sales-tax

Arizona Tries To Shake Amazon Down For $53 Million In Sales Tax
By Phil Villarreal on February 6, 2012 8:30 AM  
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 Phil Villarreal on January 11, 2012 8:15 AM  
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 Chris Morran on November 9, 2011 12:30 PM  
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 Chris Morran on September 8, 2011 1:30 PM  
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 Phil Villarreal on June 30, 2011 10:15 AM  
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 Chris Morran on March 18, 2011 4:30 PM  
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 Phil Villarreal on January 25, 2011 3:30 PM  
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 »

(mrbill)

Ohio Supreme Court: State Sales Tax OK For Satellite, But Not Cable
By Phil Villarreal on December 28, 2010 10:30 AM  
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 Chris Morran on December 24, 2010 12:15 PM  
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 Phil Villarreal on December 10, 2010 1:40 PM  
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 »

(vndrl)

Last Chance To Take Advantage Of Tax-Free Back-To-School Shopping In 6 States
By Chris Morran on August 12, 2010 4:45 PM  
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 Chris Walters on July 6, 2010 9:30 AM  
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 Mary Beth Quirk on May 1, 2010 3:25 PM  
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. More »

Amazon Sues North Carolina, Says It Won't Divulge Customer Names
By Chris Walters on April 20, 2010 12:51 PM  
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 Chris Morran on February 11, 2010 12:30 PM  
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 »

Customer Finds Sears' Free Delivery Isn't So Free
By Phil Villarreal on November 23, 2009 11:30 AM  

—>Intrigued by a free delivery deal, Danielle ordered a dishwasher from Sears, but the retailer only reimbursed her $75 of the $81.19 fee.  More »

Philadelphia's Public Libraries Not Closing After All
By Laura Northrup on September 21, 2009 3:06 PM  

—>Lovers of books, free Internet access, and community gathering spaces, rejoice. The Philadelphia Free Library will not be closing on October 2nd, as previously threatened.   More »

NYC CVS Apparently Mis-Applies Sales Tax To Diapers
By Phil Villarreal on August 21, 2009 2:00 PM  

—>Punhon bought diapers at a New York City CVS and was charged 4.875 percent sales tax, which she believes shouldn't have been applied. She writes:  More »

No More Amazon Referrals For North Carolina Residents
By Laura Northrup on June 17, 2009 2:50 PM  

—>This morning, Amazon e-mailed all North Carolina residents who are part of its Associates program to notify them that their accounts will be terminated in the next few weeks.   More »

A Value-Added Tax In America? What?
By Alex Chasick on May 27, 2009 3:10 PM  

—>The Washington Post writes that a national sales tax, known in other countries as a value-added tax or VAT, is getting some attention in DC, even among Democrats, who traditionally don't favor regressive taxing schemes. The article notes some pros and cons about a VAT, as well as the small problem that imposing a 25% sales tax on everything would be political suicide.  More »