In NY, because the children are purchasing the books, you must charge sales tax. There is no way around it, we have tried. According to the IRS all fundraisers will be taxed at some point in the future, it was easier to start with the bigger companies. So eventually everything that is sold through the PTA as a fundraiser will be taxed, in NY anyway.
We, the PTA pays the sales tax out of the little profits that we make. We try to get merchandise and books for our library, book corner and classrooms. My problem with Scholastic is their customer service and lack of availablilty of the books that the kids want the most. Thank you for all the advice
We are trying a new company this year called Imagine-nation books-- the books seem cheaper than Scholastic-- the percentage is better I think-- 30% in cash and 10% in books from the sale-- plus teachers and staff can purchase anything for 50% list price-- You do not need a bunch of volunteers-- the company sends enough catalogs -- one for each student-- they take the catalog home, pick what they want and send it back in-- turn around seems great-- We're going to do Scholastic in the fair and Imagine-nation in the spring in time for Easter.
Usborne Books does school book fairs.
Usborne Books - Educational books for kids of all ages
We have not used them, but I have heard nice things about thier book fairs.
I have seen the books before, and they are very nice!
Our school runs it and yes, the school is tax expempt, but the school still has to pay taxes on the sold books. Like I said, PTO provides the manpower to run the sale, the school has the book fair. Not sure about why the tax, unless it's because families are buying the books, not the PTO or the school. Just my guess.
Wow, our school has always been charged tax by Scholastic. The school runs bookfairs, although it is the PTO moms who set up and run. The secretary has us "round up" to the next dollar to help cover tax. Not sure how much of the tax it actually covers, but must work pretty well, as we do two a year for several years now. Hope this helps.
