There are noteworthy consequences for not paying the sales tax appropriately. So, your sales tax filing should be proper and appropriate for you to not make this kind of mistake. Because this type of consequences can be both civil as well as criminal in nature. Generally, if you do not collect or remit the sales tax where you owe it then you may be subjected to the substantial penalties and interest.
So, while doing your sales tax filing keep all these things in mind and follow the proper order or sequence in which it should be done. Otherwise you may face some problems due to it.
Penalties for not paying sales tax:
The penalties for not paying sales tax differs from state to state and the type of its nature whether civil or criminal. These penalties are from the criminal nature as most of the sales tax cases are. Some of the main states and their penalties for not paying the sales tax are mentioned below:
| State | Failed to file for sales tax | Failed to pay the sales tax |
| California | Criminal failure to file for sales tax which has the penalty of $1000 to $5000 fine and/or imprisonment up to 1 year.
Felony which is intent to evade and if the unreported tax exceeds t to $25000 in a year then your penalty is $5000 to $20,000 fine and/or imprisonment for 16 months to 3 years as well. |
The penalties for failing to pay the sales tax are the same as that of failing to file the sales tax in the state of California. |
| Florida | Failure of file sales tax is considered to be a felony after a person has missed six consecutive returns which have been missed by him/her and there is an intent to evade the sales tax. | For first or second offense in not paying the sales tax the amount of sales tax is around $300 or less than that. In this situation it is either a misdemeanor or a 1st, 2nd or 3rd degree felony depending on the amount of sales tax involved. |
| Maine | Criminal failure to file: Class D crime and the succeeding offenses are Class C crime.
Intent to evade: Class D crime. Class C crime or for subsequent offense if it exceeds $2000. Class B if the offense and tax exceed $2000. |
Both penalties for failing to file and failing to pay are similar to each other in the state of Maine. |
| New York | Filing to file for sales tax is considered to be misdemeanor here. | Failing to pay for sales tax is a mis demeanor. It is a Class E felony if you attempt to defraud the state or political division of at least $10,000. |
| Washington | N/A | Failing to pay the sales tax in the state of Washington is considered to be a Gross misdemeanor. |
| Utah | Failing to file in this state is a 3rd degree felony and the penalty is $1000 to $5000 fine. | Failing to pay sales tax here is a 2nd degree felony and the penalty is $1500 to $25,000 fine. |