The SALTcast

Sales Tax and Trade Shows

Andrew H. Johnson, CPA and Daniel M. Peisner, CMI

We recently attended the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit in Salt Lake City. As I walked around and checked out all the different booths, and the cool Arcade setup where they had a Super Smash Brothers tournament, I wondered about sales tax. I spoke with as many people as I could to discover what their company does. I would then ask them about sales tax, and of course they weren’t sure what they did for sales tax. I don’t blame them, they aren’t the ones in charge of the sales tax in their business. I wondered though, what the sales tax nexus implications were for being an exhibitor at a trade show. This is what I learned.


Additional Questions Answered:

What is physical nexus?

What is economic nexus?

How can attending trade shows trigger physical nexus?

If I don’t have economic nexus am I exempt from physical nexus?

Do all the states have the same sales tax laws?

What activities can trigger physical nexus in a state?

Do I have to get registered in the state where I am exhibiting in a trade show?

What are my options when I need to get registered for sales tax?


If you attend trade shows and you feel you may have exceeded some of the thresholds you can schedule a free consultation
HERE.