My name is Rebekah and I am an attorney specializing in global transaction tax at Sabrix. I earned my JD from Lewis & Clark Northwestern School of Law in Portland, Oregon and have focused exclusively on transaction tax law since graduation.
Currently I have the good fortune to work in the World Wide Tax Research Department at Sabrix where my responsibilities include researching global tax laws and trends as well as managing our Global Transaction Tax Research Library. My position has provided me with a superb opportunity to see the world through the lens of its tax laws. Although tax is serious business, it can also be humorous at times and always interesting. I am excited to be able to share my knowledge and enthusiasm for transaction tax with the readers of this blog.
The state of Georgia has formed a task force called the "
In January of this year Washington State switched to a more tightly controlled reseller permit system hoping to collect additional sales tax revenue that was owed, but not being paid. Under the old system self-issued resale permits were used by many registered businesses. If they declared at the time of purchase that the tax would be paid when the product was resold to the final consumer they did not have to pay any sales tax. Many of those tax-free purchases were never resold however and the state estimated that it was losing up to $100 million dollars annually. 
North Carolina recently offered 450 unregistered on-line retailers amnesty if they agreed to begin collecting the state's sales and use tax on internet sales. Few jumped on the offer to pay taxes that most don't believe they owe.
New York has issued a summary of changes to state taxes enacted as part of the fiscal year 2010-11 Budget Bill (L. 2010, A9710 (c. 57). Sales and use tax changes discussed include the temporary suspension of the state sales and use tax exemption for clothing and footwear priced under $110 per item and the narrowed definition of a sales tax vendor. The definition of a vendor for sales tax purposes now excludes certain activities of in-state affiliates performed on behalf of an out-of-state seller from the list of activities that would make that seller a vendor for sales tax purposes. Under the new law activities of an affiliate in providing accounting or legal services or advice to a seller, or in directing the activities of a seller, including but not limited to, making decisions about strategic planning, marketing, inventory, staffing, distribution, or cash management, do not make the seller a vendor for sales tax purposes.
The State of New York has just released an advisory opinion explaining the application of the sales tax to comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks.
The state is hoping that the auditor and agents who are now in training will be able to collect 100 million dollars of unpaid sales and other taxes. Last year the state did the same thing, spending $2.2 million to hire 60 additional collection agents hoping to collect $48 million in additional taxes. They collected $106 million. DOR spokeswoman Adrienne Fairwell believes that the job will be a little tougher this year. "This time around, it's going to be a little bit more difficult to collect because we feel as though we have collected on all of the low-hanging fruit," according to Fairwell.
Alberta doesn't have a provincial sales tax or participate in the HST. Residents of Alberta may still find themselves paying HST when they ship items to provinces that do however. As many residents of Alberta are finding out, Revenue Canada requires that the tax be charged on services that include a bill of lading (That includes commercial parcels, Xpresspost and priority courier). This is not a new policy, but one that more people are starting to notice since Ontario and British Columbia adopted the harmonized sales tax this year according to Canada Post. 
The 2011 Massachusetts Budget Act contains an interesting provision for the state's retailers. It repeals the prohibition against advertising that the sales tax will assumed or absorbed by the retailer. Vendors are still required to separately state and collect the tax from their customers. Now however, vendors are allowed to offer a discount equal to the amount of the tax, and may also advertise the discount as a “store sponsored sales tax holiday”. 
The Pennsylvania DOR is making a list, checking it twice, and posting it on-line for the world to see. If your name is on the list chances are it won't be Santa Clause that comes to visit you this year.
South Carolina wants to get their tax structure back on track. On June 24, 2009 the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 12 creating the "South Carolina Tax Realignment Commission", also known as TRAC. TRAC is tasked with evaluating the effectiveness of South Carolina's current tax structure and to make recommendations to the General Assembly regarding any changes they believe are necessary. 
The City of Tulsa filed a four count civil suit against the state on Thursday August 19th regarding a law passed earlier this year requiring cities to use the Oklahoma Tax Commission to collect sales taxes. Tulsa is asking the judge to rule that the city has the right to use a private firm to collect its sales taxes. Prior to the bill being signed into law the city had contracted with a private firm in Alabama to collect their taxes. They claim that using the private firm could save their cash-strapped city millions of dollars.
On Monday the B.C. Supreme Court was asked to order that the HST agreement with the Federal Government be sent back to the provincial legislature for consideration. HST opponents claim that the province's deal with the federal government is unconstitutional "taxation without representation". Opposition to the HST has been strong in British Columbia and the HST opponents believe that the legislature would be unlikely to support HST given the strong voter feelings.
Despite Governor Schwarzenegger's best efforts to terminate the idea, the California Legislature is once again considering an Amazon style Internet tax. The current proposal, brought up in a Senate hearing last week, would give sales tax nexus to out-of-state Internet retailers like Amazon.com and Overstock.com by virtue of their relationship with in-state affiliates.
As part of Wisconsin's membership in the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement Wisconsin has been offering a sales tax amnesty program for qualifying businesses that currently are not registered to collect and remit sales and use tax. The amnesty program went into effect on July 1, 2009 and is set to expire on September 30th. Businesses that meet the eligibility requirements and register for the program are not be required to remit Wisconsin sales and use tax on sales made prior to registering for the program.
California lawmakers are considering another tax swap. This time it would be a 1% increase in the income tax for 2010, while the state sales tax would be reduced by one and three quarters cents. Sacramento democrats claim the swap would help close the state's $19 billion dollar budget gap. The idea's proponents claim that it would also benefit the state in other ways. By deducting the higher state income taxes on their returns, they say that Californians would get back from the Federal Government the additional money they send to the state. That claim is strongly disputed by Governor Schwarzenegger's office however. 
The British Columbia Elections Agency confirmed on Wednesday that 700,000 signatures on an anti-Harmonized Sales Tax petition meet the legal requirement to call for a new vote on the HST. The decision marks the first time a petition has been approved since B.C. passed the Recall and Initiative Act in 1995. The next step is for the agency to forward the petition and draft bill to repeal the law to the province’s legislature, which has 90 days to act. The legislature could choose to repeal the HST law themselves or to hold another referendum on the issue. 
In the wake of the Pennsylvania Sales Tax Amnesty program, which Governor Rendell calls 'an overwhelming success' Pennsylvania has announced that it is still willing to take money from any tax delinquents out there who didn't pay up when they had the chance to avoid paying penalties. (The Amnesty program waived all penalties plus half the interest owed.)During the amnesty program the state had suspended the voluntary disclosure program which is the usual avenue for delinquent taxpayers to come forward and pay their debts. As of August 1st that program is again available. In return for coming forward voluntarily taxpayers now taxpayers will be responsible for any taxes owed plus all the interest. A 5 percent non-participation penalty is also assessed. 
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