Latest Posts
Search for:
Tag

Physical Presence

Browsing

The Possible Upshot of South Dakota’s Master Plan to “Kill Quill”

By 5 Mins Read

Background – South Dakota’s Remote Sales Tax Case

South Dakota recently enacted Senate Bill 106 (“SB 106”), requiring all retailers with annual in-state sales exceeding $100,000, or 200 separate transactions within the state in a year, to collect and remit sales tax, even if the retailer does not have a physical presence in the state. As stated in the “Legislative Findings” of SB 106, the statute was designed to directly challenge the physical presence standard set forth in the 1992 US Supreme Court decision, Quill v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298.  In Quill, the US Supreme Court affirmed the physical presence standard, prohibiting states from imposing sales and use tax collection obligations on out-of-state retailers that lack physical presence within the state.  To compel compliance with SB 106, the South Dakota Department of Revenue (the “Department” or “State”) sued four online retailers including Wayfair Inc., Newegg Inc., Overstock.com Inc., and Systemax Inc. South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. et al., D.S.D. No. 3-16-CV-03019-RAL (“Wayfair”).  Systemax has since dropped out of the lawsuit and registered with the state to collect sales tax.

States on the Verge of a Nexus Showdown

By 9 Mins Read

On February 22, 2016, the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit (“Tenth Circuit”) upheld the constitutionality of Colorado’s use tax notice and reporting requirements imposed on out-of-state retailers in Colo. Rev. Stat. § 39-21-112(3.5) and the regulations thereunder (collectively the “Colorado Law”). Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl, Dkt. 12-1175 (10th Cir. 2016) (“DMA I”). The Direct Marketing Association (“DMA”), an industry group of businesses and organizations that market products via catalogs, advertisements, broadcast media and the Internet, challenged the Colorado Law, claiming that the notice and reporting requirements violated the Commerce Clause by discriminating against out-of-state retailers and unduly burdening interstate commerce. The Tenth Circuit found that the Colorado Law does not violate the Commerce Clause on either ground. The court also held that the bright-line physical presence nexus standard established by the US Supreme Court in Quill v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992), only applies to sales and use tax collection and not to the use tax notice and reporting requirements imposed by the Colorado Law, meaning that such requirements of the Colorado Law could be imposed on retailers without a physical presence in Colorado.