Regulatory Filings and Registrations

This standard states how the Company registers and files in each regulatory area its sales touch: marketplace facilitator sales tax, Tennessee business tax, state feed registration for pet food, federal and state registration for pesticide products, and veterinary licensure and the veterinarian-client-patient relationship. The governing statements of the Company's position are cited in each part; this standard states the filing work and never restates a customer-facing obligation differently from the document that governs it.

Roles and duties

• The Tax Preparer monitors sales tax nexus, completes registrations, and files on each assigned cadence.
• The Legal function keeps each registration certificate and account number, adds every new obligation to the Compliance Calendar in the week it is created, and answers counterparty requests for proof of registration.
• Catalog Operations applies the listing gates for pet food and pesticide products and escalates any product it cannot classify.
• Clinical Operations verifies veterinary licenses at onboarding and maintains the record of which states permit a veterinarian-client-patient relationship to be established by telemedicine.

Sales tax: marketplace facilitator registrations

The Company's position is stated in Marketplace Facilitator Sales Tax, and the Tennessee implementation in Tennessee Sales & Use Tax. The customer-facing rule is stated in Marketplace Facilitator Tax Policy, which governs.

1. Monitor gross sales into each state on a rolling twelve-month basis. Tennessee's threshold is $100,000 in gross sales to Tennessee buyers; other states set their own thresholds, commonly $100,000 or 200 transactions.
2. Begin registration as soon as a state's threshold is crossed, or is about to be crossed.
3. Register with the state's revenue department: in Tennessee, through TN TAP. A registration requires the Company's federal tax identification number, its formation documents, and identification of a responsible party.
4. Record the account number and the assigned filing cadence, and add both to the Compliance Calendar in the same week.
5. Collect and remit as the governing documents provide: tax collected at checkout is held in the tax liability account, kept separate from operating funds and seller funds, and reconciled to filings monthly. Sellers do not collect tax on marketplace transactions.
6. File on the cadence the state assigns: monthly, quarterly, or annual. Open every revenue department notice on the day it arrives, because cadences change as volume grows.

Tennessee business tax

This is a separate tax on the Company's own revenue, governed by Tennessee Business Tax, which states the posture at the $10,000 platform-revenue threshold. It is filed annually and paid from operating funds. It is not tax collected from buyers, and its records are never combined with the sales tax records.

Pet food: state feed registration

Pet food sold in a state is generally registered in that state, per product and per state, with the state's feed control official. The registration duty sits primarily with the brand or manufacturer that owns the label. The Platform's part is verification at listing: a pet food listing without the registrations required for a state does not go live in that state. The seller-facing rule is stated in Pet Food and Treats Policy, which governs.

1. At listing, check the feed registration position for each state the product will be sold into as part of brand authorization.
2. Hold the listing from any state where the required registration is not evidenced.
3. Record the registration evidence with the listing record.

Pesticide products: FIFRA registration

Flea, tick, and other pesticide products are regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act: federal registration plus state registration, with the registration number on the label. The seller-facing rule is stated in Flea, Tick and Pesticide Products Policy, which governs: no registration number, no listing.

1. Check the registration number on the product label at listing.
2. Refuse the listing if no number is present.
3. Escalate any product whose classification is unclear to the Legal function; do not decide borderline pesticide questions in Catalog Operations.

Veterinary services: licensure and the VCPR

State law governs licensure and the veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR). The Company's position is stated in VCPR Requirements, which governs. Tennessee Code Annotated §63-12-103 does not allow a VCPR to be established by electronic means alone, and the Memphis launch therefore carries an in-person examination requirement.

1. Verify each veterinarian's license at onboarding and record the verification.
2. Maintain the state-by-state record of where a VCPR may be established by telemedicine, and apply it so that a virtual VCPR is not recorded where the patient's state does not permit it.
3. Permit prescription authority only as the state record allows. Prescription dispensing requires a valid prescription from a licensed veterinarian; see Telemedicine Consent for the consent that accompanies a telemedicine encounter.

What a registration creates

Each registration above creates three things, every time

1. A calendar row: renewals, filings, and cadence changes, under Compliance Calendar.
2. A record: the certificate, the account number, and the filed returns, kept under Record Retention.
3. A proof point: the corporate book or the tax file must answer a counterparty's request for proof in one lookup; see Entity Records and Good Standing.

Escalation

A threshold crossed without a registration, a registration refused or revoked, an ambiguous pesticide product, and any question about whether a state's law permits a service the Platform offers are escalated to the Legal function at legal@aapawz.com on the day they are identified.

Review cadence

The Legal function reviews this standard once a year, and the Tax Preparer reviews nexus figures and filing cadences quarterly, at the calendar review described in Compliance Calendar.