My side business flunked a $950 sales tax audit because I filed as a sole prop for 2 years
I ran a small resale shop out of my garage in Columbus for 2 years and filed my state taxes as a sole prop the whole time. Last month the state hit me with a $950 bill for back sales tax plus a penalty since I never got a vendor's license or collected tax on local pickups. The auditor explained that the business name on my invoices didn't match my personal filing, which flagged me in their system. I assumed the LLC paperwork my friend helped me send in got approved, but the state never got it and I never checked. Now I'm out the money and starting the paperwork for real. Anyone else had a filing mismatch bite them, and how long did it take to fix?