Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
This is clearly not the case, given that a company like, say, B&N, which has a retail presence in every state, and hence has to charge sales tax for online sales in every state, plainly uses such software.
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B&N and places like that, they simply collect state taxes, so it is just the laws of 50 states to contend with.
However, part of the problem is that some are arguing that the point of sale happens not at the warehouse that things ship from, or some other physical entity of the business, but rather from where the customer is. That is where things get complicated in a hurry. You'll then have to collect county, city and municipality taxes. That changes from simply knowing the laws for 50 states, to knowing the the laws for thousands upon thousands of areas. Also, do you go by where the customer physically is at the time of the order, or where their shipping or billing address states (or all of the above? Shipping to my brother in St Ann, billed to my apartment in Maryland Heights, and I placed the order from my parent's house in Winfield would mean that 3 separate towns are fighting for the taxes)? Plus, what about the gray areas. My parents have a Winfield mailing address, but do not actually live in the city limits of Winfield, and so are not supposed to pay Winfield taxes. If you simply figure it out by zipcode, or town listed in the mailing address, you'll not always get an accurate account of who's taxes need to be collected. Plus there are the issues when you're right on the border. I remember a few years back, there was a big to do because of a place being built that straddled the border of two towns. Both were arguing that they should have the sole tax collecting and also be the only one paid for building permits, etc