Chaffetz internet sales tax bill

[StLucieBengal]

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/245045-chaffetz-swings-and-misses-with-internet-sales-tax-bill

Ridiculous. Used to like this guy but his cozy ties with Boehner is becoming and issue.

Leave the internet alone.

[Belsnickel]

Every state, every single one, collects sales/use tax based on destination sourcing. It's what always makes it a bit interesting to me when the answer for it all has become origin sourcing. The requirement for a company to remit taxes based upon the state they are selling into is based upon nexus, which, in some states is outrageous. In others it's not so bad. There is a state, and I can't remember which one but it was a southern state, that tried to claim that we generated nexus because we had an ad in National Geographic that sent issues into their state. No lie.

Anyway, the issue with origin sourcing can also end up being nexus related. The idea sounds simple enough, tax based on where the company is. But is that the origin of the sale? If it's an internet sale, the sale happens in a different state. Could the sale be where the servers are for the company? Is the sales center in a different state than the corporate headquarters which may be the address of record?

There are a lot of different factors at play here. I understand the desire to come up with a solution but it's definitely not an easy one to nail down and it's going to piss off some states tremendously either way you go.

P.S. Goodlatte is a putz.

[*michaelsean*]

It should be origin. Ohio has no right to tell someone in Nebraska to pay them tax. So they just tell the consumer to pay the tax. From what I hear, some consumers just say they haven't bought anything.

I know B&M complain that it's an unfair advantage, but online retailers have to deal with shipping.

[Belsnickel]

(06-25-2015, 10:32 AM)michaelsean Wrote: It should be origin.  Ohio has no right to tell someone in Nebraska to pay them tax.  So they just tell the consumer to pay the tax.  From what I hear, some consumers just say they haven't bought anything.

I know B&M complain that  it's an unfair advantage, but online retailers have to deal with shipping.

Technically speaking they aren't telling someone in Nebraska to pay them tax, just collect and remit it. Be the middle man, so to speak. But yeah, on most state income tax returns there is a place for putting in use tax for internet purchases that most people ignore, which is causing the problem. Relying on self reporting like that is just a problem.