1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:01,880 Hello and welcome to another episode, the Winning with 2 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:04,000 Shopify Podcast and meet your host, Nick Truman. 3 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:05,920 Thanks so much for tuning in. If you haven't already, hit that 4 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:08,440 subscribe button. We are live at Sub Summit. 5 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:10,560 We've done a couple of episodes here so far and I'm delighted to 6 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:12,720 be joined by one of our sponsors, Ryan from Tax Club. 7 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:14,200 Ryan, welcome back to the show. How are you doing? 8 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:16,480 Yeah, great to be there. Great to get to connect in 9 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:18,800 person. It's been so good to meet you 10 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,440 and Ryan dragged us out on a run this morning that I was slightly 11 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:24,440 late for but I I caught them up on the just down at the bottom 12 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:26,400 of the hill. But Ryan we're going to jump 13 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:28,240 straight in. Tax Cloud has saved over 14 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:32,720 £15,000,000 in sales tax filing. Tell us what you guys do. 15 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:34,720 How do you save that much money for businesses? 16 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,280 Yeah. So that was actually money that 17 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:40,080 we saved just last year alone for businesses. 18 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,680 And that's really through our relationship with the SST, which 19 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:45,560 is a streamlined sales tax program. 20 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:50,280 It's it's a program of 24 states here in the US that if you're 21 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:52,800 filing through the SST program, you actually don't get charged 22 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,280 for those filings. And so that's kind of one of our 23 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,320 key differentiators. But we, you know, we save people 24 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:00,040 money all the time on on their filings. 25 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,200 We're generally, you know, we built our pricing to really 26 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,320 scale with businesses as they grow and generally they're 27 00:01:06,320 --> 00:01:08,680 saving a lot of money and then in addition to getting Peace of 28 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:10,960 Mind with their sales tax compliance. 29 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:12,960 Nice. And I think we sales tax, like 30 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,440 we always joke about how much of like a dirty topic it is and we 31 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:17,960 don't want to talk about it. But when someone's got a big 32 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:20,640 scaling business and they're trying to create a successful 33 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:25,640 operation, things like tax, HR, insurance, all these things, the 34 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:28,680 quicker and easier you take take care of them, the less stress it 35 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:30,160 is to start building the business, isn't it? 36 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,040 It's it's so sad when a business is held back by something so 37 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,520 simple that could be so automated to the point where you 38 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:40,680 guys are the number one tax filing app in the Shopify App 39 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:42,880 Store as well. Tell us about that journey. 40 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:45,720 Like how do you become number one in the Shopify App Store? 41 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:47,160 Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of what 42 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,160 you just talked about around, like our whole philosophy is we 43 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,040 don't want sales tax to be more complex as you scale. 44 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:54,920 And we definitely don't want it to slow you down. 45 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,800 And so it is one of these things that nobody really wants to talk 46 00:01:57,800 --> 00:01:59,800 about and come into a show like this. 47 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,600 It's sometimes it's not the thing people want to discuss. 48 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,520 But the truth is it's like you want to get ahead of it before 49 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:07,760 you have a problem and you want to work with a provider that 50 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:09,800 actually is going to take this off your plate. 51 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,000 And that's really what we try to focus to do on the Shopify side. 52 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,600 Like you mentioned, you know, Shopify is great at checkout. 53 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,240 They can handle kind of calculating your sales tax for 54 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,040 you. And a lot of that, what you 55 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,320 really need if you're growing Shopify brand is a partner to 56 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,920 kind of handle everything else, to handle your registrations and 57 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:31,800 actually working with the States and to fully automate all of 58 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,320 your filings with the states because that's where people have 59 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:36,200 issues. It's they get a notice in the 60 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,480 mail they didn't know they were supposed to be paying sales tax. 61 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:42,480 So we've talked to folks here who who said, you know, well, we 62 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:45,880 have products that are exempt, which means they're not taxed in 63 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:47,240 certain states. And so they're like, well, we 64 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,040 don't worry about sales tax. Well, actually you do need to 65 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:51,640 worry about sales tax because even though you're not 66 00:02:51,640 --> 00:02:54,160 collecting sales tax on those products, you still have to file 67 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:56,840 in those states if you have, if you're over a certain threshold. 68 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:58,320 And so it's. Not something you want to get 69 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,240 wrong, is it Like the the pain and frustration and and loss of 70 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,240 money as well, getting something like sales tax filing wrong is, 71 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,040 is it's a horrible place to be and and it can be so damaging 72 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:08,560 for a business. Yeah, yeah. 73 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,560 And we might have spoke about the the last time I was on the 74 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,480 show, but, you know, sales tax is one of these things that can 75 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,640 get worse and worse and harder and harder as everything else in 76 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:21,360 your business is doing better and better and better because it 77 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,160 becomes a bigger problem as you scale and grow and have more 78 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:26,960 sales. And, you know, there, there is a 79 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,520 lot of like fear mongering out there related to sales tax that 80 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,360 are usually from providers like us that are like, oh, well, if 81 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:35,280 you don't do this, you'll be in huge trouble. 82 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,040 And I like to tell people like, yeah, you will have to. 83 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,720 It just becomes a bigger financial problem for you and a 84 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,400 bill you're going to have to pay here in the US like they're 85 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:46,560 going to get their sales tax one way or another. 86 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:48,280 It's. Not optional is it? 87 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,920 Like it has to happen, and as you say there, the bigger you 88 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:52,880 get, the more complicated it gets and the more of a problem 89 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:54,480 it becomes. Yeah, exactly. 90 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:56,760 And then as you like scale the different channels, even if 91 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,440 Shopify is your primary channel, but then you're doing 92 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:04,080 marketplace sales or wholesale, like it just becomes a much more 93 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:06,040 a bigger problem for you. And So what you really want to 94 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:08,840 do is to set this up in a way that it's getting taken care of 95 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:11,560 behind the scenes and you want to be thinking less and less 96 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:13,720 about it. And it is one of those things 97 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,640 that you should be able to automate and then, you know, 98 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:18,519 still check in with it occasionally, but have a 99 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:19,959 provider that really takes it off your plate. 100 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:22,120 Yeah, yeah. And I, I think just to give 101 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:24,160 context as well, if you guys have just started a business or 102 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:25,840 someone else in your organization looks after this, 103 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:28,640 we're talking about file like firstly registering in every 104 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,240 state, filing in every state, and then also making sure you 105 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,480 pay that tax in every state, which you guys automate that 106 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:38,400 process for people. How often do you need to pay the 107 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:40,680 sales tax in each state as well? Because that in itself is a 108 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:42,200 nightmare, isn't it? Yeah. 109 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:44,360 And it it, it'll vary and, and the important thing to keep in 110 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:48,120 mind too is like we cover every state and Canada, US and Canada, 111 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,480 but you know, it's really going to depend on your Nexus as you 112 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:53,720 grow and scale. And so Nexus, just a fancy word 113 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:56,440 of saying you hit a certain threshold that means you now 114 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:00,240 required to pay, collect and pay sales tax in that state. 115 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,240 And so you know, that's going to be something that you're going 116 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,880 to have to like really stay on top of on the frequency side. 117 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:11,240 The the thing that's challenging is that some states it's a 118 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,720 always monthly, some states it's quarterly, some states, there's 119 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:18,880 annual, some states it's a certain frequency one point. 120 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,520 But as you scale to enough sales, you then it's going to. 121 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:22,800 Point is that like every threshold. 122 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:24,920 Isn't it right? So there's all these different 123 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,600 thresholds in all these states. And again, like ideally you 124 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:29,560 shouldn't have to worry about that. 125 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:32,680 You know, I think when you're starting off and you're only in 126 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:36,080 a few, a few states that you can definitely do on your own or 127 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:37,160 work with an accountant to do it. 128 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:39,120 But when you start to run in these situations like we're 129 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:42,440 talking about, it just becomes too big of a problem to do 130 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:44,120 internally and keep up with all this stuff. 131 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:47,200 And I mean, the beauty of working with a tool is that it's 132 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,560 going to be taken care of. So you're not going to have to 133 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,480 worry about the frequencies, you know they'll do that for you and 134 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,360 makes your life a lot easier. Does your e-mail marketing suck? 135 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,480 Do you wish it converted better and integrated better with your 136 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,360 store? Well, there is a solution. 137 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,320 We partner with Seguno who are an e-mail platform that is built 138 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,400 into Shopify, which means you don't have to leave Shopify to 139 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:09,200 go and manage your e-mail campaigns. 140 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:11,760 So you can run your marketing at the same place you run your 141 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:13,040 shop. To learn more, you can claim 142 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,040 your free customer analysis and strategy session and visit 143 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:20,120 seguno.com/or Winning Shopify, that's S e.g. 144 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:25,000 Uno.com/winenglish Saguno is made for merchants, not 145 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:26,280 marketers. Amazing. 146 00:06:26,280 --> 00:06:28,200 And I mean, I looked at some of the case studies in your website 147 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,960 as well and Cable Bullet, they said it would have cost $40,000 148 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:33,720 if it wasn't for you guys. What is that? 149 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:35,440 That there's a scary number to a lot of stores. 150 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:37,280 What does that $40,000 actually mean? 151 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:39,360 Yeah. So we, we hear this a lot. 152 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:41,840 This is like a really common thing that happens is, is 153 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:44,440 somebody works with, you know what we call one of the like the 154 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:46,320 legacy providers. So there's certain tools that 155 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:50,640 have been around forever in the sales tax space and the, you 156 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,320 know, they won't tell them about things like the SST program, 157 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:55,680 which I mentioned, right? Or maybe that provider isn't 158 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:57,240 eligible to be part of that program. 159 00:06:57,240 --> 00:06:59,440 And, and that was certainly the case with cable Bullet where, 160 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:03,120 you know, they found out months later, years later where they 161 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,760 were paying in tax in a bunch of states that if they'd gotten 162 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:07,720 connected with one of these programs, they wouldn't have had 163 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:09,600 to, right? And so that's where that 40,000 164 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,640 starts to add up. That's. 40,000 in tax they 165 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:14,720 didn't need to pay but were paying so they were filing 166 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:16,680 wrong. Well, no, no, in that situation, 167 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,320 it's actually the the tax they'll still always have to 168 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,560 pay, but it's actually $40,000 that they paid their previous 169 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,120 provider that they wouldn't have had to, which is even worse 170 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:28,240 because you have to pay the sales tax of the States and and 171 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,840 the regions. Now you're paying a premium to 172 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:31,560 have someone. Fight. 173 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:33,040 You don't need to. Yeah. 174 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:35,000 And the last thing you want, I mean, you know, we don't want 175 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:36,440 people paying us any more than they need to. 176 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:40,200 And, and no provider should like, be charging for States and 177 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:42,440 things that they don't need to. And you can run into that if 178 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:44,920 you're not, you know, a lot of the provides you work with, 179 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:46,320 they're not going to the incentive to tell you about 180 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:47,680 these things. And so, yeah, and. 181 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,320 One of the interesting things I think about Shopify that makes 182 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:52,040 it so easy is it's integrated with Stripe. 183 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,680 So you if you guys are using Shopify check outs and in its 184 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:58,880 most basic form, Stripe is the payment gateway that's taking 185 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:01,800 the payment for you. Stripe has Stripe Tax. 186 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:04,160 So when I've discussed this with them, it's not something comes 187 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:05,960 up regularly, but I have discussed it with one or two 188 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:07,840 clients that have been like, do you know about this? 189 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:09,160 Like it's such a headache. Yeah. 190 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:13,080 How do, what does Stripe tax do? But what does it also not do? 191 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:16,560 Yeah, yeah. So I mean the on the tax side, 192 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:19,920 what you're going to find out is on Shopify for example, you 193 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,280 know, on Shopify you have the payments for Stripe, but then 194 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,440 they have Shopify tax. Shopify tax at checkout is 195 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:27,440 actually great. You should, if you're a 196 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:31,840 provider, you're in really good hands if you're using Shopify 197 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:33,720 tax at checkout. A lot of brands kind of get a 198 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:36,640 little worried about kind of the Shopify native products. 199 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:39,360 They think like, you know, maybe when I'm small I'll use those, 200 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:41,360 but as I scale, I, I shouldn't have to. 201 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:44,080 But Shopify Tax is actually great to use. 202 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,360 And we work with brands that are hundreds of millions of revenue 203 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,400 and they're using Shopify tax at checkout Stripe, Stripe Tax is a 204 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,760 similar set up where they have their own tax product and they 205 00:08:53,760 --> 00:08:56,000 can help do calculation things like that as well. 206 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,320 But again, similar to Shopify, you still want to work with a 207 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:04,240 provider that's going to handle your filings, your registrations 208 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:08,200 and all kind of like the ugly work of of sales tax. 209 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,160 And so I always say like if you're working with a platform 210 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:14,840 that has a really strong tax engine and obviously Shopify 211 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:18,160 striped and these are building platforms and e-commerce 212 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:20,840 platforms that have a great track record at checkout. 213 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:24,040 And they offer really they've invested a lot at on the 214 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,160 calculation side, which is like they identify the buyer based 215 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:29,680 off where they are, they calculate the right rates, let 216 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:32,360 them do what they're good at and then work with a partner to 217 00:09:32,360 --> 00:09:35,680 automate everything else. And that's, you know, that's 218 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:37,520 true on Stripe tax, that's true on Shopify tax. 219 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:39,080 That's kind of what we'd recommend for anyone. 220 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:41,480 It's amazing. And yeah, I think so many brands 221 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:43,160 when they start up as well, they're like great, Shopify does 222 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:44,520 the tax bit for me. And then they have this 223 00:09:44,680 --> 00:09:47,720 heartbreak later of like, Oh no, we've not been paying it. 224 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:49,600 We've not been filing it. And now we need to. 225 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:52,040 It's like it's just money gone and we're trying to like get off 226 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:54,800 the ground here, which I think leads us to a really important 227 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:58,800 question, which is should small brands that are starting up be 228 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:01,280 thinking about this or is it just for the scaling companies? 229 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:04,120 Is it just when when you hit like 20 million turnover a year? 230 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:07,520 Like at what point should people have a plan for both kind of 231 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:11,320 registering it, filing it, paying it, and also factoring it 232 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:13,280 into the economics of their store? 233 00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:15,040 Yeah. So there's a few things I would 234 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:19,120 think about when you're early on in the journey. 1 is you have 235 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:22,360 Nexus from day one based on your location. 236 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,320 So there's two types of Nexus. There's physical, which is you 237 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:27,840 have an employee or you have a warehouse or a physical 238 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,200 location. If you have somebody who works 239 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,360 for you in a state, you actually already have Nexus regardless of 240 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:35,560 your sales. So 1, you kind of do have to 241 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:39,600 think about it really early on and you're better off when you 242 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:41,320 start off just to have like a plan. 243 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,640 Like I like to tell people, think about what your business 244 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:47,600 is going to look like when you go beyond just one state or two 245 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,720 states or five states even, and make sure you have a solution in 246 00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:52,360 place that's going to kind of scale with you. 247 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:56,920 And, you know, the biggest thing we try to avoid a, a tax cloud 248 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:00,120 is to set people up where they come in and they feel great 249 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,920 about their setup on day one, but in two years they're like, 250 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:06,040 jeez, my bill has gone out of control. 251 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,000 You know, we're trying to avoid that situation. 252 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,440 So we try to set people up with on where they are today, 253 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:14,280 obviously paying for where they are today, but having a, a 254 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,200 really consultative approach to say, listen, your business is 255 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:18,800 scaling. You know, we're going to let you 256 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,320 know when you have Nexus and all these states, but here's how to 257 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:22,880 set up today. Here's how, where you should 258 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:25,360 think about going in the future. But so it's not a thing you can 259 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,200 ignore. You know, again, if you're just 260 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:30,760 early on, it shouldn't be taking up all of your mindshare. 261 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,320 Like I said, if you're in one or two states, do it, do it 262 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:35,720 yourself. I think that's totally fine, but 263 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:37,960 just be ready that as you scale, you're going to need someone to 264 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,240 help you out and you know there's tools out there to help 265 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:41,680 you do that. Yeah, absolutely. 266 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:44,000 And there's loads of different types of businesses that use 267 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,480 Shopify as well, and there'll be nuances with each one. 268 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:48,600 But obviously we're sitting here at Sub Summit at the moment. 269 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:50,960 I should flag as well that someone's adopted a puppy from 270 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:52,720 your stand. These guys, I thought they were 271 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,240 joking about actually having puppies at the stand. 272 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:58,120 And I spent a good like 20 minutes every other hour just 273 00:11:58,400 --> 00:11:59,880 cuddling puppies, which have been amazing. 274 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:02,360 But with subscriptions, obviously talking about 275 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:04,920 subscriptions here, if a business is using a subscription 276 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,560 model, do they also need to think about sales tax? 277 00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:09,520 Is that something that you guys also work with? 278 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:12,120 Yeah, totally. I mean, it becomes even a bigger 279 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:15,680 problem in a lot of situations because like the number of 280 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:18,840 orders and transactions that subscription businesses are 281 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,760 doing generally are like compounding at a big rate 282 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:25,600 because every, you know, every month they have a sale from 283 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:27,400 every customer that's going to be taxed. 284 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:29,920 So you definitely want to think about that. 285 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:32,560 For sure. There are some intricacies. 286 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:35,960 And again, like certain states will think about, you know, if 287 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:38,880 you're a a subscription box company and you have different 288 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:42,080 products, but within that box, you might have taxable products, 289 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:44,880 non taxable products, right? And so we've worked with 290 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,200 subscription businesses that have had to navigate that. 291 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:50,000 Now some states, most states are going to make that pretty easy 292 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:52,800 and they'll say the entire box is taxable. 293 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:54,320 And so that's what you can worry about. 294 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:56,680 But there certainly are states where they don't make it as 295 00:12:56,680 --> 00:12:58,360 easy. So you have to think about, you 296 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:02,960 know, some food products aren't taxable, but if you have, you 297 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,480 know, AT shirt in that box, then it could be right. 298 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:07,640 And so it's another reason to work with a provider. 299 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,440 Generally your providers are going to be able to kind of map, 300 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:13,800 you know, the taxability of different products that you sell 301 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,440 right into Shopify so that they'll just take care of that 302 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:19,560 for you. But it's it's another thing that 303 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:21,000 you definitely want to think about. 304 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:25,040 But if majority of that's being handled through Shopify, if you 305 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:27,800 have a great, one of the great subscription management tools 306 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:31,120 here to help you do that, all you really do need is a tool I 307 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:33,120 can kind of plug in and handle the tax side. 308 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:35,960 And generally it should be just as easy as any other kind of 309 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:37,760 business. But it's more kind of on the 310 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:41,080 volume perspective and then handling the taxability of the 311 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:43,800 products and and that's where things can get a little tricky. 312 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:46,960 Yost have just launched something that is absolutely 313 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,640 game changing. The new AI Brand Insights tool 314 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:53,720 is now in beta, and it's built to help you track your brand's 315 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:57,440 visibility, sentiment, and credibility across AI platforms 316 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:00,480 like ChatGPT. As search expands from Google to 317 00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:03,600 AI answers, this tool gives you a clearview of how your brand 318 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:07,240 shows up, combining sentiment, visibility, and mentions. 319 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,200 It's designed for marketers who want enterprise level insight 320 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:14,520 without the enterprise price less than $400.00 per year. 321 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,160 And here's the best bit. Yost Black Friday Sale is now 322 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:21,520 on, so starting November 27th, you'll get a 30% discount off 323 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:26,000 all annual plans, including the new Yost SEO AI Plus. 324 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,320 Head to yost.com to learn more and grab your discount. 325 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:31,320 And they don't make it easy for us anymore, do they? 326 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:34,080 Like it's, I hadn't even thought of that subscription box 327 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:36,960 actually in the individual items having different taxable rates, 328 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:38,680 different taxable classifications. 329 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:40,960 But again, with Shopify and Someone Like You guys, it makes 330 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:42,400 it so easy, doesn't it? Because you guys can actually 331 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:44,960 just go into Shopify and go, oh, that's your inventory, right? 332 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:46,080 Well, this is the tax for all of them. 333 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:47,640 And when they get bought, bang, it's all automatic. 334 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:50,760 Yeah, yeah, for sure. And you know, I mean, coming 335 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:52,560 here before we came to this show, I was just thinking about 336 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:55,720 all the products that I use and how many of them are 337 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:57,640 subscription products. You know, it's kind of crazy. 338 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,080 And then looking at some of our customers, just how many are, 339 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:03,400 you know, maybe pureplay full subscription businesses or 340 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,200 subscriptions are just a component of what they do. 341 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,400 And you know, they're having to navigate not just like the 342 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:12,200 direct to consumer on Shopify, but also the subscription 343 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:14,640 component. And then they may be on these 344 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:16,320 marketplaces and they may have wholesale. 345 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:18,880 So it's like you have all these channels and all these different 346 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,360 sales methods that you're using and taxability can look a little 347 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,720 different on all of them. And and so, you know, it's 348 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:28,920 there's nothing easy about the tax I when it comes to these 349 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,800 kind of businesses, so. Yeah, and then as amazed when 350 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,360 when the show first started, Chris, Chris George from sub, 351 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:37,120 some of the CEO, he was sharing the statistics and how many I 352 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:39,960 think was 8 or 9 subscriptions the average person has now. 353 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:42,200 And therefore you're fighting for share of wallet. 354 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:45,040 And so things like tax, if you don't factor that in and you 355 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,200 start scaling this, you know, you've got this amazing 356 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,640 subscription box, it starts scaling and suddenly this big 357 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:52,200 tax bill comes through. It's like, and we need to file 358 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:54,720 it in multiple states again. I know I've mentioned it two or 359 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:56,840 three times, but I think that's such a good use case where 360 00:15:57,160 --> 00:16:00,520 actually if you just get the tax and things automated sorted, you 361 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:03,720 can focus on scalability and you don't have to focus on the kind 362 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:06,040 of stuff that keeps us up at night as as business owners. 363 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:07,680 Totally. And, and like, one of my 364 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,000 favourite things in the world is when I see, you know, a 365 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,160 subscription that I have come into our business and become a 366 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:15,960 customer because I'm just like, all right, I know the. 367 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:18,200 Amount of clients we've got and I'm like, oh, just buy some of. 368 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,200 That yeah, I know. I just know that their life is 369 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:24,440 going to get a lot easier, not just because we're so great, but 370 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,200 just because, like now they've put a solution in place to 371 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:28,680 manage this kind of stuff. So yeah. 372 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:29,600 Yeah. Yeah. 373 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:31,480 And I think, I mean, the other case that I put out was Almond 374 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:33,560 Cow. And they said they now spend 70% 375 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:36,400 less time thinking about tax, which if you look at an economic 376 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:39,800 point of view, 70% more time and obviously not more time in 377 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,720 total, but 70% of the tax time they were spending dealing with 378 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,560 filing and everything that's now just reallocated to sales, 379 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,000 marketing to growing the business, that's so much more 380 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:49,480 effective. Yeah, yeah. 381 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,040 And that was a great example of a brand that that had kind of 382 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:55,040 like pieced together a few different tools They were using, 383 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:58,320 you know, 1 other third party tool at checkout instead of 384 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:02,040 using Shopify tax at the time, they had a different provider 385 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:05,359 doing their filing for them. And I remember talking with the 386 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,359 founder of the time just how much time he was spending. 387 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:10,960 And you know, when I, when I, when I caught back up with him, 388 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:13,400 you know, pretty soon after and we had a chance to do that case 389 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:16,880 study, you know, the big thing that came to mind was just like 390 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,119 how much he was like, oh, we hadn't really modernized our 391 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:22,760 sales tax stack. It was we, we were kind of out 392 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:24,560 of date with the times. We didn't realize all the 393 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:25,920 different solutions that were out there. 394 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:28,000 So us being able to do that for them. 395 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:32,080 And again, it was centralizing on one tool that could handle it 396 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:34,600 for them. It was also just kind of taking 397 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:37,240 stock of what they had been doing and 'cause this is 398 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:39,480 something that you should review occasionally. 399 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,760 Like if you have a provider in place and it's been around since 400 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:44,880 sales tax became a problem, which is really around like 401 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:47,920 2018, where in 2020 where it really became a problem for 402 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:49,760 people. Well, if you haven't reviewed 403 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,640 that in a few years, like the ecosystem has just changed. 404 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,080 There's a lot of new providers out there and there's a lot of 405 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:57,200 different solutions. And, you know, those guys are 406 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,720 another great example of they have, I don't know if folks in 407 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:04,440 the UK know almond cow, but they it's a it's a tool to make 408 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:06,920 almond milk at home. It's kind of cool. 409 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:08,040 Yeah. It's like one of our favorite, 410 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:10,640 favorite kitchen appliances. I was a customer of theirs as 411 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,520 well, long before they became a customer of ours. 412 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,640 And but I remember talking to the founder about like, he's 413 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,200 like, oh, but we also have this subscription component for the 414 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:21,800 nuts that we sell so that you can make the milk, you know? 415 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:24,720 So even then they dealt with a lot of the same complexity we're 416 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:26,800 talking about. And as a good example, does that 417 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:29,880 change the tax like classification if it was just 418 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,440 selling the nuts themselves versus selling it as milk versus 419 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:34,760 selling it as an appliance? There's like 3 different use 420 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:36,040 cases. Yeah, totally. 421 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,280 So like, yeah, that's, that's a perfect example of like how this 422 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:41,040 stuff gets really tricky. It's like if you're selling the 423 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:43,600 different ingredients, it's one tax thing. 424 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:47,520 It's if you're buying a finished product, it's another, I'm sure 425 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:50,960 milk on the shelves is taxed differently than the nuts to 426 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:54,080 make almond milk and certainly taxed different than the 427 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,440 appliances. And that's going to look 428 00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:00,240 different across every state. I'm sure states like California 429 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:02,560 maybe have a lot of the almond farms. 430 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:04,080 Maybe they think about, you know, I don't know all these 431 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:06,880 hops up in my head, but it's just a great, you know, a lot of 432 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,360 it is that kind of stuff too. So so yeah, we see it all. 433 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:11,960 Amazing. And if people want to reach out 434 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:13,800 to you guys, check out the app, get in contact with you like 435 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:16,040 what's the best way to do that? And did they get a free puppy? 436 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:17,360 Is that? Yeah, yeah. 437 00:19:17,360 --> 00:19:19,880 So, yeah, you know, the puppy thing, I appreciate bringing 438 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:20,920 that up. Yeah, we're, we're just trying 439 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,040 to listen. Sales tax is not the, yeah, it's 440 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:25,960 not the most exciting thing. We're trying to have fun with 441 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:27,880 it. We're trying to give people a 442 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:30,400 reason to engage. And, and, and it's kind of like 443 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:34,040 our culture is just like great to work with good people. 444 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:35,600 And, and that's kind of our approach. 445 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:37,920 If you're in a, a situation where you're trying to figure 446 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:40,920 out sales tax, taccloud.com, it's probably the best place to 447 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:42,640 reach out. If you're on Shopify, which I 448 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,480 know your audience is, you can go in the Shopify App Store, 449 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,320 read our reviews there, download the app through the App Store. 450 00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:51,560 And we typically recommend because sales tax is a very 451 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:54,280 manual process to schedule time with our team whenever you're 452 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,800 ready, because it's helpful to have a talk with someone that 453 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:00,000 can talk you through your situation and where you're doing 454 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,800 great on sales tax, maybe where you have some liability you have 455 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,480 to take care of and we can help guide you through that process. 456 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:07,760 We try to take a really human approach to doing this stuff 457 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:09,920 and. Yeah, we're here when you need 458 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:10,800 us and I. Love that. 459 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,120 I mean, like in our agency, yeah, we just don't do any kind 460 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:15,520 of automated AI type communication with customers. 461 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:17,920 It's like just talk to a human. We can use AI to speed up 462 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,080 processes. But I think so many of the 463 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:22,600 Shopify apps, they're faceless. Like you just kind of install 464 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,240 them, you reach out to support and even that's just a ticketing 465 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:27,400 system because that's convenient to the app developer. 466 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:29,280 I love the fact you can talk to you guys and ask these 467 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:30,920 questions, especially with those nuances. 468 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:33,160 So yeah, massive thank you for for your time as well. 469 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:35,520 I know you guys are busy looking after the puppies over at the 470 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:36,960 stands. Yeah, massive thank you to to 471 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:38,680 Ryan and for those guys looking at home as well. 472 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:40,840 And make sure you hit subscribe button if you haven't let and 473 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:42,760 join us for another episode, probably in the next three or 474 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:44,560 four days, depending on what day this one goes out. 475 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:46,480 So thanks for tuning in. This episode of Winning with 476 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:48,280 Shopify is brought to you by tax Cloud. 477 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:50,600 It's the busiest time of year for e-commerce. 478 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:52,880 Your stores buzzing, orders flying in and growth is at an 479 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:54,560 all time high. But with all that momentum can 480 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,360 come new sales tax exposure that you might not even see coming. 481 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:00,520 That's why now is the perfect time to take a closer look at 482 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:02,960 how you're handling sales tax and make sure your business is 483 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:04,360 set up for the growth that you've earned. 484 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:06,920 Tax Cloud is our trusted partner for sales tax compliance. 485 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:09,160 Built for growing Shopify brands. 486 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,960 They handle regulations, filings, and ongoing compliance 487 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,680 working directly with the states on your behalf across the US so 488 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:17,480 you can stay focused on running your store. 489 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:19,800 They've got a five star rating in the Shopify App Store and 490 00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,200 listeners winning the Shopify get free migration on boarding 491 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,680 when you make the switch. To apply for that and learn 492 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,320 more, you can go to taxcloud.com/winning. 493 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,400 That's tax cloud.com/winning.