eTail West: The Virtual Summit & Expo for E-commerce & Omnichannel Innovators
The Virtual Summit & Expo for eCommerce & Omnichannel Innovators
A lot has changed since Vertex published our Retail Tax and E-Commerce: What You Need to Know white paper a few years ago. Some important tax challenges have remained exactly the same.
What's different? The volume of online sales has increased in staggering fashion. In 2011 Cyber Monday sales had risen 22 percent over 2010 to hit an all-time high of $1.25 billion. Black Friday online sales a few days earlier had also hit a record of $816 million.
Today’s online and mobile sales numbers dwarf those 2011 figures. Last year’s Cyber Monday sales topped $2 billion; and online sales during 2014’s Black Friday surpassed $1.5 billion, according to comScore. Here’s another change regarding internet tax: In recent years “...revenue hungry states have pushed ahead---using new laws, reinvigorated old ones, and audits to pressure sellers to collect their levies,” according to Forbes.
What’s has stayed the same? Well, major revisions to federal internet tax laws are still possibly headed our way, and the collection of sales tax continues to become more complex for many U.S. retailers. We emphasized both of these points in the Retail and E-Commerce paper, and they remain just as relevant today.
The rising complexity of Internet sales tax collection is why our paper’s guidance, including the following steps, remains applicable today:
As online and mobile sales continue their exponential growth, the above actions can help retailers and their tax functions manage growing tax complexity.
Please remember that the Tax Matters provides information for educational purposes, not specific tax or legal advice. Always consult a qualified tax or legal advisor before taking any action based on this information.
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