Sales Tax 101: Ecommerce Finance Tip for October 24, 2024

It's been 6 years since the US Supreme Court (Wayfair vs. South Dakota) decided that economic activity (AKA economic nexus) was a sufficient requirement for a business to pay sales tax. It's been a huge pain for ecommerce since and gets more complicated by the year.

Key Learnings

LedgerGurus launched our own sales tax practice in 2018 shortly after the legal ruling. Here are a few key things we've learned:

• Businesses can't hide - the states will find you.
• Complexity has increased - there are new fees and they are spreading.
• Cost of compliance can exceed the tax - filing is not easy.
• Congress isn't helping - the Supreme Court recommended legislation. There has been none.
• Avoidance affects value - savvy business buyers will find sales tax liabilities and lower buy prices.

Expertise and Automation

No business owner wants to be bogged down in taxes. There are experts (like LedgerGurus) and many technologies (like Avalara ) that can make sales tax compliance easier.

Sales tax is neither a go it alone problem or one to ignore.

Sales Tax 101 Webinar

LedgerGurus and Avalara are doing a webinar next week on Halloween (don't be frightened) where we will go over:

• How to determine where and when you have sales tax obligations
• Steps to accurately calculate sales tax rates
• Resources for staying updated on legislative changes
• Tips for scaling your tax returns process
• Rules and best practices for managing exemption certificates

No tricks - only treats

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#ecommerce #salestax