Cyber Monday Spotlights Wayfair Changes

Shoppers spent billions online this week, kicking off what may be “one of the strongest holiday seasons in years,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Adobe Analytics projected this year’s Cyber Monday sales would surpass a total of $7.9 billion, a 19 percent surge over last year’s tally.

While Cyber Monday drove this week’s rosy retail news, it also generated broader awareness of the sales tax changes unfolding in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s South Dakota v. Wayfair ruling. One lawyer who was involved in the Wayfair case told PBS News Hour that it is getting more difficult to find online retailers that are not collecting sales tax online. The purpose of that article was to inform consumers why they were being charged sales tax by many retail sites that did not previously collect tax.

U.S. shoppers are not the only folks who need to keep abreast of a dizzying number of Wayfair-driven changes. Tax functions within many online retailers need to keep tabs on the new sales tax regulations states are planning and implementing based on the Wayfair ruling. These changes can be difficult, even overwhelming, to monitor – especially given the high volume of business-as-usual sales and use tax rate changes within hundreds of U.S. jurisdictions. During the first half of this year alone, those many jurisdictions enacted more than 300 sales and use tax updates.

That fluidity and complexity explains why we created our Wayfair Knowledge Center. Here, you’ll find plenty of content on Wayfair-related changes. If you’re new to the knowledge center, steal a few minutes away from this record-setting online retail season to check out our infographic and FAQ guide.