Online Shoppers Should Pay Attention to Sales Tax

“Cyber Monday” sales increased nearly 30% over last year, according to early reports from IBM Benchmark.  Many online retailers are now collecting and remitting Pennsylvania’s 6% statewide sales tax, but the Department of Revenue is still advising shoppers to save their receipts.

“The first thing to do is to check and see if sales tax was charged on the online purchase.  If it was charged, then the consumer doesn’t need to do anything,” explains Department of Revenue spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell.

But if you don’t see sales tax on your purchase records, Brassell says it’s the responsibility of the consumer to report the “use tax” to the state when computing their 2012 tax returns. 

It appears that many more people are taking notice of the sales & use tax rules, as the state collected $3.8-million dollars in self-reported use tax last year via a new, simplified process on the PA-40 tax form.