Sabrix

The Virginia Senate passed S.B. 660, a so-called "Amazon" or affiliate nexus bill, on February 16th. The bill provides the following:

"A dealer is presumed to be soliciting or transacting business by an independent contractor, agent, or other representative if the dealer enters into an agreement with a resident of the Commonwealth under which the resident, for a commission or other consideration, directly or indirectly refers potential customers, whether by a link on an Internet site or otherwise, to the dealer if the cumulative gross receipts from sales by the dealer to purchasers in the Commonwealth who are referred to the dealer by all residents with this type of agreement with the dealer are in excess of $10,000 during the preceding four quarterly periods. This presumption may be rebutted by proof that the resident with whom the dealer has an agreement did not engage in any solicitation in the Commonwealth on behalf of the dealer that would satisfy the nexus requirement of the United States Constitution during the four quarterly periods in question."

A second bill, S.B. 705, which also contained an "Amazon" provision as well as a plan to extend the sales and use tax to digital downloads and computer services, was defeated in the Senate Finance Committee.

S.B. 660, passed by the Virginia Senate on February 16, 2010

Update 3/1/2010: S.B. 660 was tabled by the Virginia House of Delegates Committee on Finance on February 24, 2010.