South Dakota Sales Tax Guide

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You're registered with the South Dakota Department of Revenue and you've begun collecting sales tax. Congratulations! Remember, those tax dollars don't belong to you. As an agent of the state of South Dakota, your role is that of intermediary transferring tax dollars from consumers to state and local tax authorities. Let's take a deeper look at how filing South Dakota sales tax returns impacts your business.

Technically speaking, filing South Dakota sales tax returns is a two-step process comprised of submitting the required sales data and remitting the collected tax dollars (if any) to state and local tax authorities.

In most states, there are a number of options for submitting sales tax data to the state. Business owners may complete a South Dakota sales tax filing form and mail it to the South Dakota Department of Revenue or they can file electronically online. In all states, filing online is recommended.

The filing process forces the business owner to detail their total sales, the amount of sales tax they have collected, and from where. The South Dakota Department of Revenue wants to be kept up to date on your business growth (or lack thereof) to make sure they are getting the tax dollars due. By completing ongoing filing of monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual, or annual South Dakota sales tax returns, they stay abreast of your growing company.

The South Dakota Department of Revenue will assign you a filing frequency. Typically, this is determined by the size of your business. State governments typically ask larger businesses to file more frequently. Visit our South Dakota filing due dates page for more information.

South Dakota sales tax returns must be filed and paid at the same time and are governed by the same due date.

Avalara has built the TrustFile product to allow business owners a quick and easy way to prepare and webfile South Dakota sales tax returns. Users can sign up and use the service to prepare South Dakota returns free for 30-days.

Filers may also file directly with the South Dakota Department of Revenue by visiting their site and entering your transaction data manually. This is a free service, but preparing South Dakota sales tax (breaking it down by jurisdiction) can be time consuming - especially for larger sellers.

Yes! Many business owners recognize they are not a tax professional and therefore, choose to outsource their sales tax sales and use tax filing to services like Avalara TrustFile or to an accountant or bookkeeper. This is a normal business practice that can save business owners time and help them avoid costly mistakes due to inexperience and a lack of deep knowledge about South Dakota sales tax code.

If sales tax is not paid to the South Dakota Department of Revenue within 30 days following the month the return is due, a penalty of 10% of the outstanding tax is assessed. The minimum penalty is equal to $10 and is assessed even if no sales tax is due.

Interest is assessed for each month or part thereof that the tax liability remains outstanding at a rate of 1.25%. The minimum interest assessed the first month is $5.

It is important to note that any tax, penalty or interest due to the South Dakota Department of Revenue equates to a lien in favor of the state on all real or personal property and rights to property belonging to the taxpayer. Furthermore, should you ignore repeated attempts to contact you in the form of notices and your account remains delinquent, your case will be assigned to a Revenue Agent for collection.

Yes! Once you've successfully registered for and been issued a Sales Tax License, you are required to file at the completion of each assigned collection period regardless of whether any sales tax was collected. This is what is known as a "zero-tax filing".

Failure to submit a required zero-tax filing can result in penalties imposed on your business by the South Dakota Department of Revenue so don't take this responsibility lightly.

Yes! The South Dakota Department of Revenue requires all businesses to "close their books" by filing a final sales tax return. This also holds true for business owners selling or otherwise transferring ownership of their business.

Vendor discounts are rebates offered to tax filers by state tax jurisdictions to compensate filers for the effort involved with collecting, filing, and remitting sales tax in a timely manner. Such discounts are frequently cited as outdated by those who see them as a tax loophole for big businesses. With online buying and SaaS services like Avalara TrustFile, the days of managing receipts, balancing books, and writing checks to the state have long since been replaced by computer automation.

The South Dakota Department of Revenue currently offers a vendor discount (also known as a dealer collection allowance) of 0.02% with a maximum of no maximum and a minimum of no minimum.