Traveling OUT of North Carolina: If your business is located in North Carolina, but you are traveling to shoot in another state, please review the sales tax requirements of that state.
Traveling INTO North Carolina: If you are from another state and are traveling into North Carolina to shoot, please follow the questions below to find out if you need to charge sales tax in North Carolina.
When it comes to sales tax, you need to ask yourself three questions. We will walk you through those questions below:
If your business is located in North Carolina and you are shooting in North Carolina, you have nexus in North Carolina.
If you are traveling from out of state to shoot in North Carolina and the client receives their photos in North Carolina, you have nexus in North Carolina. (see Traveling to Shoot in North Carolina? section below for when you need to register for sales tax)
The following items address sales tax where everything is happening in North Carolina. If you have an out-of-state client, see the orange section below that talks about out-of-state clients.
This specifically refers to digital photos transferred digitally over the internet. Please note any digital images transferred via physical devices like USB drives, CDs, etc., are taxed as physical goods, and all physical goods are taxable.
North Carolina charges sales tax on tangible personal property and certain digital property. Digital photographs are considered certain digital property and are subject to sales tax.
This covers anything physical you can touch, such as physical prints, albums, etc.