Florida

April, I’m not the ultimate guru on this but I did a little research for Florida (I’m more familiar with California’s tax laws, but Florida’s look similar). The bottom line is that it doesn’t look like you need to charge sales tax.

One important factor for charging sales tax is whether the product is intended to be consumed on the seller’s premises. As a cottage food operation, since you’re giving your cookies to customers for them to consume off of your premises (your home), you don’t have to charge sales tax. You’re also supposed to be packaging your cookies in a way that shows the customer that you intend for them to take them to go (e.g. placing them in a box). If you were selling at a farmers market and warming your cookies there and had a table and chairs next to your stand for your customers to eat at, then there might be a case for charging sales tax, but only if all of those apply, and even then it would be a gray area.

Also, if you’re selling at an event that charges admission, like a fair, then you probably have to charge sales tax, but in that case the event organizer should know.

I didn’t see anything about there being a difference with custom made goods. I think it has to do more with where and when the product is heated. There are a lot of rules about this… if you want to read more, here’s the document I looked at. Please let me know if you learn any more about it.

April, I just want to further clarify my response. I still think that you are exempt from all taxes, but since I wrote this answer, I have learned that in some states, only state taxes are exempt, and local (city and/or county) taxes still apply to cottage food sales. To be sure for your region, you should contact your County Tax Collector or Business Tax Office.