Internet Sales Tax Supreme Court Ruling
1Hey @Winedavid49 does the recent supreme court ruling about internet sales tax for out of state purchases change anything about what we will need to pay for our wines? Asking for a cheap friend.
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I’m already paying sales tax! In New York. As I understand it, if state law requires online vendors to collect sales tax, today’s decision says the state can do that.
@InFrom Ah, I see. It does not change anything, just validates the states ability to do that? I know I pay an alcohol tax on my wine purchases, I just was not sure if there are MORE taxes to be paid.
@Twich22 Nah, it just validated the right of states to tax online purchases from vendors that don’t have a physical presence in that state.
Should not have an impact as the Winery is the seller and adhere’s to each state’s regulations. Now the fly by night wine retailers out there…?? Be careful.
SCOTUS’ ruling does not require vendors to charge tax, or allow states to demand vendors collect tax, but it does allow states to collect said tax.
CA has held for years that it had that right, and would pursue a small percentage of big ticket sales. But in this era of shriveling tax revenue and increasing out-of-state sales, CA (as well as other sales-tax states) are getting more aggressive.
Requiring all vendors to manage and the many multiple tax schedules across the country would be an impractical, let alone unreasonable, burden. So, it is (still) the responsibility of the buyer to remit cross-state sales tax, in the form of what’s termed a “use” tax.
While vendors may be relieved to not have to deal with that, they are increasingly asked by states to provide information about purchases and identify buyers that may not have paid tax, and (potentially) audit them. Unless your purchases are off-book entirely, anyone with untaxed purchases may be prone to an audit. Keep in mind that (in CA at least) the statute of limitations is the same as for income tax filings, except for the little exception of fraud. In other words, if CA were to audit you and found what they considered to be an intentional avoidance of paying use tax, they could claim that as cause for going back just as far as they want . . .
Bottom line, is it worth it? Unless you are treading tea party water or have a prized velvet portrait of Grover Nordquist hanging on you wall, be a good citizen and help fund your government.
You know - “We is us . . .”