Multi-State Tax Exemption

August 25, 2008 9:42 AM

Can my New York State 501c3 non-profit buy something in New Jersey and avoid paying NJ sales tax?

We use our NY State ST-119.1 Exempt Organization Certificate all the time with our NY vendors, and even with some NJ vendors that maybe just don't know any better.

For the first time, a NJ vendor told me to avoid paying NJ tax I needed to provide a NJ ST-5. Looking at the NJ Tax site, and more specifically the ST-5 application form, it seems that a NY ST-119.1 cannot be used to obtain a NJ ST-5, and a NY ST-119.1 should not work in NJ. Furthermore, the NJ ST-5 application requires a county and municipality code, which only apply to NJ.

Can this really be true? The federal IRS certified us as non-profit and federal tax exempt, and NY state agreed, but NJ has no mechanism to honor that?

posted by slagerst to law & government (1 comment total)

Your municipality code, per page 5 of the REG1E form, is 5400. So the answer is, yes, NJ has a mechanism to honor that. And they even accommodate certain foreign countries, including Israel.
posted by jdfan at 9:51 AM on August 25, 2008