Does anyone actually pay use tax

North Dakota , which found that states could not require retailers to collect sales taxes unless they had a physical presence in the same place where the buyer is located. Major online retailers — namely Amazon — have fallen under that rule by building data centers and other facilities in multiple locations. Amazon has been collecting sales taxes nationwide since April 1, If your state hasn't assessed you a sales tax for your online shopping, you should know you're probably on the hook for a use tax instead.

These are generally assessed at the same rate as a sales tax, but the burden of reporting and remittting the money owed falls on the consumer. The Supreme Court's decision will likely encourage states to require merchants to collect sales taxes, which will allow those jurisdictions to rely less on consumer-reported use taxes. All Sections. About Us. B2B Publishing. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store.

Imagine shrugs, eye rolls, and eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. It needs you to report it. I told one friend that online retailing behemoth Amazon will generate a nice spreadsheet of all your purchases that shows whether it collected sales tax. Congress has been trying to pass legislation to clarify the ability of states to collect online sales tax, but the going has been difficult.

Is that such a bad thing? He knows lots of well-educated, well-informed and civic-minded people, too. And almost none of his friends pay their use tax either. The Tax Hound, publishing the first Wednesday of every month, helps make sense of tax policy for those outside the tax world and connects tax issues to everyday concerns.

Need help or have an idea? Post a comment. Certainly low and middle income group would be very concerned that their tax burden would go up. The other groups that would be concerned is anyone who gets a tax break under the current system.

Most of these consumption taxes, like a retail sales tax or value added tax or the flat tax, or whatever, talk about cleaning out the tax system, all the special exemptions and deductions and credits and stuff like that.

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