State & Local Tax Blog

How do States Tax Cloud Computing including Application Service Providers (ASPs) and Software as a Service (SaaS)?

SaaS and ASP (AKA “Cloud Computing,”) are now a very, and perhaps the most, common model for software delivery. Cloud Computing means that customers access specific software applications over the internet through third-party providers rather than through a single purchase loaded on a single computer. The sales and use tax implications of Cloud Computing are

December 12, 2018 No Comments

What Methods do States Allow for Obtaining Sale Tax Refunds and Credits?

The steps for claiming a sales tax refund or credit vary greatly by state, but the most common procedures include: Adjusting the sales reported or tax due (or taking a credit) on a following return Amending the original return(s) Filing a separate refund claim either by letter or specific form The easiest and quickest way

December 11, 2018 No Comments

How do States Tax Construction Contractors?

In most states, if a contractor is performing work on real property, the contractor is deemed to be the final consumer, or the end user of the tangible personal property used to build the real property and, accordingly, must pay sales tax upon those purchases. Accordingly, in most states, as a purchaser of construction services,

December 3, 2018 No Comments

How do States Tax Manufacturing Equipment?

The first thing you need to think about in determining if certain manufacturing equipment can be purchased tax free is what is manufacturing? I’m sure that it comes as no surprise that the definition of the term “manufacturing” varies from state to state. For example, all manufacturing probably includes some processing and/or fabrication, but not

November 30, 2018 No Comments

How Far Back Can You Go Back In Seeking a Refund of Sales Taxes? (or, What is the Statute of Limitations for Sales Tax Refunds?)

The Answer May Surprise You A state’s sales and use tax statute of limitations applies as a limit to how far back a state can go when they audit you — that is assuming your company has been registered and filing sales tax returns in that state. Some states have different limitations for audit assessments

November 20, 2018 No Comments

Will Amazon Collect Your State Taxes For You As An FBA Seller?

Maybe They Will… Someday. But Not Today, or Tomorrow, or Yesterday. South Carolina has announced that they will pursue Amazon directly to force Amazon to collect sales taxes on behalf of Amazon sellers on sales to South Carolina customers. If all states adopted this policy and Amazon simply agreed with it today, it sure would

August 15, 2018 No Comments

Statute of Limitations for Sales & Use Tax

Statutes of limitations are laws that restrict the maximum time after an event that legal proceedings may be initiated. Once the period of time specified in a statute of limitation passes, a claim can no longer be validly filed. State tax laws have statutes of limitations also. As time passes, earlier tax periods “expire” and companies

January 30, 2015 No Comments

Let’s Not Panic and Go Overboard

We advocate being conservative when it comes to sales/use tax nexus. We don’t want your business to be destroyed by an audit out of the blue. When you haven’t filed sales tax returns in a state, the statute of limitations can be a lot longer or even nonexistent. If the state audits you, they could

December 30, 2014 No Comments