# Supreme Court Clears Way for Sales Taxes on Internet Merchants **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 21, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513 "2018-06-21T15:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513/61 "2018-06-24T14:11:22Z")
**Well, that didn’t take long!** I bought an amplifier on ebay last week. No tax. It showed up and didn’t work. Got a refund. Ordered a replacement yesterday. Hit with tax. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513/62 "2018-06-24T14:15:28Z")
Was it from the same seller? It’s been _possible_ to have to pay sales tax on eBay for a long time, I think, _if_ you bought from someone who is taxed on sales to your state. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513/63 "2018-06-24T17:50:27Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > I am really surprised that such a liberal board is having such a big problem with a ruling that is the biggest boost to local brick and mortar stores since the invention of the internet. > … What it may do is give an unfair advantage to big online sellers like Amazon over small businesses. Hear me out. This is unlikely to cause a large shift to local shopping. Online shopping is probably driven more by convenience than by sales tax avoidance. States could have shifted to other, less regressive, taxes. Local mom and pop businesses could have added online sales to their business model. In fact, many have done exactly that and managed to survive by doing so. That may now be prohibitive for them, while they will still have to compete with Amazon and other big online retailers. Hopefully states will only tax large online sellers. If so, sales tax avoidance may actually occur, but between big and small online sellers, leveling the field somewhat. We’ll have to see how this plays out. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513/64 "2018-06-24T18:48:48Z")
It looks like there may already be solutions available. > **[FBA sales tax Services-FBA sales tax registration and filing](https://www.statessalestax.com/fba-sales-tax-nexus.html)** > > FBA sales tax registration, filing, and nexus created by Amazon fullfilment warehouses locations > [@](#): > > The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of South Dakota which implies that all states may require some remote sellers to remit sales tax according to state law. Depending on a sales activities, you might have sales tax nexus in a state even if there is no physical presence. > > We can register and file sales tax returns in all jurisdictions. In addition, we have strong expertise to defend you in a sales tax audit. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513/65 "2018-06-24T22:09:29Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > It looks like there may already be solutions available. > > [FBA sales tax Services-FBA sales tax registration and filing](http://www.statessalestax.com/fba-sales-tax-nexus.html) I’d like to know what they charge to obtain 10,000 sales tax permits for me. According to several sates I checked, we need not only the state permit, but city and county permits too. They seem to be geared to Amazon but Amazon will not let us sell digital products. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513/66 "2018-06-24T22:25:14Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > I’d like to know what they charge to obtain 10,000 sales tax permits for me. According to several sates I checked, we need not only the state permit, but city and county permits too. They seem to be geared to Amazon but Amazon will not let us sell digital products. Also, how many of those jurisdictions have a filing fee? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513/67 "2018-06-25T00:22:27Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > I am really surprised that such a liberal board is having such a big problem with a ruling that is the biggest boost to local brick and mortar stores since the invention of the internet. For decades, local stores have been putting up with unfair competition from online retailers. In addition, the loss of tax revenue to the states has caused real shortfalls in the state budgets and seriously affects the ability of the states to provide for their citizens, all at the benefit of online retailers. If brick and mortar stores were being harmed, it wasn’t the fault of the Supreme Court, it was the fault of their states who chose to impose this sort of tax on them. For the last fifty years, the law has been that sales taxes can only be levied on those who had a physical presence in the state. Nonetheless, these states chose to impose that tax instead of seeking other methods of revenue. Indeed, South Dakota was especially reliant on it because it chose not to have a state income tax, nor impose heavy taxes on oil and gas. Why, just because it made that choice, is there now an “emergency”? ---
**Author:** ![TheBori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee7513/32.png) [@TheBori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBori)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513/68 "2018-06-25T16:34:52Z")
I hate to break the bad news folks, but most states already require that you pay sales tax on out-of-state purchases (e.g. via the internet, by mail-order, ordering from a catalog, magazine subscriptions, etc.), if sales tax was not collected at time of purchase. _“In cases where the online retailer does not have to collect sales tax, it is the customer’s responsibility to pay the tax—in which case it is known not as a sales tax but, rather, a use tax. Under California law, if an item would otherwise be subject to sales tax, it is generally subject to use tax.”_ I copied the statement for CA for volume’s sake. The same applies in IN, where I reside, and many other states. [THIS](https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/50-state-guide-internet-sales-tax-laws.html)article has links for every state…your mileage may vary. Since practically no one (I do) tallies up their “tax free” purchases and pays the tax on their state tax forms, governments (state and/or federal) wants to require the sellers to collect it. Legally, for the buyer, nothing has changed. It’s the sellers, as many have mentioned in this thread, who will be impacted. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513/69 "2018-06-25T18:56:43Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > This is an opportunity. All your sales are by card, aren’t they? Your card processor takes the relevant address, looks up the tax rates, and automatically adds them and pays them direct to the taxing authorities. Job done. Card processors can do it with the info they receive today. Read my post #8. Some clothing is taxed in PA while most is not. Card vendors don’t get details on what is purchased, only the amount due. To do calculations correctly, you need to not only know the state, county, & municipality where it’s being sent, but specifically what is being ordered, line-by-line to properly calculate sales tax. Also don’t forget (professional) services, some places tax them & some don’t. Your accountant or lawyer or \_\_\_ could be in another state, the probability of this rises as for people who live close to a state border. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-clears-way-for-sales-taxes-on-internet-merchants/816513.md?page=3)