- If you operate in the USA and use Cleeng Merchant, Cleeng, being a transaction facilitator and merchant of record, is liable to apply the proper sales tax rate (US VAT equivalent) to transactions between you and your customers and handle all tax return filings.
- Your viewers are automatically charged the correct sales tax at the rate specific to the state/province in which they are located at the time of sale (not the seller’s or product's location). Cleeng is not obligated to collect taxes in every single US state so some of your customers might pay a net offer price without any tax on top of it, despite the sold content being taxable in this state.
- Your viewers see net prices (excl. sales tax) and the sales tax specific to their location is calculated at checkout – as opposed to the gross prices displayed to the users located in Europe, where they see a gross price (incl. VAT) from the beginning.
- To ensure tax compliance in the US, Cleeng uses the integration with a market-leading sales tax management tool – Avalara.
- The broadcaster payout that you receive from Cleeng is made excluding sales taxes that might have been applied on top of the prices from your offers.
- In the US, the sales tax vastly varies between states, counties, cities, and even local postcodes. Moreover, the rates might change over time or have a seasonal character, hence the need to depend on an always up-to-date tax rates database. To check all the current tax rates across the US, please refer to Avalara.
How is Cleeng collecting and storing the data about the viewer's current location?
Data collection is made using GeoIP services. It is done by mapping the user’s IP address to a specific geographic location, giving the information about a county, city, region, etc. These days every device connected to the internet is assigned an IP address, which serves as a unique identifier in the network.
All the data concerning taxes is stored in Cleeng’s internal database in user_locations.
Does Cleeng still use ZIP codes to determine locations?
ZIP code information is no longer used for the purpose of specifying the viewer’s location. It is mainly because of the fact that the ZIP codes do not always reflect the current juridical boundaries of states. Their size can vary greatly from state to state, and they can undergo changes over the time due to the population growth. ZIP codes were primarily designed for the mail delivery by the United States Postal Services and they were not intended for geographic location pinpointing or navigation.
How is tax data generated and uploaded?
The tax rate for the US-based subscribers is calculated automatically using the AvaTax tool, a software provided by Avalara. It is fully integrated with Cleeng and guarantees tax compliance with state regulations.
Taxes for the subscribers located in the EU and UAE are calculated internally by Cleeng’s tax team with the assistance of external tax advisors.
All tax data can be uploaded through the Cleeng Admin panel.
How can end-users update the information used to calculate the taxes?
Users can do so by contacting CSS. They will make sure to update the user's information used for tax calculation purposes.
Changes for the customer’s receipt:
The tax is calculated on top of the net price.
Changes for the customer’s checkout page:
We’ve added a new section on the checkout page called [applicable tax], by clicking the question mark, it will explain how we came to the tax fee. On the right side of the checkout page, it will display the exact amount of tax fee they need to pay.
What if there is no digital sales tax in my state?
If the digital sales tax is not applicable in your state, the tax rate and tax amount will be displayed as $0 during the checkout, and you don't need to pay tax for your purchase.
How can we inform your customers about the changes in tax collection?
You can add text to the receipt that informs your customers about the changes, examples can be:
”Your service may have been subject to local taxes and fees depending on your location”
Or
“Tax rates vary by state, territory, even city, and are based on the rates applicable to your purchase. These amounts can change over time with local tax requirements.”You can add such text to the receipt by reaching out to BSS.