Mississippi Code Title 27. Taxation and Finance § 27-67-5

There is hereby levied, assessed and shall be collected from every person a tax for the privilege of using, storing or consuming, within this state, any tangible personal property or specified digital product possession of which is acquired in any manner.

The tax collector or the commissioner is expressly prohibited from issuing a license tag to any applicant without collecting the tax levied by this article, unless positive proof is filed, together with the application for the license tag, that the Mississippi tax has been paid, or that the sale was exempt by Section 27-67-7.

Persons not engaging and continuing in business so as to be registered for payment of sales and/or use tax may pay use tax due on the first use of boats, airplanes, equipment or other tangible personal property and specified digital products to county tax collectors who are hereby authorized to accept such payments on behalf of the commissioner. Receipts for all such payments shall be given to taxpayers in a form prescribed and furnished by the Department of Revenue.

County tax collectors and the commissioner shall be liable for the tax they are required hereby to collect, and taxes which are in fact collected under authority of this section; and failure to properly collect or maintain proper records shall not relieve them of liability for payment to the commissioner. Deficiencies in collection or payment shall be assessed against the tax collector or the commissioner in the same manner and subject to the same penalties and provisions for appeal as are deficiencies assessed against taxpayers.

A dealer authorized to collect and remit the tax to the Department of Revenue shall give to the purchaser a receipt for the payment of the tax, in a form prescribed and furnished by the commissioner, which shall serve as proof of payment to the tax collector of the county in which the license is to be issued.

Each tax collector of the several counties shall, on or before the twentieth day of each month, file a report with and pay to the commissioner all funds collected under the provisions of this article, less a commission of five percent (5%) which shall be retained by the tax collector as a commission for collecting such tax and be deposited in the county general fund. The report required to be filed shall cover all collections made during the calendar month next preceding the date on which the report is due and filed.

Any error in the report and remittance to the commissioner may be adjusted on a subsequent report. If the error was in the collection by the tax collector, it shall be adjusted through the tax collector with the taxpayer before credit is allowed by the commissioner.

All information relating to the collection of use tax by tax collectors and such records as the commissioner may require shall be preserved in the tax collector's office for a period of three (3) years for audit by the commissioner.

Computer software maintained on a server located outside the state and accessible for use only via the internet is not a taxable use, storage or consumption under this chapter.