How do we gain a tax exempt status on our account?

[bbanks]

 This reply was created from merging an existing thread:  Tax Exempt Status

I work for a tax exempt organization. How do we gain a tax exempt status on our account?

[FAMI]

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit and are exempt from paying Texas sales tax. How do I keep from being charged tax when ordering merchandise from Square?

[Ron]

If Texas is like Pennsylvania the sales tax exemption is only for items that you are going to re-sell, not for purchases you use for your business.

[FAMI]

As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, we are exempt from paying  Texas sales tax on all purchases used by our organization. We wanted to go ahead & place our order, so I called the help line & got an answer. Thanks.

[IRKPA]

What was their answer? In Michigan, nonprofits also don't pay sales tax on business purchases. Thanks! Kristine

[FAMI]

So far I've gotten no answer other than that they are processing my request. No other company has ever taken this long to approve our exemption.

[IRKPA]

Thanks for YOUR prompt reply! I assume we need to send our IRS status letter and fill out either a Michigan or California exemption form. Trying to get help keeps sending me back to the community, not someone who actually works for Square, but I do have an email/phone contact that I can try. Seems that a company of this size would have information easily accessible on their website. PayPal even offers reduced processing rates for nonprofits, but Square seemed to have the better in-store and mobile setup.

[FAMI]

I submitted our tax certificate & filled out a foem or theirs. Then they said I had to submit their form again, which I did. It's been 2 weeks & I still haven't been able to find out anything. I am very disappointed with Square about this. Until this, I was their biggest fan, but this is ridiculous.

[IRKPA]

Got a quick response to my email. In the meantime, the order receipt popped up showing free tax and shipping, and that same tax-free amount is pending at CapitalOne. We'll see what happens.

[FAMI]

We did get our refund today. Staci with the support team had been helping me, & she was able to get it through.

[Tom]

Thanks for bringing this up!

For tax exemptions on hardware purchases, we will have to assist case-by-case. If you believe your organization qualifies for the exemption, get in touch with our Support Team and be sure to have your Tax Exemption Certification handy. A team member will get back to you with any other action needed and they will escalate for further review. 

Appreciate your patience with this process — we'll work to get everything taken care of as soon as possible.

[vgiordano]

I just spoke on the phone with someone from Square and they said they do not offer tax exemption for tax exempt charities. 

[TexasKoC]

I do not see a real answer as to how to submit your Tax Exempt Information.

[Valentina]

Hey there, @TexasKoC - please take a look at @Tom's best answer on the first page of this thread. Because we handle tax exemption requests case-by-case, you'll want to reach out directly and work with our Customer Success team on this one.

[vgiordano]

I tried this. I just spoke on the phone with someone from Square and they said they do not offer tax exemption for tax exempt charities. 

[ceep]

It is a painful, arduous and extremely over complicated mess that no one seems to know the entirety of (I spoke to three different people and looked on here still without getting the whole story).  Square has dropped the ball big time on exemption processing.  They required my certficate (which is all that most companies require) and their own form filled out, but it couldn't be signed by me, it has to be signed by another party, a list of information that is all included on the order which they also ask for a copy of and to top it all off, they want their form signed and dated prior to the purchase.  By the way, they don't allow you to submit the exemption / tax refund request prior to the purchase, so they are baciscally telling you to falsify the signed date on the form they want.

There's more...  Send in all that info and they tell you they have to send it on to be reviewed (which can take four weeks) where it MAY OR MAY NOT be excepted.  Then the refund of the tax is sent to the bank associated with your account, not to the card used for making the purchase, causing extra accounting leg work.

For a company that specializes in processing sales, you'd think they would undestand the kind of headache this fisaco causes.

[TexasKoC]

I will keep your story in mind when I work thru the process. You are correct about there being no information about how to enter your tax exempt information. There is no way to allow you at sign up to even let you indicate you are a tax exempt entity.

[trueyouthfl]

Looks like I am in the same boat. I can't figure out who to contact. The link in @Tom email sends me to a page to fill out a contact me form. There is nowhere to put in my certification. I guess someone has to reach out to me first and then I submit it to them. The process seems long and combersome. How did it work out for you?

[JustinC]

Hey @trueyouthfl - yes you're right, the link in Tom's answer is to contact our CS Team. You'll need to order and pay for the the hardware first, then contact our CS Team with your tax exempt paperwork. From there, they'll create a ticket for our Tax Team to reimburse you. 

[vgiordano]

I just spoke on the phone with someone from Square and they said they do not offer tax exemption for tax-exempt charities. 

[GlassJudy · Accepted solution]

I've been looking for answers to your question, and I believe it all comes down to how you define your Merchant Category Code (MCC).  Since you want to be sure to enter it correctly at first (since it requires a call to Square's support team if you need to change it anyway), I suggest you contact them right away and get it done right, here at your start.

You'll need your customer code to call.  Follow the instructions below on how to get it.

Go to Square's support page.

Click “More”

Click "I don't see my issue"

Click "Call Support"

Write down your Customer Code

Call 1  855  700  6000