• I’m an author and sell on Amazon: How does sales tax work? (TaxJar) "Probably the best thing about publishing your own book through Amazon Author Central is that you are not the seller of record. Why is this so great? Because it means you are not responsible for collecting the sales tax on the books you publish!
"In this case, Amazon is the seller of record and will sell the book on your behalf. So when readers get the receipt from your book, they'll see that they bought it from Amazon and not from you directly. If you are selling your book through Amazon, Amazon takes care of charging your customers sales tax and remitting sales tax to the state. So Amazon charges and collects sales tax in states where digital books are taxable. You don't have to worry about collecting sales tax on the books you sell!
"...A good rule of thumb is to remember that sales tax is always due if a transaction is taxable. Either Amazon (or a publisher, bookstore, etc. that you have a working relationship with) should collect tax from the customer, you should collect it from the customer, or the customer should pay use tax."
But if you do sell books directly (at a book fair or craft show, for example), you are responsible for paying sales tax on the items you sold.
These resources seem like a good primer on the topic, but let me know if I should link to others as well:
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• Sales Tax Basics for Writers (Helen Sedwick)
• Selling Books & Sales Tax: Practical Things You Need to Know (Clearsight Books)
• Sales Tax Resources & Updates (Sales Tax Institute) Bookmark this page, useful for all things sales and use tax!
Here you’ll find quick-reference charts, whitepapers, helpful tools, legislative updates, directories, FAQs and more.
• Frequently Asked Questions about Sales Tax (Sales Tax Institute)