RunSignup Releases Early Sales Tax Results

December 19, 2019

(Moorestown, NJ) – RunSignup rolled out their new sales tax functionality this month in response to a wave of changes to state sales tax laws. The changes stem from the landmark 2018 Supreme Court decision on South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc that changed the way in which online sellers are treated regarding sales tax. With a few weeks of data, RunSignup can report on the impact they have seen and offer projections for the overall implications of sales tax on the endurance industry. The early results indicate that sales tax is not having a depressing impact on race registrations, but that the potential liability of not complying with sales tax laws could be significant.

Since December, RunSignup has collected over $50,000 in sales tax for the marketplace states in which RunSignup is required to collect and remit taxes on behalf of races, from a total transaction volume of $6.275 Million. From this, they project that US races as a collective group owe over $10 Million per year in sales tax, with a likely increase as more states adopt marketplace laws. A few key numbers to better understand the sales tax data:

• 45: The number of transactions with a sales tax charge of over $100.
• 9,075: The number of transactions with a sales tax charge of over $1.
• 19,468: The number of transactions with a sales tax charge.
• 51,976: The total number of sales tax transactions (including transactions with exemptions, which are required to be reported).

As an additional measurement, RunSignup did an analysis comparing the registration volume of the top 125 races who were on RunSignup this year and last year. In that sample, registration increased from 34,623 to 36,704 for a growth of 6%. This indicates that sales tax is not a singular deterrent to registration.

Sales tax rates and laws vary by state and jurisdiction, and the $10 Million liability is not evenly distributed amongst all races. However, that number does indicate real risk in the industry for races and for registration companies who opt not to comply with marketplace laws and collect on behalf of their customers. RunSignup CEO and Founder Bob Bickel said, “We have seen states come after race organizations for tax liabilities in the tens of thousands, and evading sales tax is an unnecessary risk for races to take. While we know no one likes paying sales tax, the cost is passed onto race participants and our early information indicates that the additional fee is not deterring those participants.”

For more information about the new sales tax system on RunSignup visit: https://runsignup.com/salestax

About RunSignup

RunSignup is the leading all-in-one platform for endurance and fundraising events. More than 20,000 races, supporting over 8,000 nonprofits, use RunSignup’s free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. Built on a powerful CRM, RunSignup delivers the art of technology to power the entire race cycle, with promotional tools, registration, a full fundraising platform, and a suite of RaceDay products – including the runner-tracking app RaceJoy and race timing software, RaceDay Scoring. For more information, visit www.runsignup.com