Online Sales Tax..Yes You Must Pay It...Or Do you?

I wrote about the topic of online sales tax, and how it affects interstate online commerce, at length a few months ago.

Due to this recent post I found elsewhere, I urge all online merchants selling anything online to ask their tax advisor and lawyers what to do so that you don't get burned, sued, or penalized going forward.

As I can tell, there is still no resolution from the time I last wrote but the online sales tax issue is certainly still an issue and far from being resolved.  States want their tax share of online transactions and other parties are battling against it; either way, don't get burned through ignorance, as pleading ignornace won't hold up in court, if it comes to that when a state asks an online merchant to pay their share of state commerce tax, online or offline.

Please read my prior post, Will New York Online Sales Tax Legislation Kill E-Commerce? for that important read, AND then the article below in its entirety.  After getting macro understanding of both, please seek appropriate tax and legal counsel in regard to your obligations as an online retailer to paying state sales tax for any of your online sales.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps.

Chip Arndt

By Andrea James from SeattlePI.com

"For the countless consumers who buy online to avoid paying state sales tax, the party is ending.

Though Washington shoppers are on their honor to pay sales taxes each year on out-of-state purchases -- it's called a "use tax" -- most people either ignore the requirement or have never heard of it. Thus, states such as Washington are banding together to encourage online businesses to collect tax.

On Tuesday, Washington joins 18 other states that require some e-commerce businesses to collect sales tax. About 1,100 online retailers have volunteered to collect, and in return, Washington promises not to sue them for back taxes they might have owed. Three more states are on the way to adopting the law.

The Tuesday change, which is the result of a state law passed in 2007, has two major effects, Washington Revenue Department spokesman Mike Gowrylow said..."

<<<CLICK HERE>>> for this full and VERY IMPORTANT article and how Amazon is responding to all of this...as they are the ones who are fighting the online sales tax debate all the way to Congress