Ohio has been approved by the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board to become a full member of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP) and will join on January 1, 2014. But this doesn’t really matter for vendors and retailers at all—in fact, nothing will change. Why? Because Ohio has been an associate member since 2005. According to the Streamlined Sales Tax website: An associate state is a state that has achieved substantial compliance with the terms of the Agreement taken as a whole, but not necessarily each provision, measured qualitatively. Tennessee is the only associate state left that’s not a full member state for the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA), but they’re well on their way to becoming a full member.

Their goal was to move towards full compliance with the SSUTA by July of this year but that’s been to July of 2015 to give businesses sufficient time to adapt to the new regulations. This isn’t the first time these changes have been pushed back so it could be some years still until Tennessee becomes a full member. Once that does happen, businesses that collect sales tax in Tennessee will see changes. Ohio, however, has been compliant as an associate state for quite some time. Ohio’s website even goes on to say that associate states are required to be compliant with the SSUTA, although this isn’t 100% correct.

If you do business in Ohio, things will keep going as usual. As more and more states become associate members of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, more businesses will need to comply with the complex rules of the SSUTA. While the object of the SSUTA is to make things uniform, any differences from current sales tax rules are something businesses will need to prepare for—even if it it’s easier in the end, it’s not a simple changeover. This means that it’s a good time to review your sales tax filing software and make sure that it’s still the best choice for you. SalesTaxDataLINK offers a suite of solutions that have been designed for accountants by accountants. We think they’ll change how you feel about sales tax filing. Let us impress you with a free evaluation.