14 states. 11 registrations. Pinecrest sleeps again.
Tessa Vargas founded Pinecrest Goods in 2022 selling artisan home goods. By late 2025, her business had crossed $1M revenue across Shopify (DTC), Amazon FBA, and wholesale to boutique retailers. Her bookkeeper flagged that she had economic nexus in roughly 14 states and had been collecting sales tax in zero.
Where they were when they came to us.
Pinecrest sells handcrafted ceramics and wood goods through Shopify (direct-to-consumer), Amazon FBA (Brand Registry enrolled), and wholesale to about 40 boutique retailers across the US. Total revenue 2025: $1.18M, of which $720k DTC, $310k Amazon, $150k wholesale. The bookkeeper used the company's Shopify and Amazon data to identify approximately 14 states crossing economic nexus thresholds. Three of those states were already covered by Amazon's marketplace facilitator collection, but Tessa still owed registrations.
What stood in the way.
Each state has different thresholds, registration processes, and filing frequencies.
Some sales tax was already collected (Amazon FBA), some not. Books needed to separate channel-specific liability.
Some states had been past the threshold for 8-12 months. Voluntary disclosure programs reduce penalties but require proactive filings.
Monthly returns in some states, quarterly in others, annual in a few. Different tax rates per jurisdiction.
What we did.
File.Business mapped nexus state by state using Pinecrest's Shopify + Amazon data. We registered for sales tax permits in 11 states (3 covered by Amazon marketplace facilitator collection, so no registration owed). For 4 states with significant back-period exposure, we executed voluntary disclosure agreements that reduced penalties by 40-70%. TaxJar was integrated to automate ongoing returns; books were configured to attribute sales tax collected vs marketplace facilitator collected per channel.
The numbers.
| Sales tax permits filed | 11 states (8 economic nexus + 3 we elected to register defensively) |
| Voluntary disclosure agreements | 4 states, total back-period tax: $14,800, penalties reduced by $9,200 |
| TaxJar integration | Ongoing returns automated for 11 states |
| Books reconfigured | Channel-specific sales tax attribution; clean P&L per channel |
| Time to clean | 13 weeks from kickoff to all permits live + automated filings |
| Ongoing cost | $199/state initial filing + $49/month TaxJar + ~$190/month aggregate state filing fees |
"I sold on Shopify and Amazon and had no idea I owed sales tax in 14 states. They filed in 11. I sleep again."
Tessa Vargas · Founder, Pinecrest Goods
Plan and add-ons: Growth tier $49/month + $1,089 sales tax registration package + ongoing TaxJar integration.
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