How to keep track of sales tax at craft fairs (without a shoebox of receipts)
You're packing up the booth at 6pm. You sold well — you think. There's a zip bag of cash, a phone full of card payments, and somewhere in the back of your mind a quiet voice saying you're supposed to be tracking the tax on all this.
That voice gets louder in January.
Why craft fair sales tax gets messy fast
Selling at fairs means selling in different places, and sales tax belongs to the place. The rate at your home studio isn't the rate two towns over. Some states want temporary vendors to register before the show. Some fairs collect your permit number at check-in; some never mention it.
Add cash sales with no automatic record, three shows in one month, and a busy season, and you get the classic maker problem: a shoebox of receipts and a guess. Nobody sets out to keep messy records. The mess is just what happens when the system is "I'll sort it out later."
What you actually need to record at each show
The good news: it's a short list.
- Where and when. The show, the town, the date. Tax follows the location.
- What you sold. Your total for the day — and it helps to know which pieces.
- The tax you collected. Or, if the rate is baked into your prices, the rate you used so the tax can be worked out from the total.
- What the day cost you. Booth fee, travel, parking. Not for the tax filing — for knowing whether the show earned its keep.
That's it. If you have those four things for every show, filing time is arithmetic instead of archaeology.
A five-minute end-of-day routine
Here's the habit that replaces the shoebox. Before you drive home — while the day is still in your head:
- Total the day. Cash counted, card sales checked.
- Write down sales and tax collected in one place. The same place every time.
- Note the day's expenses while the receipts are still in your pocket.
- Done. Five minutes, and the day is closed.
The whole trick is "the same place every time." A routine that lives across a notebook, a notes app, and a spreadsheet isn't a routine — it's three places for things to hide.
Every show in one place
That's the part AMS handles. Each show you do gets logged with its sales, its expenses, and its own sales tax record — the state it happened in, the rate you're tracking, and the filing deadline. What you collected and what you owe are worked out from the sales you logged, so there's no separate tax spreadsheet to keep in sync.
Do the same fair every year? Save its tax details once and every new outing starts pre-filled. When a filing deadline is coming up, AMS reminds you — and once you mark it filed, it's done. One less thing living in the back of your mind.
To be clear about what AMS is not: it isn't a tax advisor and it doesn't file for you. It keeps honest, complete records so that you — or your tax person — can file without dread.
Let the numbers decide which shows are worth it
Once every show is logged the same way, something nice happens: you can compare them. Real profit — after the booth fee, after what the work cost you to make — show by show, season by season.
That turns next year's applications into a decision instead of a habit. The fair that feels great but nets $80? The quiet one that somehow clears $600? Now you know. Your energy is the most limited material in your studio; spend it on the shows that earn it.
Common questions
Do I have to charge sales tax at craft fairs?
Usually, yes — but the rules depend on the state, and sometimes the town, where the fair happens. Many states have a special registration for temporary vendors. Check the state's revenue department website or ask the fair organizer, who has usually seen the paperwork before. AMS keeps the records of what you collected; it doesn't give tax advice.
What records should I keep from each craft show?
At minimum: the date and location, your total sales for the day, the tax you collected, and what the show cost you (booth fee, travel, parking). That's enough to file accurately and to judge whether the show was worth it.
Can AMS file my sales tax for me?
No. AMS keeps the records — what you collected at each show, the rate you tracked, and the filing deadline you set. You or your tax person does the actual filing. We'd rather be honest about that than pretend otherwise.
How do I know if a craft show was profitable?
Take what you sold, subtract what the goods cost you to make, then subtract the booth fee and your other show expenses. AMS does this math for every show you log, so you can compare shows side by side when applications open next year.
