Volunteer Seller Assessment

ASSESSMENT

Six Questions to Assess your Volunteer Seller Status

This assessment is designed to help you determine whether you qualify for Volunteer Seller Status, which reduces your sales tax risk, burden and costs, in one or more of the 24 Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) states.

Qualifying as a Volunteer Seller allows you to benefit from reduced risk, burden, and cost when you partner with Sovos as your Certified Service Provider (CSP) for sales tax compliance. This partnership enables you to outsource most administrative compliance processes, saving time while maintaining confidence in the accuracy of your sales tax data. 

The below legal definitions should be referenced when utilizing this assessment.

Six Questions to Assess your Volunteer Seller Status

In answering these questions, remember that a company’s status as a “Volunteer Seller” is evaluated on a state-by-state basis, meaning your inability to qualify in State A (e.g. Kentucky) does not impact your ability to qualify in State B (e.g. Rhode Island). As such, consider each of the Streamlined Sales Tax states separately as you answer the following questions.

DEFINITION

What is the legal definition of Property?

  • “Property” is the Average Value of the Seller’s real property and tangible personal property owned or rented by the Seller.
  • Property owned by the Seller is valued at its original cost basis.
  • Property rented by the Seller is valued at eight times the net annual rental rate.
  • Net annual rental rate is the annual rental rate paid by the Seller less any annual rental rate received by the Seller from sub-rentals.
  • The “Average Value” of Property shall be determined by averaging the values at the beginning and end of the twelve (12) month period immediately preceding the date of registration with the Streamlined State.
DEFINITION

What is the legal definition of Payroll?

  • “Payroll” is the total amount paid by the Seller for Compensation during the twelve (12) month period immediately preceding the date of registration with the Streamlined State.
  • “Compensation” means wages, salaries, commissions and any other form of remuneration paid to employees and defined as gross income under Internal Revenue Code §61.
  • Compensation is paid in a Streamlined State if (1) the individual’s service is performed entirely within the Streamlined State, (2) the individual’s service is performed both within and outside the Streamlined State, but the service performed outside the Streamlined State is incidental to the individual’s service within the Streamlined State, or
  • (3) some of the service is performed in the Streamlined State and (a) the base of operations, or if there is no base of operations, the place from which the service is directed or controlled, is in the Streamlined State, or (b) the base of operations or the place from which the service is directed or controlled is not in any state in which some part of the service is performed, but the individual’s residence is in the Streamlined State
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