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Last July the City of Tacoma, Washington passed Ordinance No. 28367, a “Bring Your Own Bag Ordinance.” This law bans the distribution of disposable plastic bags by retailers and imposes a minimum five cent fee on paper bags.  Retailers (including restaurants), will be allowed to keep this fee. The law does not apply to bags for […]

Effective July 1,2017, five jurisdictions in Arkansas will either increase or decrease their sales and use tax rates. The locations impacted by this change include, the city of Eureka Springs, which is decreasing the sales and use tax rate to 2.25%; the city of Lamar, which is increasing the rate to 2.0%; the city of […]

The State of Tennessee has enacted House Bill 534, also known as the IMPROVE Act.  This legislation is effective July 1, 2017 and reduces the sales and use tax on food and food ingredients from 5% to 4% . Food and food ingredients includes substances that are sold for ingestion or chewing by humans and […]

Massachusetts is attempting to avoid a head-on challenge to Quill, opting instead for rules that stretch — but attempt not to break — the physical presence standard. Internet vendors should take serious note of Massachusetts’ new approach to defining what constitutes physical nexus. If you partake in one of these three types of common activities, […]

Last July the City of Tacoma, Washington passed Ordinance No. 28367, a “Bring Your Own Bag Ordinance.” This law bans the distribution of disposable plastic bags by retailers and imposes a minimum five cent fee on paper bags.  Retailers (including restaurants), will be allowed to keep this fee. The law does not apply to bags for […]

North Dakota recently enacted legislation which will increase the Prepaid Wireless Emergency 911 Fee from 2.0% to 2.5% effective July 1, 2017. Retailers are required to collect this fee on all sales of prepaid wireless services and minutes. Retailers must remit the collection of such fees to the State Tax Commissioner. Revenue generated from this increase […]

Effective July 1, 2017, North Dakota will begin to provide an exemption from sales tax for sales of “internet access services.” Since 1998, the Internet Tax Freedom Act has prohibited federal, state and local governments from levying a tax on internet access however, seven states which previously had imposed taxes on internet access, including North Dakota, were […]

Effective July 1, 2017, North Dakota will expand the definition of “Farm Machinery” to include machinery, equipment and materials used exclusively in a milking operation of a dairy farm. In North Dakota, sales of new farm machinery sold exclusively for agricultural purposes are taxed at a lower tax rate of 3% compared to the general […]

North Dakota’s sales and use tax exemption for tangible personal property used to construct or expand telecommunications service infrastructure is set to expire on June 30, 2017. This exemption covers cell towers, switching equipment, cable, and other infrastructure items used directly in delivering telecommunication services and owned by a telecommunications company. In order to receive […]

Tax reform is a primary focus in Washington right now, so it is important that U.S. manufacturers understand how changes could impact their business — particularly with regard to imports and exports.

West Virginia’s State Tax Department has released a new publication TSD-100, “West Virginia Business Taxes.” The publication provides guidance to Business who need to register for business tax purposes. The six page document is merely instructive and does not function as a legal document. The last time West Virginia published a similar document was November, […]

We are seeing a lot of vendor scope evolution on the market. Examples include EDI vendors that are developing business network-style services; another one is that platforms focused on procurement of indirect supplies are moving into strategic sourcing and vice versa. A trend that receives less attention from analysts and specialized press is the journey […]

New Jersey’s limousine industry won a major legislative battle on February 10, 2017, when Governor Chris Christie signed into a law a bill eliminating sales tax on intra-state limousine services. The tax had been in force since 2006, surviving several challenges in the state legislature. It will officially be phased out on May 1, 2017. […]

Utah has recently enacted legislation which will increase the Prepaid Wireless 911 Service Charge from 1.90% to 2.45% effective July 1, 2017. The legislation also further increases the Prepaid Wireless 911 Service Charge to 3.30% on January 1, 2018. Sellers are required to collect the Prepaid Wireless 911 Service Charge on all sales of prepaid […]

This summary of our Sovos Tax Tuesday webinar addresses the challenges that IT managers face, and solutions to managing sales and use tax compliance. On March 28, I was joined by Chuck Maniace and Mark Christenson to present a webinar on challenges to IT managers in supporting sales and use tax compliance.  We took a […]

Amazon sellers will now have to collect and remit sales tax in every state in which it is required. What are the business implications? Amazon completed its 180-degree turn on sales tax policy this week, agreeing to voluntarily collect sales and use tax in every state that imposes such requirements. While this development does not […]

There are still many who view the convenience of online shopping as the real lure of Internet shopping rather than the presence or absence of sales tax. While many people shop online for convenience, others turn to e-commerce to avoid paying sales tax. According to the Supreme Court case Quill v. North Dakota, retailers are […]

Proposed bills and rules around nexus are being discussed and debated in state capitals across the country. The evolution of ecommerce continues to place pressure on the nexus standard. As states search for avenues to collect and remit tax, businesses face expanded sales tax compliance responsibilities. With recent proposed legislation, both Utah and Wyoming took […]