Starting in July, shoppers in Texas will no longer have to go through the hassle of calculating and paying all that sales tax that Amazon hasn’t been collecting on their purchases. On Friday, the Lone Star State joined a growing group of states reaching accords with the online giant about making sure those taxes get collected at the time of purchase. [More]
Illinois Judge: Law Requiring Amazon To Collect Sales Tax Is Unconstitutional
By April 26, 2012
Last year, Illinois joined the ranks of states passing laws requiring Amazon and other online-only retailers to collect sales tax on purchases by that state’s residents. Yesterday afternoon, a judge in Cook County, IL, surprised a lot of people by ruling this law violates the U.S. Constitution. [More]
Amazon Agrees To Collect Sales Tax In Nevada
By April 24, 2012
The number of states where Amazon shoppers aren’t charged sales tax continues to shrink, as the massive online retailer has agreed to begin collecting the tax on sales to Nevada customers starting in 2014. [More]
Arizona Tries To Shake Amazon Down For $53 Million In Sales Tax
By February 6, 2012
The burden of state sales tax continues to plague Amazon. Groups of states hold Amazon to different standards when it comes to collecting the tax. While some disagreements end amicably — such as the company’s January deal with Indiana that it will have to start collecting state sales tax in 2014 — other states are a bit more confrontational. [More]
Indiana, Enjoy Your Final Two Years Of "Tax-Free" Amazon Purchases
By January 11, 2012
Add Indiana to the list of states in which Amazon customers will pay sales tax when they buy something, as state officials have reached a deal that will require the online retailer to start collecting the state’s 7% tax on purchases. [More]
Senators Introduce Bill To Compel Amazon & Others To Collect Sales Tax
By November 9, 2011
As has been discussed here on numerous occasions, even though Amazon.com didn’t charge you sales tax on that laptop you purchased, you still may owe it (though very few people ever pay). Thus, once again, a bipartisan group of Senators in D.C. have introduced legislation that would require online retailers to collect sales tax. [More]
Amazon Makes Deal With California To Delay Collecting Sales Tax For One Year
By September 8, 2011
The battle between Amazon and the state of California over whether or not the e-tailer should be compelled to collect sales taxes may be drawing to a close after the two parties appear to have come to a tentative agreement that would have the online megastore collecting taxes, but not for another year. [More]
Amazon Tries To Dodge California Sales Tax By Dropping Associates Program In State
By June 30, 2011
Responding to a new law that would affix a sales tax to Amazon purchases made in California, Amazon announced it will drop its Affiliates program in the state. Affiliates members help sell Amazon products and get a cut of the proceeds. Dropping the program’s California users would presumably spare Amazon from having to collect sales tax on its California transactions. [More]
Big Box Stores Pushing To Tax Amazon Sales Nationwide
By March 18, 2011
In recent years, retailers have been successful in getting a handful of states, including Illinois and New York, to pass laws requiring Amazon.com and similar e-tailers to collect sales tax on products shipped to those states. Now, with the backing of super-sized chains, there is a full-on push to get these laws on the books in every state that collects sales tax. [More]
Amazon Tries To Make Itself Exempt From Tenn. Sales Tax
By January 25, 2011
Everything is negotiable when you’re a company that’s as big as powerful as Amazon. After landing a sweet incentive deal to build a distribution hub in Tennessee, the online sales giant is trying to get the state to excuse its customers from paying state sales tax on their purchases. [More]
Ohio Supreme Court: State Sales Tax OK For Satellite, But Not Cable
By December 28, 2010
Giving an odd boost to cable providers, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled the state could slap a sales tax on satellite TV services even though cable companies don’t need to tack the tax on to their packages. [More]
5 Downright Silly Sales Taxes
By December 24, 2010
Several months ago, we wrote about New York State’s decision to crack down on bagel vendors who weren’t charging an 8.875% sales tax on sliced bagels. Believe it or not, that’s not the silliest sales tax story of the year. [More]
Borders.com Charged Me 40 Percent Sales Tax
By December 10, 2010
Reader M bought four books online from Borders for $17.82 and was charged $7.07 in sales tax. Unless the books were cigarettes, there was probably an error on Borders’ end. But M says the bookseller refuses to acknowledge a mistake. [More]
Last Chance To Take Advantage Of Tax-Free Back-To-School Shopping In 6 States
By August 12, 2010
While most states’ summer sales-tax holidays have come and gone, shoppers in six states — Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and Texas — still have a chance to take advantage of tax-exempt shopping on a variety of things from clothing to school supplies. [More]
Internet Sales Tax Bill Introduced Again
By July 6, 2010
Last week, Massachusetts Rep. Bill Delahunt introduced a bill called the “Main Street Fairness Act,” which is a stupid name for a bill. The text of the bill hasn’t been released yet, but if passed, it would presumably set up a process where sales tax could be collected on purchases made over the Internet. As anyone who has shopped online over the past decade is probably aware, this has been an ongoing and thorny issue, since billions in online sales tax would provide a welcome revenue stream for struggling states. [More]
States Seek Sales Taxes On Haircuts, Balloon Rides
By May 1, 2010
As states across America take a look at their budgets, some are getting creative with sales taxes in an effort to increase their revenue by slapping a tax on some interesting items and services. CNNMoney checked out what’s going down all over America, from magician taxes to hot air balloon ride tariffs.
Tax off the top: In Michigan and Nebraska, legislators are considering extending the state sales tax to person grooming services like getting a trim, because they can be seen as a luxury item.
Krusty the Clown tax: Maine wants to make money off of children! A bill proposing a 5% state tax on entertainment like comedians, clowns, jugglers, ventriloquists, petting zoos, paintball and even haunted hay rides is up to be voted on this summer, and would go into effect in January 2011.
Balloon Boy tax: Hot air balloon rides don’t come cheap, and in Kentucky they could be even pricier: Lawmakers there want to get their hands on $350 to $400 million a year by taxing high-end services like limousine such as limousine and hot air balloon rides, golf green fees, private landscaping, armored car services and professional laundry services. Because these are things rich people use, so, tax’em! [More]
Amazon Sues North Carolina, Says It Won't Divulge Customer Names
By April 20, 2010
North Carolina’s tax collectors want to find out which of the state’s residents have bought untaxed goods from Amazon over the past seven years, so they visited Amazon’s HQ in Seattle and demanded the retailer turn over its records. When Amazon said no, the state threatened to sue. What it got instead was a preemptive lawsuit from Amazon that “says the demand violates the privacy and First Amendment rights of Amazon’s customers.” [More]
Yes Virginia, There Are Taxes For Shopping Online
By February 11, 2010
People of Virginia: Online shopping is great, right? High discounts, cheap shipping and no taxes… oh, wait. Looks like the commonwealth’s State Senate Finance Committee voted 14-1 to get the ball rolling on a bill that would levy a sales tax on some products purchased through online retailers. [More]
