States Can Require Internet Tax Collection, Supreme Court Rules

Post by Retric » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 4:58 PM UTC

saugnsckuigfh wrote: post #145

WiseWeasel wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's still difficult to comply with. Imagine 50 different laws like that, each with their own tiers, and consider the difficulty accounting for them all and staying in compliance. That's not even getting into municipal taxes.

Which is why the issue remains, as it has been since Quill, the extent of the seller's contacts with the state. If you're making $100k to each 50 states, then you've got $50 Million in Revenue and can afford to do it. If you've sold 10 t-shirts at $20 a piece, then your total sales of $200 isn't worth bothering with. If we want there to be problems we can certainly create them, but doesn't seem all that complicated i…

Post by esturk » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 4:59 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #206

jonathanmoore wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thankfully with Shopify it is extremely easy and straightforward to manage for my wife's small online store. Their platform does a great job properly charging taxes by state, county and city in certain situations. Then using an inexpensive plan from https://www.taxjar.com/ the entire filing and paying process is 100% automated. In 10 minutes I was able to file and pay all the sales taxes to several state, dozens of C…

So you assume. As a small business you are unlikely to be audited, but that software could easily be wrong creating a huge minefield and potential liability.

Post by Spivak » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:00 PM UTC

mullingitover wrote: post #203

Spivak wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but there's no point in getting bogged down in strict adherence to jurisdiction when we're all one country. Would you feel better if the ruling was that an online retailer in Oregon has to get a business license in every state which would come with the same requirement to collect sales tax? Same effect, but now businesses have to do more paperwork.

If we're all one country, how did the President get elected when the majority of the country voted for someone else? ..and yes, I'd prefer that the ruling was that the online retailer had to get a business license in every state. That ruling would create such a torches and pitchforks situation from citizens suddenly having their lives disrupted that we'd quickly return to status quo.

Post by s2g » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:01 PM UTC

rossdavidh wrote: post #20

I have a hunch that this will, in the end, be a massive win for large retailers vs. small ones. The task of figuring out how to calculate tax for all states is more or less the same amount of work regardless of size, which means for someone like Amazon it's more or less trivial, but for a mom-and-pop store it's a major hassle.

Post by emodendroket » Thu, Jun 21, 2018, 5:02 PM UTC

rossdavidh wrote: post #20

I have a hunch that this will, in the end, be a massive win for large retailers vs. small ones. The task of figuring out how to calculate tax for all states is more or less the same amount of work regardless of size, which means for someone like Amazon it's more or less trivial, but for a mom-and-pop store it's a major hassle.