Which states now require Online sales tax? For example NJ-TN.

Ignition Override said:

Just figured out NJ, except that the company has had "free shipping" for years. I'm retired and almost nothing is free. This make it a bit murky.

One can always process an order and spot it at the end of the transaction, but this should not be necessary on multiple business websites simply to determine which states impose a tax similar to local sales taxes.

* For $180 ammo in NJ, with Ammoman's "free shipping" () , the "tax" is stated as $16.65.
This new law offers little, or no advantage over buying lots of small boxes of ammo at Academy or Walmart.

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That was the purpose of the ruling. The Supreme Court, whether it intended to do so or not, chose winners and losers in the economy. They essentially leveled the playing field between e-commerce and brick & mortar outlets. To answer your question, Alaska, though it has no statewide sales tax, is setting up the infrastructure needed for local communities to levy sales taxes on e-commerce within their jurisdictions. I suspect local jurisdictions through the nation are in a similar position, so don't be surprised if you start having to pay bot your local and state sales taxes on everything.

All states with sales tax require residents to remit the tax if the merchant doesn't collect it. Failure to do so is tax evasion on your part.

So, 'sales' tax is a lie; it's a purchase tax, conveniently collected by merchants that the state can lean on. For out of state merchants you still owe it, and states are becoming more effective at leaning on them to collect it.

The only potential exceptions are purchases you never use in the state. If you buy a stupid-expensive painting for your vacation house and never bring it into NYS, you don't owe NYS sales tax. If the taxman later finds it hanging in your NYC penthouse, he'll be very cross with you.

Along with what's noted above in posts 3 and 6, Florida requires a tax paid on anything purchased (apart from the exceptions, such as food and medicine) in-state, or out-of-state for the purpose of being brought in-state. There is a form the taxpayer is to use when remitting the tax if it was not collected by the seller.

Ignition Override said:

A customer should be able to easily determine which states impose this tax in any scenario, whether NJ-TN, OH-TN, GA-TX etc. It's not apparent at all with Google titles.

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The only state that matters is the state where the goods are delivered. If your state has a sales tax you owe sales tax on the goods purchased. The Supreme Court ruling only covers the collection of the tax, not the imposition of the tax.

I hope that charging sales tax on all online purchases becomes universal in the US. It is certainly the fairest for of taxation and would also help some local businesses.

In GA it depends. If the company I'm ordering from has a brick and mortar store located in GA I pay tax. If not I pay no tax. For years I could order from Cabelas and pay no tax, but now that they have stores in GA I have to pay tax when ordering from them. I can still order stuff from LL Bean and others and pay no tax.

Over the last few years I've become a frequent Amazon customer. The prices are often the same, but with free shipping and when they deliver to my door within 2-3 days it is worth it to me even if I do have to pay tax. Most of the time I do not. Sometimes I do, it just depends on where the merchandise originates. My wife has done all of her Christmas shopping for our grand kids the last 3 years on-line. We let them deliver to us instead of driving all over North GA looking for the same stuff.

Ignition Override said:

Just checked "The Ammunition Store".
The only way to determine whether this OH business must charge a sales tax is for me to click "Bill me, process order" etc.

Do most states require an online order to disclose the tax Before you 'click', and are then obligated for the transaction? This seems to be a problem which is obscured.

A customer should be able to easily determine which states impose this tax in any scenario, whether NJ-TN, OH-TN, GA-TX etc. It's not apparent at all with Google titles.

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I think you're going about this round-about way. The only tax an online retailer can collect from you is the tax your state levies on you, a resident of your state. (And you should know what the sales taxes are in your state and local communities.) The tax rate in the online retailer's state is irrelevant; Ohio still can't levy an Ohio sales tax upon an Iowa resident, however, Iowa can require to levy an Iowa sales tax upon an Iowa resident on goods shipped to Iowa.

Someone correct me if I'm getting this wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works now. The whole point of the ruling was to make e-commerce follow the same rules as brick & mortar businesses.

jmr40 said:

In GA it depends.

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No, it doesn't. You still have to pay sales tax on out of state purchases you bring into or receive in GA. . . you just aren't.

Short version: Live in state X, pay state X's sales tax. Local vs online purchase no longer changes this for collection purposes.

LRDGCO said:

In any jurisdiction that levies a sales tax, the consumer is liable for the tax..

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I predict States will collect sales data from vendors and if the sales tax was not collected by the seller, they will be going after the buyer.

Slamfire said:

I predict States will collect sales data from vendors and if the sales tax was not collected by the seller, they will be going after the buyer.

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This would be the fair thing to do. . . but extraordinary unpopular! All of taxation is structured to avoid letting the taxpayer notice they're paying, so I doubt we'll ever see widespread collection like that.

As several people have already pointed out, PAYING the sales tax is the obligation of the BUYER. In Cali and many other places the state has a line item on your income tax form (even though this is not an income tax) for "use tax", the tax you owe on purchases from out of state where no Cali sales tax was assessed. They even have a convenient table you can use to determine based on your income an amount they'll accept for use tax if you didn't save all your records to pay the exact amount. For folks who buy a lot online the table amount is usually less anyway.

The SELLER has the responsibility to COLLECT AND REMIT tax for the state of the buyer, if he/she/it has a "nexus" to that state (usually a physical presence). However, third-party platforms like Amazon are now collecting and remitting on behalf of their sellers, to states which have a law requiring them to do so. This is because a small seller is never going to be able to accurately assess tax in all 50 states, the rules are unbelievably complicated, you can buy software to do it for low six figures but you have to populate its database with every single item you sell in order to define which ones are exempt in which states -- for example some states exempt clothing, other states exempt clothing items with a price of $X or less, other states exempt children's clothing for one week before school starts in the fall, etc. And each one with any flavor of clothing exemption has its own list of definitions as to what constitutes clothing. So besides shelling out for the software and integrating it into your sales process you still need a subject-matter expert on staff.

LRDGCO said:

In any jurisdiction that levies a sales tax, the consumer is liable for the tax. In the past, collection efforts have imposed the burden of collection on the seller only if the seller was delivering to a consumer in those jurisdictions where the seller had brick and mortar premises, and therefore the infrastructure to assess, collect and deliver to the jurisdiction in question the tax revenue. Increasingly, any jurisdiction that imposes a sales tax is seeking to require collection by the vendor to a consumer in their jurisdiction.

What should happen is that online retailers should establish themselves or their online sale affiliate in a low to no sales tax jurisdiction and collect based on that jurisdiction's rate, thereby rewarding low to no tax states.

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Except they have to collect based on the buyer's state of residence. Folks have always been liable for this tax, called a "Use Tax", but before internet sales, interstate sales weren't that big of a deal. Now that they are, and with states looking to grab every extra tax dollar they can, cashing in on interstate/internet sales means big bucks to those states.

If you want to avoid the tax You’ll have to “shop” around and find a vendor that doesn’t charge tax and compare that with other vendors. I can’t make out what state you’re in but I’m guessing the online ammo vendors aren’t all up to speed on the new tax requirements.

At this point all states except New Hampshire, Alaska, Delaware, Oregon, and Montana have a state wide sales tax. Alaska has a goofy local tax system as mentioned earlier. At this point the vast majority of states have passed laws allowing the collection of sales tax based on a economic nexus rather than the previous standard of a physical presence.

To date, not one of my online firearms or ammo purchases have been taxed for any taxing authority - cost of item plus shipping only.
I am taken aback that citizens “of this here United States” are advocating the leveling of a playing field by charging more tax across the board on any purchase. Hmmmm, how about less or no tax on brick and mortar, how about less taxes period or the thought that we are overtaxed already or that the government is already a bottomless pit of cost. Fellow citizens, please rethink your stance on “leveling the playing field” or evermore taxes. God please help us!

Steve S. said:

To date, not one of my online firearms or ammo purchases have been taxed for any taxing authority - cost of item plus shipping only.
I am taken aback that citizens “of this here United States” are advocating the leveling of a playing field by charging more tax across the board on any purchase. Hmmmm, how about less or no tax on brick and mortar, how about less taxes period or the thought that we are overtaxed already or that the government is already a bottomless pit of cost. Fellow citizens, please rethink your stance on “leveling the playing field” or evermore taxes. God please help us!

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I'm very much in favor of taxes but I admit that I find many taxes including sales taxes regressive. But if we are going to adequately fund government then we need reasonable and consistent processes and if there is a State sales tax I support it being charged across all purchase whether made locally or online.

Online purchases are now taxed in Connecticut.