Today, in a case of first impression that has captured national attention, the Louisiana Supreme Court held in a 4-3 decision that Wal-Mart.com (an online marketplace facilitator) is not required to collect and remit Jefferson Parish sales tax on behalf of its third-party sellers.
See Normand v. Wal-Mart.com USA, LLC, 2019-263 (La. 12/29/19), __
The date and time are now set for the much-anticipated oral argument of the Wal-Mart.com “marketplace” litigation matter in Louisiana’s highest court!
On September 4th, at 2:00 PM CT, the Louisiana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments of the taxpayer, Wal-Mart.com, and the local tax collector, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office (JPSO).
A link
As members of the Jones Walker SALT Team sat around the table in our office kitchen staring into a box of donuts provided by our firm on National Donut Day (the day after the close of the 2019 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature), we pondered this question: what does that box of tasty treats
On November 20, 2018, the IRS announced that individuals taking advantage of the increased gift and estate tax exclusion amounts in effect from 2018 to 2025 will not be adversely impacted after 2025 when the exclusion amount is scheduled to drop to pre-2018 levels.
The Treasury Department and the IRS issued proposed regulations which implement
As word spread about the Supreme Court’s opinion in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., Dkt. No. 17-494, 485 U.S. (June 21, 2018), tax administrators around the country popped open bottles of champagne and began toasting the end of the “physical presence” substantial nexus standard. The sounds of celebration were, at least initially, particularly deafening in Louisiana, with its sixty-three (63) autonomous parish taxing jurisdictions that levy, administer and collect local sales and use tax on behalf of numerous cities, towns, districts and other local jurisdictions. Remote sellers might have considered downing a drink or two to drown their sorrows at the thought of potentially having to navigate the complex systems of state and local sales taxes in Louisiana.
As tax administrators continued to read the Wayfair opinion, however, a sobering reality began to set in that, at least in the short term, Louisiana’s various taxing jurisdictions are in no better position to force remote sellers to collect and remit state and local sales taxes than they were before the Wayfair decision (and perhaps even a worse one).
Continue Reading Not So Fast: Louisiana State and Local Sales Taxes in a Post-Wayfair World
In December 2017, the Mississippi Department of Revenue finalized a new sales and use tax regulation addressing remote sellers and establishing a $250,000 bright-line nexus standard. The department began that process in January 2017 by issuing a proposed regulation and refined it following a public hearing held in February. The regulation positioned the state to take advantage of any repeal of Quill’s physical presence test, but the department stated it would not enforce the new rule until the Supreme Court took that step. Now that Quill’s physical presence rule has been invalidated in Wayfair, taxpayers should expect the department to move forward with these remote-use tax collection efforts. The following information should help summarize Mississippi’s current rules and identify several important details and questions that have yet to be answered.
Statutory Background
Mississippi law [Section 27-67-4(2)(e)] has long required remote sellers to collect use tax if they have nexus with the state by “purposefully or systematically exploiting the consumer market provided by this state.” This could be accomplished “by any media-assisted, media-facilitated or media-solicited means, including, but not limited to, direct mail advertising, unsolicited distribution of catalogues, computer-assisted shopping, television, radio or other electronic media, or magazine or newspaper advertisements or other media.” This collection obligation is contained within the use tax code, not the sales tax code as may be the case in some other states.
Regulatory Bright-Line Rule
The final regulation specifies that sellers have a “substantial economic presence” if their sales into the state exceed $250,000 for the prior 12 months. The original proposed regulation would have based the sales threshold on the prior calendar year, so this change means sellers should track Mississippi transactions on a rolling, monthly basis if they are not otherwise registered. Unlike other states, Mississippi does not specify any minimum number of transactions to create nexus, and Department of Revenue officials have stated informally that a single transaction may meet the requirement when coupled with the other “market exploitation” criteria discussed below.
Continue Reading The Taxman Cometh: Mississippi Sales and Use Taxes in a Post-Wayfair World
JW SALT Team member, John Fletcher, published an article in the Mississippi Business Journal on how the US Supreme Court hearing of South Dakota vs. Wayfair will affect internet industries and small businesses in Mississippi.
The Court wrestled over whether it should abandon or uphold its longstanding physical presence requirement and, if oral
Now that the fascinating oral argument has concluded at the United States Supreme Court in the case of South Dakota v. Wayfair, copies of both the transcript and audio recording of the oral argument are available to the public for download and/or streaming on the Court’s website.
Stay tuned to Cooking with SALT for
On December 15, the House and Senate conference committee released a conference report that reconciled the differences in each chamber’s tax reform bills. Both the House and Senate are expected to vote on the reconciled bill this week. Both have indicated that they have the necessary votes to pass the bill and the President has
On Tuesday, the Mississippi Department of Revenue filed an economic impact statement with the Secretary of State addressing its proposed regulation adopting use tax economic nexus standards and remote seller collection obligations. Readers may recall the Department issued the proposed regulation in January and held a