Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. There’s been a lot of focus in recent months about economic nexus, but there are many ways for a state to tax a remote sale. Economic nexus is the preferred method du jour because of South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. (June 21, 2018). In Wayfair, […]
Gail Cole
Gail Cole is a guest blogger for Perficient on behalf of Avalara. She began researching and writing about sales tax in 2012 and has been fascinated with it ever since. Gail has a penchant for uncovering unusual tax facts and endeavors to make complex sales tax laws more digestible for experts and laypeople alike.
Blogs from this Author
2019 – the year of marketplace facilitator sales tax
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. Approximately 13 states already hold at least some marketplace facilitators or providers liable for the tax on third-party sales. By this time next year, there’s a good chance every state with a general sales tax will do the same. After Amazon started collecting and remitting […]
What’s the fate of incentives for voluntary sales tax collection?
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. Will incentives for voluntary sales tax collection go the way of the dodo bird? To encourage voluntarily collection, some states provide perks to remote retailers that volunteer to collect and remit sales tax. Are such incentives still needed now that states have been granted the […]
How 2018’s Sales Can Affect 2019’s Sales Tax Compliance
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. In addition to the usual end-of-year activities, businesses of all sizes need to consider something new this year: The effects of 2018 on sales tax compliance in 2019. New sales tax requirements for remote sellers are coming online in numerous states since the June 2018 […]
Making Sense of Colorado’s New Sales Tax Requirements for In-state and Out-of-state Sellers
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. Approximately 20 states have started requiring remote sellers to collect and remit sales tax since June 21, 2018, when the Supreme Court of the United States removed the physical presence rule that long prevented states from taxing remote sales. Eight more states will do the […]
Mushrooming Marketplace Sales Tax Laws and their Impact on Small Sellers
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. Small businesses that sell through online marketplaces may qualify for a small seller exception under state economic nexus laws, but that doesn’t mean they’re always off the hook for sales tax. In the nearly 30 states with economic nexus policies, retailers with no physical presence […]
Why Businesses Should Pay Attention to Nexus Monday
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. Ten states started requiring out-of-state sellers to collect and remit sales tax on October 1, 2018, a day that may go down in sales tax history as “Nexus Monday,” Sales tax nexus is the connection between a business and a state that enables a state […]
Rhode Island Brings Sales Tax Law into 21st Century
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. Variable in all states, sales tax laws can appear mercurial at times. Washington state’s on-again, off-again taxes on candy and bottled water, for example, could make a person’s head spin. Yet tax laws can also seem horribly rooted in the past, as is often the […]
Services Can Be Taxable, Too
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. It’s often assumed that services aren’t subject to sales tax, because in many states they aren’t. But more and more states are taxing services these days, in a trend that’s likely to continue. There’s a good reason for that. Americans now spend less on tangible […]
Expect the Unexpected With Expanded Online Sales Tax Laws
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. When the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a business’s “economic and virtual contacts” with a state could enable that state to tax the business’s sales, it opened the floodgates for change. What does this mean for ecommerce businesses that sell into multiple […]
The Perks of Tax Amnesty and Voluntary Disclosure Programs
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. Despite having the best intentions, businesses sometimes make mistakes when it comes to filing sales tax. They may apply the wrong rate to a sale, treat a taxable transaction as exempt, or file a return late — or not at all. No matter what the […]
August Sales Tax Holiday Snags
Editor’s Note: This guest blog post comes courtesy of Gail Cole with Avalara. Since there’s something inexplicably festive about not having to pay sales tax on normally taxable purchases, sales tax holidays are aptly named. For consumers, these events are all about savings. For retailers, they’re about a whole lot more. Sales tax compliance is always complicated, especially […]