Texas to force Amazon into sales tax collection

[dock98]

Reportedly inspired by an ongoing legal skirmish in New York, tax officials in Texas are investigating whether Amazon.com should be collecting sales taxes from the Lone Star State's residents.

According to recent reports in the Dallas Morning News, the Texas Comptroller's office is currently looking into whether the Seattle-based e-tailer can be held responsible for paying as many as four years' worth--potentially millions of dollars--of back taxes. Some Texas officials said they weren't aware that Amazon had been operating a distribution center in Irving, Texas, since 2006, until receiving a call from a Morning News reporter last week.

Amazon, for its part, told the newspaper that the state is "fully aware" of its Texas operations and that the company is already in compliance with the state's tax laws. Amazon said state law doesn't require it to collect taxes on its Texas facility, which is operated by a subsidiary called Amazon.com.kydc, the Morning News reported.

But a spokesman for the Texas Comptroller's Office said it was nevertheless continuing a "thorough" investigation of the matter and wasn't sure how long it would take to complete.

It's just the latest chapter in the broader debate over sales taxes on Internet-based purchases. In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its landmark Quill v. North Dakota case that retailers aren't required to collect sales taxes from customers who live in states where the businesses don't have a physical presence, or "nexus."

So far, nothing has happened to change that decision, though Congress has considered taking steps in that direction, and some states are banding together in a strictly voluntary effort known as the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, which is designed to make tax collection easier for retailers.

Full Article:

[myidisbb]

So far, nothing has happened to change that decision, though Congress has considered taking steps in that direction, and some states are banding together in a strictly voluntary effort known as the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, which is designed to make tax collection easier for retailers.

Full Article:

actually 18 states made an illegal treaty to collect user tax from online companies. totally freaken illegal but we, living in one of those 18 states cant fight it. the reqason is that online companies, like a real store company, gets to keep some of the sale taxes it helps collect.

[dock98]

So far, nothing has happened to change that decision, though Congress has considered taking steps in that direction, and some states are banding together in a strictly voluntary effort known as the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, which is designed to make tax collection easier for retailers.

Full Article:

actually 18 states made an illegal treaty to collect user tax from online companies. totally freaken illegal but we, living in one of those 18 states cant fight it. the reqason is that online companies, like a real store company, gets to keep some of the sale taxes it helps collect.

i dont think that surprises anybody.