Streamlined Sales Tax Project - Streamline Sales and Use Tax Agreement

Streamline Sales and Use Tax Agreement

The Streamline Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA) focuses on four major requirements for simplification of state and local tax codes: 1) state level administration, 2) uniform tax base, 3) simplified tax rates, and 4) uniform sales sourcing rules.

State Level Administration Under SSUTA, sales taxes will be remitted to a single state agency and business will no longer be required to submit multiple tax returns for each state they are conducting business.

Uniform Tax Base This would require each state to make their jurisdictions use the same tax base, meaning the same goods and services would be taxed or exempt the same way within each state. Each state would retain the choice whether an item is taxable and at what rate.

Simplified Tax Rates This would require the same tax rates be applied across the states tax jurisdictions. There can be an exception rate for food and drugs.

Uniform Sales Sourcing Rules For in-state sales, the seller would be expected to collect the tax rate for the vendor location. This is defined as "origin" sourcing. For sales into a state from an remote seller, the vendor would collect the applicable state wide rate for the destination state. This is defined as "destination" sourcing.