MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Amazon threatens to shut down California Affiliates program

emoorman · 07-07-2011, 02:08 PM

I asked a late friend who owned a small Radio Control airplane hobby shop-no toys or plastic models, just flying stuff. This was back just before everyone went to computerized registers. He said if Florida or the US Government required him to collect taxes on mail order items, he would have to quit doing it. It was only a small part of his business, anyway. He told me that he would not only have to collect the tax for each state, so he would need a copy of their tax code and rates, but he would need to do a lot of paperwork and register with each of the 48 states (discounting Alaska and Hawaii). He would then have to estimate his taxes for each quarter and send in an advance payment. At the end of the year, he would do a tax return for each state to settle up the exact amount or taxes to pay. He said it just wasn't worth it for the small amount of business he did.

I wonder how many small businesses would be affected like this?

07-07-2011, 02:08 PM	#127
emoorman Obsessive Reader Posts: 74 Karma: 515292 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Shalimar, FL (in the panhandle) Device: Kindle PW, Nokia 1520	Web Order Taxes I asked a late friend who owned a small Radio Control airplane hobby shop-no toys or plastic models, just flying stuff. This was back just before everyone went to computerized registers. He said if Florida or the US Government required him to collect taxes on mail order items, he would have to quit doing it. It was only a small part of his business, anyway. He told me that he would not only have to collect the tax for each state, so he would need a copy of their tax code and rates, but he would need to do a lot of paperwork and register with each of the 48 states (discounting Alaska and Hawaii). He would then have to estimate his taxes for each quarter and send in an advance payment. At the end of the year, he would do a tax return for each state to settle up the exact amount or taxes to pay. He said it just wasn't worth it for the small amount of business he did. I wonder how many small businesses would be affected like this?