So I am an Amazon Vine participant, and a great deal of the products that I review I use in my small business. My husband and I sell Vintage and Antique toys, glowing glass, and seasonal items, both at a local antique store (that collects and remits sales tax for us) and at local antique shows throughout the year (We collect and remit the special sales tax for these under our sales tax license). Our license also allows us to purchase merchandise tax free.
Clearly, nothing that I review for Amazon Vine is merchandise. However, I do review a lot of things that I use for the business, and it has turned out to be substantial for last year. Some examples are blacklights for my glowing glass case, stands for displaying merchandise, and decorations to make my booth festive. These things would not be used up in the course of business, but will wear out over time.
Some other items are cupcake boxes that I use to package old Christmas bulbs in for sale, price tags, and replacement bulbs for ceramic Christmas trees. All of these items are consumed in their use. (I do make sure I've had them for 6 months before I use them in the business.
My question is, can I write off the sales tax "income" that I have from Amazon for these items that are used in business? I will obviously have to do two small businesses, one for the antiques and one for the Vine reviews. I would just like to know if I can offset some of the income from the Vine review business as items consumed in the antique business, and if so, can I write off both the items used in the business and the items consumed in the business? I hope that made some sense?
