This customer does not need to be charged sales tax. Excel spreadsheet is a versatile computer program you can use to keep track of the tax-exempt certificates, their expiration dates, and the status as to whether or not the certificate has been signed by you and the customer. Many additional database programs are available on the market as well. Once you know what you need, you can go to a computer retailer, specify your requirements, and let the expert narrow down your choices for you. Two schools of thought exist.
Advantages exist for both alternatives.
If you decide to get the paper work filled out before hand, you have the ability to anticipate problems. Say a customer acts suspiciously or even cancels his order when you ask him or her to fill out the certificate. If so, it's probably a good thing that you're not doing business for this particular customer. Another advantage to getting the certificate signed before hand is that you'll be able to add the customer's information into your filing system and, hopefully, your electronic filing system as soon as you can. Now, let's say that you wait until after a deal is signed before you talk about filling out paperwork.