Tax Tip of the Week | Sales Tax (Where You Have No Physical Presence)

Sales Tax ( Where You Have No Physical Presence)I would rather have an IRS audit than a sales tax audit for a multitude of reasons that I won’t bore you with. Just take my word for it! Too many taxpayers are more diligent with meeting their IRS tax compliance than with their sales tax requirements.  You better be diligent with both of these taxes or you have a lot to lose!Excerpts from an article follows on South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., U.S. (2018).  As businesses increasingly use internet to sell, their sales tax compliance has become even more cumbersome and complex.I have spared you a lot of history in this article and just shown the author’s FAST FACTS.  You may also go directly to the online article if you are interested in more details.-Mark BradstreetCredit to Rich Molina, CPA, CPA Voice, The Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountant, Sep/Oct 2018FAST FACTS:1.    “Reversing precedent, the U.S. Supreme Court finally upheld a requirement that retailers withhold and remit sales taxes for purchases made by customers in states in which the retailers have no physical presence.2.    South Dakota, like other states, experienced a substantial decline in tax revenues as more and more of its residents purchased goods and services online from out-of-state retailers.3.    On a national level, states were losing $8-33 billion of tax revenue per year in uncollected sales taxes by out-of-state sellers. In addition, at the time the Supreme Court rendered the Quill decision in 1992, less than 2% of Americans had internet access while that number is 89% today.4.    The court’s holding has evolved along with modern day commerce just as the court is finding itself having to adapt to new areas in other parts of the law, including privacy in the digital age.”Thank you for all of your questions, comments and suggestions for future topics. As always, they are much appreciated. We may be reached in our Dayton office at 937-436-3133 or in our Xenia office at 937-372-3504. Or, visit our website.This week’s author – Mark Bradstreet, CPA–until next week.