By Ruth Richter • October 30, 2018
There’s no question that the internet has changed the way we shop. Online retail grew more in 2017 than any other year since 2011 and ecommerce accounted for 13 percent of total retail sales. We find more advertisements in our email and social media feeds and fewer mail order catalogs in our mailboxes.
Another thing online shopping changed just recently is how we are taxed for those purchases. Originally, out-of-state vendors were not required to follow sales tax obligations unless they had a physical presence in that state. This made it easier to track and collect tax for mail-order services and some of the first online “add to cart” moments.
Pricier Online Shopping Sprees
In June of 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that states could require retailers to collect and remit sales taxes on all out-of-state purchases. This new law is aimed at protecting local businesses by equalizing what out-of-state retailers pay in taxes. For those of us who like to frequent Amazon, it means that “add to cart” impulse will start costing us a little more going forward. For retailers, this means making sure systems are set up to collect and report sales tax for whatever state the customer resides in.
These tax collection requirements certainly apply to companies that sell their own products online but it also applies to companies like eBay and Amazon who facilitate online marketplaces for buyers and sellers. If you sell both places, you need to collect sales taxes in both places.
Taxation Representation
These new regulations might sound like a big headache, but compliance could be easier than you think. Avalara’s AvaTax is one such solution that our customers are using which helps them save time and money by calculating, collecting, filing, and remitting all taxes automatically without you lifting a finger. Solutions like these offer important features like:
- Automated tax calculation for each of the 16,000+ jurisdictions in the United States.
- Product taxability rule application to every transaction.
- Sales tax application via address validation.
Simply put, Avalara‘s AvaTax can make tax application for Sage 100 users easier—a lot easier. And, when Sage 100 or Sage 100cloud is connected via IN-SYNCH by ROI Consulting, you can be certain that sales tax application will not be missed.
Easy Compliance with Avalara
Tax laws are complicated; there’s no doubt about it. With tools like Avalara and IN-SYNCH integrated into your Sage 100 system, you can rest easy knowing that every online transaction your customers complete will include the proper taxation, and those tax dollars will be submitted the way they need to be to the state they need to be. If only filing your personal taxes were that easy!
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