Methodology
US Multi-state Sales-tax Exposure Triage methodology
Educational only: Business decision support, not accounting, tax or legal advice.
Privacy: Calculations run locally; Margin101 does not receive your commercial inputs.
Update policy: Reviewed when formulas or official dependencies change.
Scope: US small-business planning using your own assumptions.
1. Formulas and units
thresholdCa = reviewed California remote-seller thresholdWhere
- threshold
- Reviewed state threshold (USD)Source: Reviewed official rule · California remote-seller sales threshold
- thresholdCa
- California remote-seller threshold (USD)Source: Reviewed official rule · California remote-seller sales threshold
thresholdTx = reviewed Texas remote-seller thresholdWhere
- threshold
- Reviewed state threshold (USD)Source: Reviewed official rule · California remote-seller sales threshold
- thresholdTx
- Texas remote-seller threshold (USD)Source: Reviewed official rule · Texas remote-seller safe-harbour threshold
threshold = selected supported-state policy thresholdWhere
- stateCode
- Supported state (selected supported state policy branch)Source: User decision
- threshold
- Reviewed state threshold (USD)Source: Reviewed official rule · California remote-seller sales threshold
enteredMeasuredSales = user-confirmed sales under the official period and scopeWhere
- measuredSales
- Sales under the selected state measure (USD of sales under the selected state's official remote-seller measure and period)Source: Business record
- enteredMeasuredSales
- Entered state sales measure (USD)Source: Calculated output
remainingToThreshold = max(0, threshold − measured sales)Where
- measuredSales
- Sales under the selected state measure (USD of sales under the selected state's official remote-seller measure and period)Source: Business record
- remainingToThreshold
- Remaining to threshold (USD)Source: Calculated output
- threshold
- Reviewed state threshold (USD)Source: Reviewed official rule · California remote-seller sales threshold
amountAboveThreshold = max(0, measured sales − threshold)Where
- measuredSales
- Sales under the selected state measure (USD of sales under the selected state's official remote-seller measure and period)Source: Business record
- amountAboveThreshold
- Amount above threshold (USD)Source: Calculated output
- threshold
- Reviewed state threshold (USD)Source: Reviewed official rule · California remote-seller sales threshold
statusCode = below = 0; exactly at = 1; research required = 2Where
- statusCode
- Threshold triage status (closed status code)Source: Calculated output
Money inputs and outputs use USD. Rates, margins, utilisation and buffers are entered as percentages and converted to decimal values for calculation.
2. Worked example
Input assumptions
The worked rows are evaluated at render time by the same shared engine and visible default fixture.
Calculation and outputs
Example
The worked rows are evaluated at render time by the same shared engine and visible default fixture.
- Reviewed state threshold
- $500,000
- Entered state sales measure
- $450,000
- Remaining to threshold
- $50,000
- Amount above threshold
- $0
- Threshold triage status
- Below threshold
The exact engine-derived outputs are shown in the labelled rows below.
Interpretation
The threshold result is bounded remote-seller triage, not a nexus, registration, taxability or liability determination.
3. Validation and boundary checks
- All amounts must be finite and non-negative.
- Closed scope confirmations fail safely when unsupported.
- Policy comparators preserve the exact supported authority wording.
- Display formatting never feeds calculation.
4. Assumptions and source classification
- The seller has no physical presence or representative and the entered sales follow the selected official measure.
- Reviewed source version: 2026-07-16 / 2026-07-16.
- California: Preceding or current calendar year; Combined sales of tangible personal property delivered into California, including related persons where applicable; strictly above 500,000 USD.
- Texas: Preceding 12 calendar months; Total Texas revenue from taxable and nontaxable tangible personal property and services under the remote-seller safe harbour; at or above 500,000 USD.
- California CDTFA: Wayfair remote-seller requirements: https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/industry/wayfair/
- Texas Comptroller: Remote sellers: https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/sales/remote-sellers.php
Official dependencies used by this diagnostic are captured in the Margin101 evidence register and version-acknowledged in this page history. User-entered commercial assumptions remain separate from those official inputs.
5. Limitations
- Only California and Texas remote-seller threshold scopes are supported; all other states and complex cases stop.
- This is educational decision support, not tax, accounting or legal advice.
This is educational decision support, not tax, accounting, legal or financial advice. Check the treatment of your actual transactions under the rules that apply in United States and seek qualified advice where appropriate.
6. Update and evidence policy
Registered family-level suites test formula invariants and example reconciliation; the release ledger records that coverage without claiming a separate oracle for every line of public copy. Registered official sources block dependent public workflows when their evidence or version acknowledgement is unavailable or invalid. Commercial inputs remain user-supplied because they vary by business and contract.
Change history
- : Initial public release of the planner and methodology after pre-launch calculation, content, source and interaction review.
Related reading
Guides to interpret the decision and its assumptions.
- US Sales-Tax-Aware Pricing: A Jurisdiction Boundary Guide
Keep global pricing economics separate from state and local sales-tax registration, taxability, nexus and rate decisions.
Read guide