We just incorporated in Wisconsin as a non-profit social club for artists. We have a gallery open to the public, and individual members of our club may opt to sell the works the create and display here. If a member sells their work as a result of their membership with our club, we charge them a commission fee. Does the business, our social club, need to have a sellers permit and pay sales tax on these sales, or does that responsibility lie with the member selling their work?

A phone call to the Wisconsin tax department will confirm this, but it seems to me that the organization that conducted the sale would be responsible to collect the sales tax.

Please clarify - when a buyer pays for art work do they write a check to the artist, or to the club? I suspect that it makes a difference.