Use Tax Legal Meaning and Definition

Here is a simplified definition of the legal term Use Tax.

Use Tax (n)

A use tax is a type of tax applied to goods bought from a different state or country where the buyer didn't pay sales tax at the time of purchase. The purpose of the use tax is to cover the buyer's home state's sales tax loss when the goods are used in the home state but were bought from elsewhere.

Often, these goods are purchased online or imported from another region.