California Promises No Sales Tax Due To Affiliates To Keep Amazon/Overstock Affiliates Happy

Wed, Jul 1st 2009 1:31am

Filed Under:
affiliates, hawaii, rhode island, sales tax

Companies:
amazon

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Amazon Cuts Off Affiliates In Hawaii And Rhode Island... Who Else Wants To Try?

from the you-might-make-them-angry dept

Last week, Amazon decided to cut off North Carolina affiliates due to proposed legislation that would have affiliates (really, advertisers) be considered as local "employees" for the sake of proving that Amazon had a business "nexus" in the state, and thus need to collect state sales tax there. It appears similar legislation is popping up across a bunch of states, and Amazon is cutting off affiliates one by one. Affiliates in both Hawaii and Rhode Island have been told that they can no longer sell via Amazon over this issue. It'll be interesting to see if any states back down. Pissing off a bunch of small business owners who make money selling products via Amazon probably isn't a particularly wise thing to do in the middle of a recession.

Legal Issues

Wed, Dec 31st 2008 6:54am

Filed Under:
florida, sales tax

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Guy Tries To Pay $1.50 In Missed Sales Tax, Gets Threatened With Fines, Criminal Charges

from the no-good-deed-goes-unpunished dept

The Agitator points us to quite a ridiculous story coming out of Florida. An incredibly law-abiding citizen almost got seriously punished for going above and beyond to live up to the law. Apparently he bought some things for personal use at a local hardware store -- and then noticed that the store forgot to charge him sales tax on the $23 bill. It was probably because the guy also works for an organization that is tax exempt, and the store just assumed he was buying on that account. Now, most people would think "cool" and move on. But, not this guy. He felt obliged to send in $1.50 and an explanation to Florida's Dept. of Revenue.

You would think that Florida would be thrilled to find such an incredibly honest person. Instead, it sent him an angry letter fining him $50 for failing to file a business tax return. He wrote back, explaining the situation again, noting that it wasn't a business, and he was just making up for the forgotten sales tax charge. The state's response? A demand for $650 in business taxes and a threat of criminal charges. It was only after a local TV news channel contacted the state on the guy's behalf that Florida admitted its mistake. Isn't bureaucracy great?

Politics

Wed, Jul 9th 2008 5:21am

Filed Under:
california, downloads, itunes, sales tax, taxes

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California Can't Resist: Wants To Tax iTunes Downloads Again

from the keep-on-trying dept

There are some states that already include a sales tax on internet downloads for things like iTunes purchases (even if the rationale for the tax doesn't seem to exist beyond "the state needs money"). Every so often various other state politicians start itching to add an iTunes download tax. The latest is California. Some state politicians made a bunch of news back in April for proposing just such a plan, but the resulting publicity and anger from California residents made sure that proposal was quickly shot down. So what did the main sponsor of that proposal do? He waited less than two months and proposed a nearly identical tax on digital downloads. Of course, all this will really do is push more people to look at alternatives, legal or not, because of the greater expense associated with digital downloads (a product that should get cheaper over time, rather than more expensive).

Legal Issues

Thu, May 15th 2008 11:31am

Filed Under:
affiliates, new york, sales tax

Companies:
amazon, overstock

25 Comments | Leave a Comment..

Overstock Cuts Off NY Affiliates Over NY's Amazon Sales Tax Law

from the nice-work,-New-York dept

Last month we wrote about how New York was changing a law to try to force Amazon to collect and pay sales tax in New York by defining any affiliate in the state as being an Amazon point of presence. This is a clear perversion of the intention of the law that only requires collecting sales tax if the company has a physical presence in the state. While Amazon is now fighting this law in court, others are taking more drastic measures. E-commerce site Overstock.com has declared that it will no longer allow New York affiliates in order to avoid having the state consider it to have a "physical presence" there. This would be an unintended consequence of such a law. In an effort to get e-commerce providers to cough up more in taxes, not only will Overstock not be paying those taxes, it just made life a lot more difficult for thousands of Overstock affiliates in New York.

Legal Issues

Mon, May 12th 2008 3:22pm

Filed Under:
sales tax, taxes, texas

Companies:
amazon