Tax-exempt resale cert workflow, per-state forms (CA BOE-230, NY ST-120, FL DR-13)?
Cosmetology professionals reselling products to clients can claim resale-cert tax exemption. Each state has its own form; Magento needs a workflow per state:
- California,
BOE-230General Resale Certificate. Customer fills + signs + uploads. - New York,
Form ST-120Resale Certificate. - Florida,
DR-13Annual Resale Certificate. - Texas,
Form 01-339Texas Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate. - Illinois,
Form CRT-61Certificate of Resale. - And ~40 more, most states use a Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) multi-state form, but the “big four” (CA, NY, FL, TX) require their own.
Architecture: cert upload form on the customer account page, per ship-to state. Form file uploaded to encrypted S3 (or local encrypted storage with audit log). Expiration date tracked per cert; auto-renewal email at 60-day warning. Magento tax classes auto-route exempt customers to the zero-tax rule when shipping into the exempt state.
The reporting: state DORs audit you 1-3 years out. You must produce, on demand: the cert PDF, the customer’s state license number, the order list shipped to that state with tax not collected, and the dates. Magento order tax reports + customer-attribute reports cover this if architected from the start. Bolting it on later is painful.
Per-state DOR rules change occasionally, CA updated BOE-230 → CDTFA-230 in 2018, NY ST-120 has multiple variations for different reseller categories. Quarterly DOR rule sweep on retainer.