Tax Legislation Blog Posts

Congressional Bills Resulting from the Wayfair Decision on Sales Tax

January 15, 2019

Last year was a significant year for all businesses that sell across state lines online. The June 21, 2018 US Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v Wayfair struck down more than 25 years of precedent, allowing states to collect sales tax on remote sales without the need for physical nexus. The result was a wave of anxiety among small and medium sized businesses that were not yet equipped to collect and process these transactions for each individual state. Since the Supreme Court’s decision, more than a dozen additional states have passed or moved forward to enact previously passed sales… Read More

New Sales Tax Laws Going into Effect in 2019

December 26, 2018

Few years have had as big of an impact on how small businesses operate online as 2018. With the landmark US Supreme Court Decision in Wayfair v. South Dakota, economic nexus regulations became the law of the land in dozens of states around country, with many more queued up almost immediately. What this means for businesses that don’t have the infrastructure to manage sales tax collection for an increasing number of states, remains to be seen, but that hasn’t stopped other states from passing or moving forward to implement their own economic nexus laws in the latter half of 2018… Read More

Midterm Tax Measure Results for 2018

November 14, 2018

Every year at the ballot box, there are several tax measures across the country. On average, about half of those measures will pass, impacting residents in a variety of ways – from new sales tax regulations to levies and property tax increases for local education initiatives. This year was no different, with 18 midterm election tax measures considered on November 6. Let’s take a closer look at which of these passed and what the new laws will mean for affected residents. Michigan Proposal 1 Michigan became the first state in the Midwest to legalize marijuana by passing Proposal 1 by… Read More

Why Wayfair Isn’t Really a New Tax

August 29, 2018

The biggest news in online commerce this year was the June 5-4 decision by the US Supreme Court that overturned the 1992 ruling in Quill v. North Dakota. That previous ruling effectively made it impossible for states to collect sales tax from businesses that did not have a physical presence within their borders. The case, South Dakota v. Wayfair, was a bellwether against which many other states will now measure and adjust their sales tax policies, some of which have already been passed into law and were merely waiting for this decision. But there’s been a consistent habit in media… Read More

The US Supreme Court Overturns “Quill” Ban on Online Sales Tax

June 21, 2018

In a 5-4 decision announced on Thursday, the Supreme Court overturned a 1992 ruling in Quill vs. North Dakota that explicitly banned states from taxing companies that don’t have a physical presence within their borders. The ruling came in the case of South Dakota vs. Wayfair, as South Dakota attempted to overturn the previous ruling. South Dakota cited their losses in not being able to collect sales tax on online sales, totaling nearly $50 million a year, and the Government Accountability Office citing nearly $14 billion in total missed tax revenue for all states. The case was a divisive issue… Read More