Sales Tax Nexus Study Template
No two states measure the same twelve months. This one measures your actual sales on each state's own window, and names the month you crossed.
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Threshold Tracker
[Company] — measured at [__ ___ 20__]
The window is a required column. A state figure with no window against it is not a measurement of anything.
| State | Dollar threshold | Sales threshold | Test | Measurement window | Measured on that window | Sales count | Headroom or excess | Month crossed | Collection due from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [State] | — | — | Dollars only | Preceding or current calendar year | — | n/a | — | — | — |
| [State] | — | — | Dollars only | Rolling twelve calendar months | — | n/a | — | — | — |
| [State] | — | — | Both prongs required | Four sales tax quarters | — | — | — | — | — |
| [State] | — | — | Dollars only | Current or prior calendar year | — | n/a | — | — | — |
Three reasons a sales by state report cannot answer this
| Every state picks its own window | Four different twelve months already appear in a five state book |
| Some states want a transaction count | And a wholesale book clears one prong by miles and misses the other |
| Crossing and owing are different dates | One state gives until the first day of the fourth month after crossing |
Fill the window column first. Every number to the right of it depends on which twelve months you measured.
A sales by state pivot gives one number per state over one period, and no state uses that period. California reads the preceding or current calendar year. Texas reads a rolling twelve calendar months. New York reads the immediately preceding four sales tax quarters, which end in February, May, August and November rather than in March, June, September and December. Same sales, four different twelve months, four different answers. Getting the window wrong produces the wrong verdict in both directions.
Larkspur Provisions Co. shows 446,000 dollars of Texas revenue for 2026 and 470,000 for 2025, both comfortably inside the 500,000 dollar safe harbour. On the rolling twelve months Texas actually uses, they crossed in March 2026 at 511,000. Collection was due from 1 July, because a seller must begin no later than the first day of the fourth month after the month of crossing. Five months at 8.00 percent is 14,400 dollars nobody collected, and it grows by 2,560 a month.
The pivot gets it wrong in the other direction too. New York is the largest state in the book at 770,000 dollars and carries no obligation. The state wants more than 500,000 dollars and more than 100 sales in the same window, and 84 wholesale orders is not more than 100. Registering there anyway buys a quarterly return and a history to unwind. Pair this with the client filing calendar and the tax notice responder.
What's in the pack
Measurement Windows sheet
Each state's own window applied to your own sales, with what a plain calendar pivot would have said next to it and every disagreement between the two marked.
Threshold Tracker sheet
Threshold, transaction prong, test type, window, the measured figure, headroom or excess in dollars, the month you crossed and the date collection was actually due.
State Activity Register sheet
Sales by destination state and month with transaction counts and the channel split, plus rows for inventory locations, remote staff and trade shows that no sales report contains.
Marketplace Split sheet
Direct against marketplace by state, because Iowa counts marketplace sales toward the threshold while the marketplace collects on them, so the measure and the collection base differ.
Exposure by State sheet
Month by month from the date collection was due, with a running total and the rate basis on every row. Unconfirmed rates stay blank rather than becoming estimates.
Registration Status sheet
A decision per state with the date, the owner, the target and the one open question blocking the next step. States with no obligation get a row and a reason.
How Each State Measures
The four windows already present in a five state book, why a pivot gets two of them backwards, and why crossing a threshold and owing tax are different dates.
What Counts in the Measure
Gross rather than taxable, related party aggregation, marketplace revenue you will never collect on, and why physical presence is still an independent trigger.
Nexus Memo and Decision Note
The memo for the board and outside counsel, plus the four available answers per state and what decides between registering now and going to a voluntary disclosure.
Space rule
Measure each state on its own clock. It governs every prompt here, and it is why no state enters the tracker without its window and its authority named.
How to use it
- 1
Open in River, or download it
Open the pack in River and let the agent measure your own sales, or download the blank Word and CSV files instantly with no account.
- 2
Send two years by state
Sales by destination state by month with transaction counts, marketplace split out where you have it. An order export or a revenue schedule both work.
- 3
Measure on each state's clock
The window comes from the state, not from your reporting calendar. Then the crossing month gets found by walking the window forward rather than reading a year-end total.
- 4
Price it and decide per state
From the date collection was due, month by month, with a running total. Then a decision per state, including the states where the decision is to do nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes, all of it. Word documents and CSV sheets, no signup, no card. Edit with AI is a separate optional route for anyone who would rather hand over an order export than retype it. Everything else River publishes sits in the template library.
Why can't I just use a sales by state report?
Because it gives one number per state over one period and no state uses that period. In the worked review a calendar pivot missed a Texas crossing that was eight months old and flagged New York, the largest state in the book, as the biggest problem when it owed nothing.
Do marketplace sales count toward the threshold?
In some states yes, even though the marketplace collects the tax on them. Iowa is explicit about it. In the worked review 61,200 dollars of direct Iowa sales were 38,800 short on their own, and 54,800 dollars of marketplace revenue pushed the company over.
Is crossing the threshold the date I start owing tax?
Not always. Texas gives until the first day of the fourth month after the month you exceed the safe harbour, so a March crossing means collection from 1 July. Using the crossing date instead would have overstated the exposure by three months of sales.
Should I just register everywhere to be safe?
Registering somewhere with no obligation buys a filing requirement that continues whether or not sales do, plus a trailing history that is harder to unwind than to avoid. The decision sheet records a reason for every state, including the ones deliberately left alone.
Does this replace a state and local tax adviser?
No. It measures and schedules, and it stops there. Product taxability, rates, sourcing and exemption certificates all stay with an adviser, and the register exists so that adviser starts from a measured position rather than from a raw export.
How does this fit with the rest of the tax work?
The client filing calendar carries the annual and quarterly filings alongside it, the tax notice responder handles a state notice if one arrives, and the monthly close pack is where the underlying revenue gets closed.
Find the crossing before the state does
Download the blank pack as Word and CSV files, or open this exact pack in River and let the agent measure your own sales.
Edit with AI