Can sales tax be exempted or eliminated from my wholesale coffee orders?

Sales tax can be withheld from wholesale coffee orders, but only under certain conditions. Generally speaking, only two types of businesses will be eligible for sales tax exemption on coffee. The first, Non-profit organizations, may be exempt from paying sales taxes. And second, businesses offering coffee and coffee related products for resale may be eligible for sales tax reduction.

For companies that are generally required to pay sales tax (for-profit), only items considered part of the cost of the tangible good are eligible for sales tax reduction or exemption. In the coffee shop world, this would include your whole bean and ground coffee, the cup and utensils, the flavors and the ingredients that make the final product and are re-sold to the customer.

And it’s vital to reduce the sales tax whenever possible because by not eliminating it you are effectively paying a higher cost for the product. Raising your Cost of Goods (COGs) by the taxable amount, in Wichita, for example, adds 7.5% more cost to you. And in an environment where costs are rising faster than we can change the prices, this is super important to keep in control. Additionally, the idea of a double-tax event comes to mind; that you pay sales tax and then charge sales tax to the end-user, the customer.

In order for our team to remove sales tax from your orders, you will need to provide proof of exemption by either supplying us with your official exemption letter or by completing a sales tax exemption certificate. Here’s a link to the Kansas Resale Exemption Certificate (ST-28A). For non-Kansas corporations, please fill out a Uniform Sales & Use Tax Resale Certificate. Completed forms can be mailed to coffee@reverieroasters.com. Only after we receive the completed certificates can we remove the sales tax from your orders.

For questions regarding sales tax exemption, please email us at the link below and a member of our team will respond to you promptly.