PDA

View Full Version : OT Florida Businesses - Sales Tax?



Garret Mott
13-Feb-2007, 10:53 AM
Hi All -

I'm putting together a webapp for a client in Fla. that will need to collect
sales tax.

If you do business in Fla, you know that total sales tax is based on county.

I've spoken with the Fla. Dept. of Revenue & all they have available is a
pdf file that has town names, counties they're in & the tax amount. To make
it worse, some of the towns are in 2 counties, so you have to look @ town
name & then also zip code. On top of that, it's 54 pages with ~40 records
per page - so we're talking a lot of manual entry!

What makes sense to me is a table based on Zip Code alone: If you're in zip
66666, then the rate is 7.5%.

Is there anything like this out there? Either free or for sale? I've found
Simpova - but $99 setup & $20/month seems a little steep... Especially since
maybe 1% of their sales are to Fla. addresses.

TIA

Garret Mott

Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com

Marco
13-Feb-2007, 05:42 PM
Hi Garret,

Sounds like a perfect opportunity for a webservice ;)
Just convert the pdf to XML, then read it in into tables. Then build a
webservice.

Cheers,
Marco


Garret Mott wrote:
> Hi All -
>
> I'm putting together a webapp for a client in Fla. that will need to collect
> sales tax.
>
> If you do business in Fla, you know that total sales tax is based on county.
>
> I've spoken with the Fla. Dept. of Revenue & all they have available is a
> pdf file that has town names, counties they're in & the tax amount. To make
> it worse, some of the towns are in 2 counties, so you have to look @ town
> name & then also zip code. On top of that, it's 54 pages with ~40 records
> per page - so we're talking a lot of manual entry!
>
> What makes sense to me is a table based on Zip Code alone: If you're in zip
> 66666, then the rate is 7.5%.
>
> Is there anything like this out there? Either free or for sale? I've found
> Simpova - but $99 setup & $20/month seems a little steep... Especially since
> maybe 1% of their sales are to Fla. addresses.
>
> TIA
>
> Garret Mott
>
> Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
> Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com
>
>

Garret Mott
13-Feb-2007, 11:18 PM
Hi Marco -

> Sounds like a perfect opportunity for a webservice ;)
> Just convert the pdf to XML, then read it in into tables. Then build a
> webservice.
>

Well, maybe. 1) I've never converted a pdf to xml - must admit I didn't
know you could. 2) Web Service - ain't wrote one of them neither. 3) The
real problem - their list is Town, County, Zip Code but only if needed, Tax
Rate.

So - Once I had the data, I'd have to set up a search that checks the town
name, then look to see if it also has a zip code (& if it does find next up
to 5 times to get the right zip) & then get the tax rate. Ugly! On top of
that, the list can change at any time & there's no automatic notification -
so someone would have to remember to check for a new one & then do all the
conversion.

All that work (& my billing for it!) makes $240/year look cheap. Guess
maybe I'll have to go that route.

Thanks for the thought!

Garret Mott

Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com

Michael Mullan
14-Feb-2007, 10:54 AM
Garret,
try this crowd..

http://www.proxix.com/products/products_taxdata.htm

It seems that they have the information you need...

BTW it's their national sales conference today, so call them tomorrow :-)

Michael.




Garret Mott wrote:
> Hi Marco -
>
>
>>Sounds like a perfect opportunity for a webservice ;)
>>Just convert the pdf to XML, then read it in into tables. Then build a
>>webservice.
>>
>
>
> Well, maybe. 1) I've never converted a pdf to xml - must admit I didn't
> know you could. 2) Web Service - ain't wrote one of them neither. 3) The
> real problem - their list is Town, County, Zip Code but only if needed, Tax
> Rate.
>
> So - Once I had the data, I'd have to set up a search that checks the town
> name, then look to see if it also has a zip code (& if it does find next up
> to 5 times to get the right zip) & then get the tax rate. Ugly! On top of
> that, the list can change at any time & there's no automatic notification -
> so someone would have to remember to check for a new one & then do all the
> conversion.
>
> All that work (& my billing for it!) makes $240/year look cheap. Guess
> maybe I'll have to go that route.
>
> Thanks for the thought!
>
> Garret Mott
>
> Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
> Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com
>
>

Garret Mott
14-Feb-2007, 11:25 AM
Thanks Michael - I just sent an email off to 'em. Not expecting an answer
today though...

Garret Mott

Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com

"Michael Mullan" <mmullan@nyc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:4pMmVBFUHHA.1792@dacmail.dataaccess.com...
> Garret,
> try this crowd..
>
> http://www.proxix.com/products/products_taxdata.htm
>
> It seems that they have the information you need...
>
> BTW it's their national sales conference today, so call them tomorrow :-)
>
> Michael.
>
>
>
>
> Garret Mott wrote:
>> Hi Marco -
>>
>>
>>>Sounds like a perfect opportunity for a webservice ;)
>>>Just convert the pdf to XML, then read it in into tables. Then build a
>>>webservice.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Well, maybe. 1) I've never converted a pdf to xml - must admit I didn't
>> know you could. 2) Web Service - ain't wrote one of them neither. 3)
>> The real problem - their list is Town, County, Zip Code but only if
>> needed, Tax Rate.
>>
>> So - Once I had the data, I'd have to set up a search that checks the
>> town name, then look to see if it also has a zip code (& if it does find
>> next up to 5 times to get the right zip) & then get the tax rate. Ugly!
>> On top of that, the list can change at any time & there's no automatic
>> notification - so someone would have to remember to check for a new one &
>> then do all the conversion.
>>
>> All that work (& my billing for it!) makes $240/year look cheap. Guess
>> maybe I'll have to go that route.
>>
>> Thanks for the thought!
>>
>> Garret Mott
>>
>> Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
>> Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com
>>

Bob Worsley
14-Feb-2007, 12:23 PM
I LIVE in Florida and didn't even realize that...
Bob
(Get me outta here!)

"Garret Mott" <Garret_at_AutoMateSoftware_dot_com> wrote in message
news:1cXATc4THHA.3928@dacmail.dataaccess.com...
> Hi All -
>
> I'm putting together a webapp for a client in Fla. that will need to
> collect sales tax.
>
> If you do business in Fla, you know that total sales tax is based on
> county.
>
> I've spoken with the Fla. Dept. of Revenue & all they have available is a
> pdf file that has town names, counties they're in & the tax amount. To
> make it worse, some of the towns are in 2 counties, so you have to look @
> town name & then also zip code. On top of that, it's 54 pages with ~40
> records per page - so we're talking a lot of manual entry!
>
> What makes sense to me is a table based on Zip Code alone: If you're in
> zip 66666, then the rate is 7.5%.
>
> Is there anything like this out there? Either free or for sale? I've
> found Simpova - but $99 setup & $20/month seems a little steep...
> Especially since maybe 1% of their sales are to Fla. addresses.
>
> TIA
>
> Garret Mott
>
> Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
> Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com
>
>

Garret Mott
14-Feb-2007, 12:49 PM
>I LIVE in Florida and didn't even realize that...
> Bob
> (Get me outta here!)

I've said that about some other states as well...

County taxes range from 0 to 2.5% on top of the state 6%. Other problem is
that county taxes are only on the first $5,000, while state are on total.
Plus some towns are in 2 counties.....

Vermont now has 3 towns that charge an extra tax, but at least the statute
requires them to line up with zip codes & publishes a list set up that way.
I guess California has a fairly ugly sales tax structure as well. New York
also has a city/town based extra tax.

Then we get to the gotta collect taxes for every state when doing business
on the web (or catalog) nightmare! Coming soon to a client near you! <g>

Garret Mott

Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com

Larry Heiges
14-Feb-2007, 05:14 PM
>I guess California has a fairly ugly sales tax structure as well. New York
>also has a city/town based extra tax.

Oregon doesn't have a sales tax, so I guess I'm lucky, although for
about 10 years I had to report and collect taxes for fuel transaction
in each of California's counties. That was fun... there is a fixed
pre-paid sales tax amount on each gallon purchased from the rack that
had to be deducted. If the product was diesel, the state excise is
not included in the computation, but if anything else the state excise
is included... go figure... a sales tax on a state tax. The voters a
few years ago added some to the excise tax for roads, I wonder if any
of them knew about the millions of added sales tax to the state
general fund.

Washington is also a little weird. If an agency is exempt from the
state excise tax, they must pay sales tax on the transaction... what a
deal.

Larry Heiges
App-2-Win Systems, Inc.
LookFeel for Windows

LFW7sp3
LFW11.1

Michael Mullan
14-Feb-2007, 05:24 PM
Larry,
can you contact me by private email?
mmullan at nyc.rr.com

Michael.

Larry Heiges wrote:
>>I guess California has a fairly ugly sales tax structure as well. New York
>>also has a city/town based extra tax.
>
>
> Oregon doesn't have a sales tax, so I guess I'm lucky, although for
> about 10 years I had to report and collect taxes for fuel transaction
> in each of California's counties. That was fun... there is a fixed
> pre-paid sales tax amount on each gallon purchased from the rack that
> had to be deducted. If the product was diesel, the state excise is
> not included in the computation, but if anything else the state excise
> is included... go figure... a sales tax on a state tax. The voters a
> few years ago added some to the excise tax for roads, I wonder if any
> of them knew about the millions of added sales tax to the state
> general fund.
>
> Washington is also a little weird. If an agency is exempt from the
> state excise tax, they must pay sales tax on the transaction... what a
> deal.
>
> Larry Heiges
> App-2-Win Systems, Inc.
> LookFeel for Windows
>
> LFW7sp3
> LFW11.1

Marco
15-Feb-2007, 01:58 AM
Hi Garret,

Perhaps for future reference then:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdftoxml/

is an opensource project for a program that converts PDF's to XML.

We've been using this in production for about 6 months now (150 PDF's
some 400 lines each PDF) and has been spot on.

Cheers,
Marco


Garret Mott wrote:
> Hi Marco -
>
>> Sounds like a perfect opportunity for a webservice ;)
>> Just convert the pdf to XML, then read it in into tables. Then build a
>> webservice.
>>
>
> Well, maybe. 1) I've never converted a pdf to xml - must admit I didn't
> know you could. 2) Web Service - ain't wrote one of them neither. 3) The
> real problem - their list is Town, County, Zip Code but only if needed, Tax
> Rate.
>
> So - Once I had the data, I'd have to set up a search that checks the town
> name, then look to see if it also has a zip code (& if it does find next up
> to 5 times to get the right zip) & then get the tax rate. Ugly! On top of
> that, the list can change at any time & there's no automatic notification -
> so someone would have to remember to check for a new one & then do all the
> conversion.
>
> All that work (& my billing for it!) makes $240/year look cheap. Guess
> maybe I'll have to go that route.
>
> Thanks for the thought!
>
> Garret Mott
>
> Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
> Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com
>
>

Garret Mott
15-Feb-2007, 07:10 AM
Thanks Marco - I'll check it out.

Garret Mott

Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com

"Marco Kuipers" <marco.kuipers@nci.com.au> wrote in message
news:%23fJjk6MUHHA.776@dacmail.dataaccess.com...
> Hi Garret,
>
> Perhaps for future reference then:
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdftoxml/
>
> is an opensource project for a program that converts PDF's to XML.
>
> We've been using this in production for about 6 months now (150 PDF's some
> 400 lines each PDF) and has been spot on.
>
> Cheers,
> Marco
>
>
> Garret Mott wrote:
>> Hi Marco -
>>
>>> Sounds like a perfect opportunity for a webservice ;)
>>> Just convert the pdf to XML, then read it in into tables. Then build a
>>> webservice.
>>>
>>
>> Well, maybe. 1) I've never converted a pdf to xml - must admit I didn't
>> know you could. 2) Web Service - ain't wrote one of them neither. 3)
>> The real problem - their list is Town, County, Zip Code but only if
>> needed, Tax Rate.
>>
>> So - Once I had the data, I'd have to set up a search that checks the
>> town name, then look to see if it also has a zip code (& if it does find
>> next up to 5 times to get the right zip) & then get the tax rate. Ugly!
>> On top of that, the list can change at any time & there's no automatic
>> notification - so someone would have to remember to check for a new one &
>> then do all the conversion.
>>
>> All that work (& my billing for it!) makes $240/year look cheap. Guess
>> maybe I'll have to go that route.
>>
>> Thanks for the thought!
>>
>> Garret Mott
>>
>> Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
>> Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com
>>

Peager
14-Mar-2007, 12:37 PM
Another approach might be to check out the tax table access available from
StrikeIron as a soap call.

Paul


"Garret Mott" <Garret_at_AutoMateSoftware_dot_com> wrote in message
news:1cXATc4THHA.3928@dacmail.dataaccess.com...
> Hi All -
>
> I'm putting together a webapp for a client in Fla. that will need to
> collect sales tax.
>
> If you do business in Fla, you know that total sales tax is based on
> county.
>
> I've spoken with the Fla. Dept. of Revenue & all they have available is a
> pdf file that has town names, counties they're in & the tax amount. To
> make it worse, some of the towns are in 2 counties, so you have to look @
> town name & then also zip code. On top of that, it's 54 pages with ~40
> records per page - so we're talking a lot of manual entry!
>
> What makes sense to me is a table based on Zip Code alone: If you're in
> zip 66666, then the rate is 7.5%.
>
> Is there anything like this out there? Either free or for sale? I've
> found Simpova - but $99 setup & $20/month seems a little steep...
> Especially since maybe 1% of their sales are to Fla. addresses.
>
> TIA
>
> Garret Mott
>
> Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
> Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com
>
>

Garret Mott
20-Mar-2007, 09:08 PM
Hi Paul -

> Another approach might be to check out the tax table access available from
> StrikeIron as a soap call.
>

Yep - that looks like a good one.

However, in this instance, the client has decided to go with a manual
system. Their reality is that they are only likely to sell to (at most) one
FL address/month where tax will be applied (most will have TaxID's) - so
these setups just aren't cost effective.

Thanks for the idea,

Garret Mott

Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com

>
>

starzen
23-May-2007, 06:20 AM
Garrett

dont know of anything out there but also make sure to not forget that it
depends on what you do as well. If you have a store and someone buys in your
store your location matters. If you sell and ship to someone their location
matters for sales tax calculation.


--
Michael Salzlechner
StarZen Technologies, Inc
http://www.starzen.com
DataFlex Addon products, consulting

Garret Mott
24-May-2007, 05:37 PM
Thanks Michael -

> dont know of anything out there but also make sure to not forget that it
> depends on what you do as well. If you have a store and someone buys in
> your
> store your location matters. If you sell and ship to someone their
> location
> matters for sales tax calculation.

Yup - the folks at your tax dept. made that *very* clear.

With only a very few sales to Fla that are taxable - the client is going to
go with manual for now.

Best,

Garret Mott

Auto-Mate Software www.automatesoftware.com
Northeast DataFlex Consortium www.nedataflex.com