Tax Information - what do you need to do?

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pulsedemon
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by pulsedemon »

Without being an actual voice of 'authority' on the subject, and going on what I've kind of picked up in a bunch of calls and reading a bunch of stuff. Calling the MA DOR is going to be the best route.

Anyway, to be on the completely up-and-up, you might need to get hooked up as a 'professional fundraiser' so that you can basically be certified to actually hand the money over to charity. Short of that, if you're just going to donate some portion of what you take in to a charity, you'll probably have to deal with sales tax. Basically, it's like thinking of who would be noting the charitable donation on their tax return. A professional fundraiser could give a receipt or whatever that a 'donor' can note on their tax return. It sounds like, in this case, you'd be the one noting it on your tax return.

There might also be some kind of specific agreement you can get set up with the charity in question where you basically promise that you won't be taking credit for it if you're telling people up front that the proceeds (all or in part) from the thing you're buying are going to charity.

Still, calling the DOR to get the hot scoops is the best plan.
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by sketchtastrophe »

Hello lovely forum people! I was wonder if and how any of you might have been able to register your EIN with the Massachusetts Department of Revenue without giving them your SSN?

I'm having trouble as a Canadian figuring this one out. I called and spoke to someone at MassDOR earlier but was brickwalled. But I know people are able to complete this step. My question is how?
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by pulsedemon »

Okay, we did some more calling around (Elaine did it, really) and I'm basically convinced the process changed between last year and this year.

Canadians (or anyone from outside the country, for that matter) would need a 'master business administrator' for the purposes of registering the tax ID on MA DOR's website. I would swear this wasn't a thing before. This administrator is someone that has a SSID (so someone stateside) that can basically be your representative and the person to 'manage' your online submission.

This will not be anyone on convention staff. Do not ask.

Think of this person like a paid tax preparer. In fact, that's actually the idea that came out of the call to the DOR that Elaine came back with. Contact someone that is certified to legally be authorized to prepare tax filings for people and businesses. I could suggest someone that my wife and I use, if you like. It's just a suggestion from one person to another and I stand to gain nothing from my suggestion (apart from the knowledge that I might have helped you out). You could just as easily use The Google Company's http://www.google.com website to look someone up. I'm not sure if such as an H&R Block would be the best place, but they might work.

Essentially, you'll probably end up talking to someone over the phone to transmit the sensitive information (the tax ID numbers) and then you'll pay them for their time in the end.

If you have an employee that lives in the US (and you trust them enough), they could probably serve in this capacity, too.
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by sketchtastrophe »

Thank you for this info! Seriously so appreciated. I was feeling really burnt by the whole thing after my call to MassDOR. I had no idea it would be such a stressfully long process. Hopefully I will see the end of this soon! Thank you again!
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by Trafal-The-Law »

Quick question, should I be filling this Tax ID out right this second or should I wait until I know I'm going to be in the AA- because on the site instructions it says to wait until I have paid for a table to make a Tax ID. Little confused......
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by Trafal-The-Law »

Should I be filling out this Tax ID now or do I have to wait. I've gotten no relpies yet. The website says to wait until you pay for your table- How can you wait to pay for your table it this forum is saying you need one to get into the AA?
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by Faceman »

Trafal-The-Law wrote:Should I be filling out this Tax ID now or do I have to wait. I've gotten no relpies yet. The website says to wait until you pay for your table- How can you wait to pay for your table it this forum is saying you need one to get into the AA?
You should wait until you have confirmation that you made it into the Artists' Alley. After you have confirmation and have paid for your table, then you should start the process to get your Tax ID number/EIN. If you do not have the Tax ID submitted to us by the time the convention starts, you will not be allowed to set up for the Artists' Alley, even if you're already at the convention.

This is the general rule of thumb. If you happen to get into the Artists' Alley a few weeks before the convention and pay then, you'll want to start the Tax ID process immediately, as it may take some time.
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by X-Chan »

Hi pulsedemon, can I get the contact for your accountant? I emailed a few that I found on Google but have yet to hear back from any of them about this.. Thanks!
pulsedemon wrote:Okay, we did some more calling around (Elaine did it, really) and I'm basically convinced the process changed between last year and this year.

Canadians (or anyone from outside the country, for that matter) would need a 'master business administrator' for the purposes of registering the tax ID on MA DOR's website. I would swear this wasn't a thing before. This administrator is someone that has a SSID (so someone stateside) that can basically be your representative and the person to 'manage' your online submission.

This will not be anyone on convention staff. Do not ask.

Think of this person like a paid tax preparer. In fact, that's actually the idea that came out of the call to the DOR that Elaine came back with. Contact someone that is certified to legally be authorized to prepare tax filings for people and businesses. I could suggest someone that my wife and I use, if you like. It's just a suggestion from one person to another and I stand to gain nothing from my suggestion (apart from the knowledge that I might have helped you out). You could just as easily use The Google Company's http://www.google.com website to look someone up. I'm not sure if such as an H&R Block would be the best place, but they might work.

Essentially, you'll probably end up talking to someone over the phone to transmit the sensitive information (the tax ID numbers) and then you'll pay them for their time in the end.

If you have an employee that lives in the US (and you trust them enough), they could probably serve in this capacity, too.
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by DabidK »

Hey guys,

Sorry to revive an old topic, but my wife got an AA booth for Anime Boston 2017 and is trying to get her Mass DOR Tax ID for the first time and is having difficulties understanding exactly what to do. We've read the Anime Boston page on Exhibitor Tax IDs several times now (http://www.animeboston.com/exhibits/exhibitor_taxid/), but the process is still confusing to us once we reach the Mass DOR.

We obtained the EIN from the IRS quickly and with no problems, but navigating the Massachusetts DOR website is baffling (we're out-of-staters from New Hampshire). I believe what we're supposed to do is:

--Go to the Mass Conntect website at https://mtc.dor.state.ma.us/mtc/_/
--Click Business
--Click "Register New Business", then "Next", then "Select one of the options below to continue. I am registering a business, organization, or other entity."

This is when we get to the really confusing part: "Legal Business Information".

1. When it asks for the "Business Start Date", I tried to put in the first date of the convention, but it won't allow me to set a future date. If I put a date in the past, are we going to be expected to start filing sales tax reports even though we've never sold anything in Mass and won't until next spring?

2. It asks for an ID Type: "SSN" or "ITIN"; and then a secondary ID type: "FEIN". I'm guessing that we're supposed to pick "FEIN", and then fill in the EIN number we got from the IRS in the "Secondary ID Number" spot, but what's supposed to go into the required "SSN"/"ITIN" spot? I thought the whole purpose of getting the EIN was so that we wouldn't have to put a SSN down when applying for the DOR Tax ID? Should we enter the EIN number in both the "SSN" spot and the "FEIN" spot?

Sorry to be dense and a pain--this is just very new, and neither my wife nor I are very familiar with these types of tax applications. Any help anyone could share would be greatly appreciated. :)
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by pulsedemon »

DabidK wrote:1. When it asks for the "Business Start Date", I tried to put in the first date of the convention, but it won't allow me to set a future date. If I put a date in the past, are we going to be expected to start filing sales tax reports even though we've never sold anything in Mass and won't until next spring?
You list the date when the business was started. That's in the past. If you do business in Massachusetts, then you file for the quarter in which you did business once you're in MassTaxConnect, like you would for any other quarter in which you do business. Since the registration is a permanent thing, even though you'd just be in a 'temporary business location' at our show, you take care of it quarterly like you would any other business taxes. Some small businesses can get away with a single annual filing, but there can be some degree of penalty. I'm not a tax expert, so I'm not sure what the difference is (though it's probably something related to total earnings).
DabidK wrote:2. It asks for an ID Type: "SSN" or "ITIN"; and then a secondary ID type: "FEIN". I'm guessing that we're supposed to pick "FEIN", and then fill in the EIN number we got from the IRS in the "Secondary ID Number" spot, but what's supposed to go into the required "SSN"/"ITIN" spot? I thought the whole purpose of getting the EIN was so that we wouldn't have to put a SSN down when applying for the DOR Tax ID? Should we enter the EIN number in both the "SSN" spot and the "FEIN" spot?
You won't have to give us the SSID. If you didn't generate the EIN, you would just be using your SSID. Think of the EIN as an SSID for your business. It's essentially a shell to protect you against personal liability (much like the business is). That includes potential identity theft. We maintain all standards mandated by Massachusetts for data security (and retention) when storing legally 'sensitive' information, but if someone really wants in, they're going to eventually find a way in. That's just the nature of data security.

I'll also repeat the mantra that we're not tax professionals and you shouldn't take what we say as either the totality of all possibility or even correct to start with. If something changed in the past couple of months, I 100% guarantee I haven't been looking at MTC to see that something has to be done differently. That's something we usually find out when we get a lot of people reporting that something's different. Our requirement (as part of our show promoter licence from the Division of Standards) is to collect tax IDs from everyone that's doing business at all that have been registered with MTC (regardless of your individual tax responsibility [like if you're only selling t-shirts that won't have any sales tax applied to them]). We're not required to actually verify anything. That becomes a thing for enforcement buy the Department of Revenue if they catch on over time that you're not paying sales tax.

When in doubt, the best answer is always 'consult your favorite tax professional'! I hope this helps a bit!
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Re: Tax Information - what do you need to do?

Post by marinafraguas »

Hi everyone! I'm an artist from Brazil and I'm having trouble registering my EIN with the DOR. Is anyone else here not from the US? Is it possible to register the EIN without an ITIN or a SSN?

Thanks! :)
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