IRS Details Rules for Tanning Salon Sales Tax

The federal government has been thrashing around for tax revenues and is going after odd ones. In fact, the IRS has just issued rules for the collection of the new tanning salon sales tax.

How do you pay for big ticket items? If it is you or me, we might save up for it, take a loan or just run up a credit card. The government goes about it differently. The recent healthcare overhaul supposedly will extend health coverage to all Americans. That being said, we still have to pay for it in some manner. You and I will foot a big part of the bill, but so will the government. To do this, it passed a bunch of new small taxes.

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The first “vice tax” that the politicians tried to implement was a tax on plastic surgery procedures. That didn’t get very far. The medical community fired up their lobbyist and public relation agencies to fight back. Before you knew it, the tax had been buried and replaced by a sales tax on…tanning salons. Yes. Tanning. Apparently, the tanning industry doesn’t have much in the way of a presence in the cesspool known as Washington, D.C.

The sales tax on tanning sessions have been set at a rather staggering 10 percent. That is higher than the sales tax in any state. Tanners must be irate! Regardless, the IRS has issued rules and regulations detailing how the tax will work. It is to be collected by the tanning salon for each session under the artificial glowing sun. The money will then be remitted each quarter to the government.

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If you own or run a tanning salon, welcome to the world of sales tax. You probably already collect it on product sales, but this one is a bit different since the money is submitted to the feds instead of the state. The proper form is number 720, the tax return for the quarterly excise tax. Given the newness of the tax, it might be wise to speak with your accountant the first time you file it to make sure you are doing everything is correct.

The tanning salon tax goes into effect after June 30, 2010.

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