Sales tax online

[MissCrabette]

Yes, Amazon collects tax from us poor KS folks. They also collect it in MD because they have another distribution center there.

I don't think it would be complicated to implement at all. They already have the system ready to go.

[Vishenka69]

Interestingly Amazon has a distributions center in PA and NJ but so far hasn't charged taxes in either state. I wonder if that's about to change.

[SoonerTexan]

Frankly, I don't blame them. They would have to charge a different calculated sales tax for every state

How funny--I was digging through Texas Tax Law last night trying to figure this out for my photo business. Just shoot me. I'm going to have to call and get some advice, because I have no idea whether or not I charge a customer based on Dallas Co. Sales Tax (where I do business) or their county, state, etc. depending on where they live. I'm hoping I just pay Dallas Co. because there is no way in hell I can look up the tax rate for every client--it would just be insane.

[scarlett09]

To Heidi's point above (quoting on an iPad doesn't work) - that's how all retailers w/ brick & mortar stores already do it. If you buy something online from OfficeMax, your tax is based on the rate for your state (assuming there is a store there). If I purchase the same item from the same site, it's calculated on mine. Online sales tax is based on where the irks is being delivered, but to this point, it's only been if you have a brick & mortar presence. As to the man-power/code changes - it's totally feasible and done. We were doing it 10 years ago when I worked on POS software.

It will definitely affect their advantage in the marketplace, though.

I agree. It is also all about where you take possession of the merchandise. When we were moving, we bought a new mattress from a regional mattress retailer. We bought it in a state with sales tax, but because we took possession of it in a state with no sales tax, we paid no sales tax at the point of purchase. I don't pay sales tax on any of my online purchases, but that is because there is no sales tax here where I am taking possession of the merchandise.

[oceanchild]

Interestingly Amazon has a distributions center in PA and NJ but so far hasn't charged taxes in either state. I wonder if that's about to change.

Amazon is impressively good at spinning off some of its distribution centers as separate entities. So for Amazon in particular, they don't charge tax everywhere they have a physical location, because some of the physical locations aren't really "theirs". They had some "non-Amazon" distribution stuff here in Colorado that they pulled out in protest to the law change. They are big and wield power accordingly.