Sales tax compliance
Nexus analysis, state registration, monthly filings, exemption certificates, and audit support — for e-commerce, SaaS, and service businesses with multi-state exposure. Post-Wayfair, it’s no longer optional. Delivered by Certified ProAdvisors, on your QuickBooks data.
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Real credentials held by our firm and operators — verification available on request.
Sales tax compliance is the recurring operational work of determining where you owe (economic + physical nexus), registering with each state, collecting at the right rates, filing on each state’s schedule, remitting, managing exemption certificates, and answering notices and audits — delivered by Certified ProAdvisors and reconciled to your QuickBooks data. Typically $250–$1,500+/month by state count.
Sales tax compliance is the ongoing operational work of determining where a business owes sales tax (economic and physical nexus analysis), registering with each state and local jurisdiction, collecting tax at the right rates, filing returns on each state’s schedule, remitting collected tax, managing exemption certificates, and responding to state notices and audits.
The 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair ruling created economic-nexus rules — most states now require collection once a business exceeds thresholds like $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions (specifics vary). Most multi-state U.S. small businesses, e-commerce sellers, and SaaS companies now have obligations they didn’t have before. TechBrot delivers compliance as a recurring engagement — $250–$1,500+/month by state count and complexity — integrated with monthly bookkeeping for clean transaction-level data. Initial nexus analysis and registration are quoted as one-time engagements.
Multi-state · all 50 states + local jurisdictions · coordinated with tax counsel when required. Not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
Direct online sales hit economic-nexus thresholds in 5–15 states within 1–2 years for most growing brands. Unlike marketplace sales, marketplace-facilitator laws don’t apply — you collect and remit directly.
Marketplace-facilitator laws shift most collection to the marketplace — but FBA inventory creates physical nexus in storage states, and direct sales outside the marketplace still trigger your own compliance. A common confusion zone.
SaaS taxability varies wildly — some states fully tax, some fully exempt, some apply conditional rules. A multi-state SaaS company typically needs jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction taxability analysis to know where collection is required.
Once a business has customers across more than 10 states, the probability of economic-nexus exposure approaches certainty. The question becomes which states — not whether.
State sales-tax notices are routine outreach, not adversarial — but ignoring them compounds the problem. A notice typically means the state believes you have nexus and wants registration to begin.
Sales-tax exposure is one of the first things diligence teams examine in M&A and capital events. Unreported liability can materially affect valuation or kill deals. Quantifying exposure before diligence beats during.
A named Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor with multi-state sales-tax experience, under platform-level quality review. For VDAs, audits with significant exposure, or tax-position disputes we coordinate with state-specific sales-tax counsel — operational compliance is ours; legal representation runs through licensed professionals.
On a fixed monthly cadence: data capture & reconciliation (days 1–7), return preparation (days 7–15), filing & remittance on each state’s required schedule (days 15–25), then notices & nexus monitoring (days 25–31). Each state has its own due date; the cadence keeps every one on time.
Yes — and it has to. Filings are only as accurate as the transaction data underneath. Sales-by-state flows from your QuickBooks file (plus Shopify/Amazon) into return prep and reconciles to the books monthly, which is why running it with our monthly bookkeeping removes the reconciliation gap entirely.
Three places: Amazon FBA inventory (creates physical nexus in storage states even when the marketplace collects), expired or missing exemption certificates (B2B sales become taxable retroactively in audit), and mixed revenue streams (product + SaaS + marketplace each taxed differently per state).
A state-by-state taxability map for your specific revenue mix — where you have nexus, where you must register, and what each state taxes. It usually takes 1–2 weeks and is a one-time engagement (typically $500–$2,000) separate from the monthly retainer.
Before 2018, sales-tax obligations followed physical presence — a business owed sales tax in a state only if it had a location, employees, or inventory there. Out-of-state e-commerce sellers had no general obligation where they had no physical footprint.
In June 2018, the Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. overturned that physical-presence standard, allowing states to impose obligations based on economic nexus — sales volume or transaction count alone. Within months, most U.S. states adopted economic-nexus rules, typically pegged to thresholds like $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions in a calendar year (specifics vary and have shifted).
The practical result: most U.S. small businesses operating across state lines now have multi-state sales-tax obligations they didn’t have before 2018 — and most haven’t caught up. Quantifying exposure is the first step; compliance going forward is the second. A nexus review usually takes 1–2 weeks and produces a state-by-state map of where you stand.
The post-Wayfair nexus framework: before 2018, sales-tax obligations followed physical presence — a location, employees, or inventory in a state. South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. (June 2018) replaced that with economic nexus: a state can require you to collect once you exceed its threshold — typically $100,000 in sales OR 200 transactions in a calendar year (specifics vary by state and have shifted). Layer on marketplace-facilitator laws (the platform collects on marketplace sales, but FBA inventory still creates physical nexus) and most multi-state small businesses now have obligations they didn’t have before 2018 — and most haven’t caught up.
General guidance — specific taxability depends on each state’s rules, your revenue mix, and customer location. The nexus review produces a state-by-state map for your situation.
Compliance load: High. Direct sales mean you collect and remit in every nexus state — no marketplace-facilitator coverage. Economic nexus typically triggers in 5–15 states within 12–24 months.
Watch for: Sales through your own site vs. marketplace platforms run on different rules — track both streams from day one.
Compliance load: Moderate. Marketplace-facilitator laws shift collection to the platform, but you still register in physical-nexus states, report marketplace sales in some states, and handle direct-sale compliance.
Watch for: FBA inventory in a state typically creates physical nexus — independent of economic nexus — even when the marketplace collects.
Compliance load: Highly variable. Taxability differs more by state for SaaS than any other category. Jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction analysis required — some states fully tax, some exempt, some condition on B2B/B2C or hosted/downloaded.
Watch for: SaaS taxability rules change more often than physical goods — annual review is part of standard SaaS compliance.
Compliance load: Lower, rising. Many states tax specific services (digital services, data processing, advertising) even when general services are exempt. Taxability is state- and category-specific.
Watch for: States are progressively expanding service taxation — what’s exempt today may be taxable in 2–3 years.
Compliance load: Moderate. Most B2B sales are exempt with proper exemption-certificate management — but the certificate work itself is operational overhead. Storage and inventory locations create physical nexus.
Watch for: Exemption-certificate management is the largest operational risk in B2B — missing or expired certificates create taxable transactions retroactively in audit.
Compliance load: High. Businesses combining product sales, service revenue, SaaS, and marketplace sales need each stream analyzed separately — different taxability rules in each state.
Watch for: Mixed businesses are where most sales-tax exposure hides. Stream-by-stream analysis is essential.
Prior-month sales pulled from QuickBooks, Shopify, Amazon, and other platforms. Sales by state and jurisdiction reconciled. Marketplace-facilitator transactions separated from direct sales. Tax-collected vs. tax-due variances identified.
Returns prepared for each state with filings due that month. Local jurisdiction breakdowns calculated. Exemption certificates verified for any non-taxed transactions. Threshold tracking updated.
Returns filed on each state’s required schedule. Tax remitted via state portals or ACH. Filing confirmations stored. State-specific issues (rate updates, schema changes) handled.
State notices reviewed and responded to within service windows. Economic-nexus thresholds monitored across all states. New nexus warnings flagged. Monthly compliance summary delivered.
Sales-tax filings are only as accurate as the transaction data underneath them. When compliance runs separately from bookkeeping, the same problem recurs: sales-by-state in QuickBooks doesn’t match sales-by-state in the filing system. Reconciliation gaps multiply each month, filings end up wrong, notices arrive, and audits find variances.
When TechBrot delivers both monthly bookkeeping and sales tax compliance, the integration is built in: transaction-level data flows from QuickBooks into return preparation, filings reconcile to the books monthly, and year-end packages flow to your CPA without rework. The combined cost is materially lower — not because either is cheaper in isolation, but because the reconciliation cost disappears.
One-time work (nexus analysis $500–$2,000, registration $200–$500/state, SaaS taxability $1,000–$3,000, VDA coordination per exposure) is quoted separately; filing software passes through at vendor pricing.
$250–$500/month
For: 1–3 state compliance, single revenue stream, no marketplace complexity, simple products or services.
Most common
$500–$1,000/month
For: 4–15 state compliance, multi-channel e-commerce, marketplace + direct sales, service businesses with multi-state exposure, growing SaaS.
$1,000–$1,500+/month
For: 15+ state compliance, complex multi-stream businesses, SaaS with full taxability mapping, B2B with significant certificate work, regulated products.
Every TechBrot sales tax compliance engagement is delivered by Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors with multi-state experience — directly by our lead practice or by a vetted operator running their own practice under TechBrot’s standards. For engagements involving Voluntary Disclosure Agreements, audits with significant exposure, or tax-position disputes, we coordinate with state-specific sales-tax counsel or CPAs. TechBrot’s role is operational compliance and documentation; legal representation and tax-position defense run through licensed professionals. The split is clean and stated up front.
“They took something that felt overwhelming to me as a first-year business owner and made it simple.”Heidi Schubert · Owner, Beverage Connection · Verified Clutch review
The standard, every file
The natural pair. Sales-tax filings depend on accurate transaction data — integrated bookkeeping + sales tax eliminates the reconciliation gap.
Multi-state payroll pairs naturally with multi-state sales tax — the same nexus analysis informs both. A common bundle for e-commerce and SaaS.
Sales-tax configuration is part of every setup — multi-state nexus and rate management are designed during setup, not bolted on later.
For growth-stage businesses, sales-tax exposure is a CFO-level concern — affecting M&A diligence, margin reporting, and capital-event readiness.
Talk to a ProAdvisor
No form, no sales script. You speak with a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who has looked at files like yours — and you get a written fixed-fee scope within one business day.
(877) 751-5575Mon–Fri · we reply the same business day
Send a few details and a Certified ProAdvisor replies the same business day. Or just call (877) 751-5575.
A free 30-minute call, then a nexus review that produces a state-by-state map of where you stand — in writing, with a fixed-fee scope for compliance going forward, before any work begins.