Archive for Sales Tax

3 Important Sales Tax Predictions To Watch For In 2020

3 Important Sales Tax Decisions
3 Sales Tax Predictions For 2020

The world of sales tax has changed a lot in the past year. Following the Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision, 2019 was the year most states began requiring businesses to collect and remit sales tax, and then began making marketplace facilitators (such as Amazon or eBay) responsible for collecting and remitting the taxes on sales that came through their marketplaces.

What changes can we expect to see this year? Keep reading for three predictions we believe are just around the corner.

1. Smaller Retailers Will Depend On Marketplaces

As Greg Chapman, SVP of business development at Avalara explains, “We should expect traditional ecommerce providers to start working closely with marketplaces or offering more ‘Amazon-like’ experiences to stay relevant.”

The increase in online shopping coupled with confusing economic nexus laws make it even more appealing for very small businesses up to mid-sized companies to work with online marketplaces. In addition to facilitating sales in a process that’s more streamlined for customers, a lot of states have placed the burden of sales tax collection on the marketplace rather than the seller. This can greatly reduce the cost and risk of doing business online for companies struggling to navigate tricky taxability questions.

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Written by | Posted in Sales Tax • Sales Tax And SaaS Companies

What You Need To Know About The Wayfair Decision And How It Affected Sales Tax

MONIKA MILES

Here we are, about 18 months after one of the biggest jolts to the sales tax landscape. On June 21, 2018, state sales tax completely changed when the U.S. Supreme Court established precedent for economic nexus through South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc.

In the highly anticipated ruling, the Court ruled 5-4 in favor of overturning its 1992 Quill decision, which required sellers to have substantial physical presence before a state could enforce the sales tax collection responsibilities.

Writing for the Court’s majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy indicated, “The Court concludes that the physical presence rule of Quill is unsound and incorrect. The Court’s decisions in Quill Corp v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992) and National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue of Ill., 386 U.S. 753 (1967), should be, and now are, overruled.”

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Written by | Posted in Sales Tax • Wayfair Decision

New State Tax Laws Effective October 1, 2019: What You Need To Know

Monika Miles

Are you curious what state tax updates are on the horizon? October 1, 2019 is a big date coming up; numerous states have new online sales tax provisions, amnesty programs and other legislative changes going into effect in just a few weeks. Keep reading for a quick summary of new laws and programs to keep an eye out for beginning next month.

Alabama’s Simplified Sellers Use Tax

As of October 1, Alabama requires remote retailers selling more than $250,000 in total sales (taxable and nontaxable) to begin collecting and remitting sales tax. Although sellers need to file their Alabama state tax returns monthly, these sales and use taxes fall into the “simplified” category because they’re a flat 8 percent on all purchases, regardless of the shopper’s locality in the state.

Arizona Eases Into Online Sales Tax

Arizona’s transaction privilege tax (TPT) is designed to ease the smaller out-of-state retailers into online sales tax compliance. As the Arizona Department of Revenue explains, the threshold for remote alleges to pay TPT is:

  • $200,000 in 2019 (beginning October 1)
  • $150,000 in 2020
  • $100,000 in 2021 and thereafter

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Written by | Posted in New State Tax Laws • Sales Tax

Congress’ New Online Sales Tax Bill: What You Need To Know

Monika Miles, Online Sales Tax, Congress, Online Sales Simplicity and Small Business Relief Act

As we wrote a couple of weeks ago, the online sales tax debate is far from over. Although the Supreme Court ruled that states can impose an internet sales tax, Congress can still legislate on the issue. And it looks like it will. Representatives introduced a bill designed to guide sales tax collection requirements for businesses selling across state lines.

About the Online Sales Tax Bill

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Written by | Posted in Sales Tax

The Crazy Tax Laws Regarding Food!

Monika Miles, Food Tax, Multistate Tax, Online Tax

We write a lot of blogs! We’ve been writing a lot of blogs about the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair and how companies selling goods online will be subject to much more compliance in upcoming months and years. But today, we decided to change it up and talk about something near and dear to everyone- food!

In most states throughout the country, consumers shopping at a supermarket don’t pay state sales tax on their bread and butter, but would pay sales taxes on a hot prepared turkey dinner. If they pick up a Hershey’s bar in the checkout line, is likely to be taxed, but if they pick up a Twix bar instead, it might be be exempt. Read More

Written by | Posted in Sales Tax

Tax Professionals – Sales & Use Tax Question

Tax Question - Best Sales & Use Tax Software
What states have made changes this summer due to the Wayfair decision? I believe many changes have occurred recently in states on sales and use reporting and would appreciate any updates.

TaxConnections provides an option for tax professionals to comment below on our Tax Blog; or if you are a tax professional and want to have your tax answer rise higher on the search engines and lead back to you,  please join us as a TaxConnections Member .

A TaxConnections Membership enables you to answer the tax question and coupled with your TaxConnections Professional Profile works to boost your professional profile and your answer higher on the search engines. We developed proprietary marketing tax expertise technology to boost our Tax Professional Members to the top of the search engines over time.

TaxConnections provides all our members the media credit for answering tax questions. You deserve the credit so we simply built software that turns the spotlight back on you!

 

 

Written by | Posted in Sales Tax • Tax Question

U.S. Supreme Court Transcript And Decision – South Dakota V. WayFair

U.S. Supreme Court, South Dakota V Wayfair

As States become more aggressive in the collection of sales tax, cases are making their way to the United States Supreme Court. In the 1960s the U.S. Supreme Court limited states sales tax collection power to individuals and businesses with a physical presence, either themselves or property, in the state. This was reaffirmed in the 1992 Quill decision in Quill Corporation V. North Dakota.

Since the Quill decision, the “physical presence rule” has been challenged in the area of sales tax (31 states now have laws collecting sales tax from internet firms with no physical presence in the state). Horror stories abound including states like Massachusetts and Ohio claiming they can tax any company if their website puts a cookie on an in-state browser.

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Written by | Posted in Physical Presence Rule • Sales Tax • U.S. Supreme Court Tax Decision

What You Need To Know About California’s SB 993

Sales tax is a major revenue source for many states, including California, which is why its legislature has been looking for additional ways to collect fees under the ‘sales tax’ umbrella.

For years, State Senator Bob Hertzberg has been trying to extend the state’s reach by imposing sales tax on services. Although 2015’s Senate Bill 8 didn’t pass, there’s another bill recently heard in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee: Senate Bill 993 (SB 993).

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Written by | Posted in California • Sales Tax • Senate Bill 993 • Tax Burden

Sales Tax Consultant Having Success Recovering Georgia Sales Tax Refunds For Hospitals And Healthcare Industry

Georgia sales tax exemptions for healthcare providers, including hospital, clinics, and medical practice groups include several categories of purchases. One Georgia sales tax exemption for healthcare providers that a sales tax consultant from Agile Consulting Group has been recovering a significant amount of refunds for relates to prosthetic devices. Georgia Code Ann. § 48-8-3(54) states that prosthetic devices that are sold or used pursuant to a prescription are exempt from Georgia sales and use tax. Our sales tax consultant has learned that the prosthetic device may be purchased exempt from Georgia sales and use tax by a hospital, clinic, or medical practice group if it is sold or used pursuant to a prescription under federal or state law and title and possession is permanently transferred to a natural person to whom a prescription for the device is issued, per Georgia Comp. Rules & Regulations § 560-12-2-.30(5)(a). Read More

Written by | Posted in Georgia Tax • Sales Tax
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