Connecticut Hunting Down Online Shoppers Who Didn't Pay Sales Tax

Re:Connecticut Hunting Down Online Shoppers Who Didn't Pay S... by Sir_Cmpwn on Tuesday February 27, 2018 @10:01AM (#16473856)

Why isn't CT going after NewEgg for failing to incoporate sales tax into their checkout process? No one expects to be personally responsible for sales tax, considering all of the transactions they're used to have the seller incorporating sales tax into the price paid. Pushing that burden to the consumer and surprising them with a demand for unpaid taxes they didn't know existed is unethical.

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Re:Connecticut Hunting Down Online Shoppers Who Didn't Pay S... by TheAdamist on Tuesday February 27, 2018 @10:43AM (#16474338)

If newegg doesn't have any operations in CT, they can't force them to collect & pay. (warehouses, offices, etc. a "nexus"). There is a supreme court case currently to try and eliminate this requirement (stemming from a previous mail order court case).

Current case: https://taxfoundation.org/supreme-court-south-dakota-wayfair...

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Re:Connecticut Hunting Down Online Shoppers Who Didn't Pay S... by throwaway2016a on Tuesday February 27, 2018 @10:34AM (#16474231)

NewEgg doesn't have to unless it has nexus (a physical location) in the state. If it does not have nexus it is up to the consumer to pay their own taxes. It has been this way since the mail order days.

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Re:Connecticut Hunting Down Online Shoppers Who Didn't Pay S... by giarc on Tuesday February 27, 2018 @10:25AM (#16474136)

RTA

>The issue of imposing sales tax on out-of-state purchases ultimately may be settled by the Supreme Court.

>In a 1992 case dealing with a mail-order office supply company, the court ruled that states could not require companies that did not have a physical presence in their state to collect sales tax.

It goes on to say that South Dakota has passed a law saying out of state retailers need to collect state sales tax, but that the supreme court has agreed to hear a challenge to the case.

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Re:Connecticut Hunting Down Online Shoppers Who Didn't Pay S... by Sir_Cmpwn on Tuesday February 27, 2018 @10:27AM (#16474164)

Right. What I'm arguing is that if they can't make the sellers collect sales tax, then they can't collect sales tax at all. Expecting consumers to keep track of sales tax themselves for every little purchase (often hundreds per year!) is nuts.

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Re:Connecticut Hunting Down Online Shoppers Who Didn't Pay S... by BoorishBears on Tuesday February 27, 2018 @10:27AM (#16474160)

Who said no one expects to be held accountable for use tax?

There’s a field right there on your tax forms for it, it’s very clearly explained:

http://www.ct.gov/drs/cwp/view.asp?A=1510&Q=270228

I wonder how many people are going to be caught pants down if they go after more companies...

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