updating to TaxCloud's new Shopify App (June 2024)

How to Mark Customers Tax Exempt in Shopify

Shopify Reporting FAQ

Shopify

Connecting TaxCloud to Miva

Miva

Connecting TaxCloud to Chargebee

Chargebee

Connecting TaxCloud to Adobe Commerce or Magento

Marking Customers Exempt in Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce & Magento

Integrations