- An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has ruled that Amazon Services owes taxes on third-party sales made before the Wayfair decision.
- The ALJ stated that Amazon Services is in the business of selling tangible personal property at retail.
- The ALJ noted that Amazon effectively handles all selling activities for third-party merchants.
- If Amazon didn’t collect sales tax at the point of sale, it is unlikely the tax would ever be collected.
- The ALJ dismissed Amazon’s argument that it was providing non-taxable services.
- Amazon Services is responsible for sales tax on third-party merchant sales for the periods at issue.
- The assessment may be expanded to cover additional periods.
- Other marketplaces could also be found responsible for tax collection for periods prior to marketplace facilitator legislation.
- The Department of Revenue will determine if any sellers had remitted the tax to finalize the assessment amount.
- Amazon has not announced whether it will appeal the ruling.
- South Carolina has enacted economic nexus and marketplace nexus legislation.
- Amazon Services addressed South Carolina in its recent quarterly report.
Source: salestaxinstitute.com
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
