Get ready to pay more state sales taxes online: Supreme Court rules states can require online retailers to collect state sales taxes

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Josef

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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/us/politics/supreme-court-sales-taxes-internet-merchants.html

I'm surprised this hasn't been talked about here yet.

Supreme Court basically overruled the 25 year rule that required an online retailer to have a state B&M presence in order to collect state sales tax.  It may take a few months but expect many states to jump on this opportunity for more money from consumers.  Sounds like it will likely effect medium and large retailers though no word yet if smaller or niche retailers are going to be targeted by states (though I imagine they will too).

 
Individuals should already be claiming use tax on their state tax returns. This just helps accountability for those that weren't and makes it easier for those who were.

Money toward state education, roads, etc. Is not a bad thing.
 
thelonepig said:
Individuals should already be claiming use tax on their state tax returns. This just helps accountability for those that weren't and makes it easier for those who were.

Money toward state education, roads, etc. Is not a bad thing.
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^ This, plus I shop at my favorite out-of-state online stores primarily for other reasons (good customer service, good shipping practices, supporting small business, etc.).
 
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thelonepig said:
Individuals should already be claiming use tax on their state tax returns. This just helps accountability for those that weren't and makes it easier for those who were.

Money toward state education, roads, etc. Is not a bad thing.
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You sir, are an idiot.

 
Yu Narukami said:
You sir, are an idiot.
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You are easily the bigger idiot. Few things have done more damage to state revenue and local/municipal communities than online stores who reaped profits and never paid back into the state tax system. Next time you wonder why all your pay of property taxes, infrastructure and fees keep going up, you have online e stores like Amazon to thank for that. That Amazon collects it now is more a convenience for them to keep their competitors at Bay given they're on top now.

I know we all hate paying taxes -who wants to, but to think there are no actual consequences to our lives is just being delusional. Public services like schools, roads, and libraries cost money to operate and keep up. All those b&m businesses unfairly harmed and I'm glad the playing field is now even. It's only fair.
 
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I'm always shocked at how many people hate taxes because it pays for "things that are bad". State taxes pay for a lot of things, not just things you don't like. I'm glad this is happening. Way too many retailers benefited from this and it hurt local businesses. 

Anyone know how this impacts eBay or Amazon Marketplace? 

 
Vinny said:
Anyone know how this impacts eBay or Amazon Marketplace?
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As a seller, I've been getting emails from eBay asking me to sign a petition to "take action" against this Supreme Court decision, so they're pretty against it :lol:

I also sell on Amazon Marketplace, but haven't heard much from them recently other than a few "Sold, Ship Now" emails :D

Needless to say, neither company has contacted me about policy changes, but going by eBay's reaction, this decision will probably affect a lot of domestic sellers. Sales volume or some other such metric will probably make a difference depending on the buyer's state's laws. I've sold items in-state on Amazon before, but it looks like those buyers weren't charged sales tax. I don't sell enough online to have to file a 1099-K, so I'm betting that's why.

Hopefully, both companies will make it so that any and all sales tax calcuation is done on their end, as it can get pretty complicated depending on the buyer's location. I have more faith in Amazon getting this right given that they charge sales tax for their own items in most states anyway. eBay's freaking out seems to indicate, at least in part, that they don't want to do this work.

This is mainly just speculation on my part, though. We'll probably hear more about it from eBay and Amazon soon.
 
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I couldn't care less about if the government tells me to do additional work to collect taxes. I'm not doing it. I work hard enough on eBay and don't intend to add to my workload for the government's sake. If they don't like it then they shouldn't have elected a tax evader as the Commander in Chief.

 
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