The tax tables have been standardized to work for the entire country. This has forced us to make some generalizations in the data fields that may or may not match up perfectly with every state's structure. An example would be the parishes of Louisiana appearing in the county column.

Some columns may be blank because that particular state has a different taxing structure. This occurs frequently with the reporting code columns since many states do not require them.

Our data covers general sales and use taxes. We also provide information on the taxibility of shipping. We do not currently provide rate or rule data for specific products or services.

Laws pertaining to the taxibility of certain products, business types, and services vary greatly from state to state. Zip2Tax is evaluating the feasibility of providing data for additional tax types such as automobiles, alcoholic beverages, digital downloads, and more. If you would like to suggest another type of tax, or if you'd be interested in receiving notice when a tax type is added to our services, please e-mail your request to info@zip2tax.com.

Yes, all of our services include information about the taxability of shipping. With the Online Lookup, the shipping information is show at the bottom of the lookup window. With Database Interface and Tax Tables, Shipping is taxible if there is a "1" in that field and not taxible if there is a "0".

If there is any variance on the taxibility of shipping depending on certain rules, such as whether or not it is separated out on the invoice, we have defaulted to "0" for non-taxible.

Our services do not separate shipping and handling charges.

We provide the reporting codes for special districts in those states that require reporting codes. We do not provide the common names of these particular districts at this time.

Sometimes tax districts are based on factors other than ZIP code. There are a few locations within certain states that have more than one tax jurisdiction for a single ZIP code. This can make it tricky to determine which rate to use based solely upon the 5 digit ZIP code.

We’ve made it possible for you determine which rate to use by providing multiple results for these locations. Zip2Tax default result is the municipality that is home to the U.S. Post Office – in the Tax Tables, this location is denoted with a "1" in the Primary Record column. The other rows for that ZIP code show all of the other communities sharing the same ZIP code.

You can manually select the row with the closest city and special district match, or, if you are a Database Interface or Tax Tables subscriber, you may be able to program your systems to automatically make the match.

Our tax lookups are based on the 5 digit ZIP code. In the United States, there are some locations that may have more than one tax district – sometimes based on city or special districts - within a single ZIP code.

Zip2Tax provides for this possibility by returning multiple results – a unique row for each city and unincorporated area within a ZIP code.

The default result is the Primary Record - the municipality containing the U.S. Post Office. Each unique municipality will have its own line. If tax rates vary within that ZIP code, you can choose the result with the closest match based on the rest of the address you are searching for.

Online Lookup Service: The Sales Tax Calculator will provide the rate for the Primary Record - the town within the ZIP code where the U.S. Post Office is located. A menu will appear below the main window showing the names and tax rates of other communities sharing the same ZIP code. You can then determine which municipality you are looking for.

Database Link: We provide sample codes, written in a few of the most commonly used programming languages, that will provide four distinct data sets: "Basic" returns the tax data aggregated for state-level reporting; "Breakout" provides the sum as well as portioning the rates for state, county, city, and special district levels;"Basic, multiple rows" returns a aggregated result for each district within a ZIP code; and "Breakout, multiple rows" provides the full data for each.

Sales Tax Tables: If a search by ZIP code returns more than one tax rate, you can determine whether you would like to use the tax rate for the Primary Record or that of one of the other communities sharing the same ZIP code.

The number of lookups is counted based on each IP address rather than each unique user. Therefore, if you have multiple users sharing one IP address, the number of lookups will reflect the entire group’s activity.

If you feel that this is not the case, please call our offices and we will be able to assist you, 866-492-8494.

You can subscribe to our service through our easy-to-use shopping cart. Pricing starts at $21.95 which gives you a one-month subscription good for up to 1,000 lookups.

Click her to go to the Online Lookup subscription options page.

We've found that sometimes corporate cards have security settings applied to their accounts that cause Zip2Tax's shopping cart to generate a "Payment Processor Error: Credit Card rejected: General decline of the card. No other information provided by the issuing bank."

This is usually the result of a security setting applied by the account holder and is usually designed to prevent the card from being used for unauthorized purchases.

In most instances, this can be easily remedied by calling the 800 number on the back of the card and describing the service you are trying to purchase. In other cases, using the corporate card of someone with administrative privileges won't set off the security warnings.

If none of the above remedies work, just call our offices at (866) 492-8494 and we can process the payment manually.

Zip2Tax relies on a small core of key personnel and we don't keep staff sitting around waiting to up sell you.

The big tax companies use commission-driven sales and marketing staff who's sole purpose is to hover by the phones and harangue prospective customers. They don't tell you what their fees are until after they have all of your personal information and they have you on the phone. We publish our full rates right on our web page and let you decide for yourself if our services are right for your company.

We provide samples of our data and set-up information right on our web site. Most of our customers are do-it-yourselfers who are able to integrate our data for themselves. Meanwhile, our competition employs dozens of programers who are poised to sweep into your shop and commandeer your databases. They have lots of smiling young MBAs who are eager to hold your staff hostage in long training seminars.

Zip2Tax doesn't offer tax filing services or guarantees of audit protection. We've found that the majority of our clients prefer to use their own accountants, or are interested in a referral to one of our affiliates who offer special deals to Zip2Tax customers. This makes it possible for us to forego the stable of CPAs, tax law specialists and lawyers the competition must maintain.

Based on the trim size of our company and our commitment to stay focused on what we do best - providing accurate sales and use tax data affordably to autonomous businesses - the difference between us and our competition is clear.

Sales tax providers that offer their services for free are usually associated with the Streamline Sales Tax Agreement. There are currently six companies certified with SST and they are paid directly by the states for their services. The states are happy to pay for these services because by signing up for the “free tax rates”,  your company must register with each and every state you do business with and remit sales taxes to them. These free service providers tell you how much to collect in sale tax, but then they take full control over the reporting and remittance to the states – even going so far as to automatically withdraw the funds from your bank account.

These free services can be a godsend for small companies who can’t handle their existing remittance burden, but the level of control over your own business that you are handing over to these providers is enormous.

Just keep in mind that any service provider is naturally going to work in the interest of the person who holds the purse strings.

Just contact our offices via e-mail, phone (866) 492-8494, or live chat, and we can change your user name and password for you.

The credentials must be at least 5 characters, they must be unique (not already in use by another subscriber) and they cannot contain certain characters like !, - or '.

We will e-mail you a confirmation for your records when the change has been made.

The fastest way to subscribe is to place your order through our convenient and secure online shopping cart. We accept American Express, Visa, MasterCard and PayPal.

We also accept checks. In the "Payment Method" section of the shopping cart, select "Offline (Mail)" and you will be provided with a printable form at the end of the checkout process so that you can pay by mail. We will send you your subscription information along with a copy of the paid invoice once the check clears. If you prefer, you can send a purchase order to info@zip2tax.com and we'll get a custom invoice to you quickly.

Or, call us at 1-866-492-8494 and our customer service representatives will be happy to assist you.

#1 Online Lookup Service: This subscription allows up to 5 users to visit our web site and manually type in each ZIP code to learn the sales and use tax rates. This subscription can be purchased in 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, or annual increments. Rates for additional users are available.
This subscription is accessed manually only and cannot be automated.

#2 Database Interface: This subscription is aimed at eCommerce web site developers or database experts who wish to "set it up and forget it." Your site or database makes a query of our database for each ZIP code behind the scenes. You can purchase a single state or the whole U.S. The basic subscription is good for 1,000 queries per month for a year but rates for additional queries are available.
This subscription requires the integration of the sample codes found on the Developers pages.

#3 Sales and Use Tax Tables: This subscription type is the most versitile. You purchase the "Initial Table" for a single state or the whole U.S. and then you have the option to purchase the "Table Update Subscription" to provide you with updated tax rates and ZIP codes for a whole year. Once you download these .CSV files, you can do anything with them within your own company - you can integrate them with your accounting system, provide copies to your sales force, import them into your eCommerce site, etc.
The tables come pre-formated for a variety of popular shopping carts. Don't see the format you need? Provide us with samples or format information and we'll see if it is something we can recreate for you.
For more automated access to the tables, you have the option of integrating the Table Download (HTTP)