How do I proportionately allocate the shipping charges between the items ordered on a mail-order sale?
The Emergency Rule provides that to proportionately allocate the shipping charge, the amount of each item should be divided by the total amount of the items ordered to obtain the percentage that each item bears to the total order. Then the total shipping charge should be multiplied by the percentage for each item to determine the amount of the shipping charge applicable to that item. The shipping charge for each item must be separately stated on the invoice to the customer. The shipping charge is part of the selling price when determining if an item meets the $50 threshold. For example, a customer orders a $50 dress and a $25 shirt, for a total of $75. The shipping charge is $10. $25 / $75 = 33% (25 divided by 75 equals 33 percent). Therefore 33%, or $3.33 of the shipping charge is allocated to the shirt, and included as part of the selling price of the shirt. The other 67%, or $6.70 is included as part of the selling price of the dress, making the price of the dress $56.70, which woul
