Posts by Michael Fleming
Why You Should Not Ignore Tax Notices
Why You Should Not Ignore Tax Notices

By: Rebecca Church

If you are registered for sales tax, you WILL receive sales tax notices. Sometimes these notices are for informational purposes, but most of the time, they are notifying you of an issue that needs to be resolved. Someone, either internally or externally, should be paying attention to the tax notices you receive and making sure any issues are cleared up. Don’t ignore the tax notices because any issues will not magically go away. In fact, they will very likely get worse.

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Michael FlemingSales Tax Notices, Notice Management, Tax Notice Management
Amnesties vs. VDAs
Amnesties vs. VDAs

By: Priya Sorathia

When it comes to sales tax, many people don’t realize that lack of collection and remittance of tax on sales can lead to some pretty hefty penalties, not only civil but in some cases even criminal. If a business discovers that they failed to collect tax in previous years and wants to mitigate past exposure, including the waiver of penalties, both civil and criminal, there are two primary options to achieve this goal.

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Michael FlemingAmnesties, VDA, collecting, Remitting, exposure, Tax amnesty program, Voluntary Disclosure Agreement
Sales Tax And More's Holiday Message
Sales Tax And More's Holiday Message

By: Michael J. Fleming, CMI

At the end of every year, we like to reflect and give thanks. And what a year this has been. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a nightmare for so many businesses and people. We are very thankful for being able to adjust to the new realities. Everyone here is working remotely and none of our employees have tested positive for COVID-19. However, some of our family members have struggled both physically with the disease and mentally from the forced isolation. Again, we are thankful that these family members are doing better.

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Michael Flemingholiday, christmas, new year, happy holiday
Santa May Have To Pay Extra On Your Really Expensive Gifts
Santa May Have To Pay Extra On Your Really Expensive Gifts

By: Priya Sorathia

With the holidays coming up, who wouldn’t mind being gifted a $10,000 piece of jewelry? However, buyers beware! In many states, not only does the purchaser of luxury goods need to pay the normal sales tax, but also a luxury tax. The luxury tax is not just imposed on jewelry, but also on expensive items such as expensive furs, boats, yachts, private jet planes, etc.

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Michael Flemingluxury tax, luxury goods, taxability, luxury
California Now Pursuing FBA Sellers for Franchise Tax
California Now Pursuing FBA Sellers for Franchise Tax

By: Michael J. Fleming, CMI

Sales Tax and More has been predicting that the next big battle for Amazon sellers who utilize the FBA program is income tax. FBA stands for fulfillment by Amazon. We thought that it would begin about 12-18 months from now after the states got their arms around the sales tax revenues being remitted by Amazon and the other marketplaces on behalf of third-party sellers.

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Michael FlemingFBA, FBA sellers, Amazon, marketplace, eCommerce, PL 86-272
Hustle and Bustle in the Marketplace
Hustle and Bustle in the Marketplace

By: Priya Sorathia

The marketplace is one of the more confusing aspects of sales tax. Many people assume a marketplace facilitator is a platform such as Amazon or eBay, however, in many states the term marketplace facilitator is much more encompassing than what we usually think of as an online marketplace.

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Michael Flemingmarketplace, Amazon
How Exemptions Can Help Save Money On Your Purchases
How Exemptions Can Help Save Money On Your Purchases

By: Priya Sorathia

Many companies and individuals inadvertently pay sales tax on purchases that might have in fact been exempt by presenting an exemption certificate to the seller. An exemption certificate is presented by the purchaser to the seller to keep from having to pay sales tax on a purchase. Each state has different laws regarding exemptions but in general, exemptions are based on four main things.

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Michael Flemingexemptions, exemption certificate, nonprofit entites
NOMAD - No More Alaska Introduces Economic Nexus for Sales Tax
NOMAD - No More Alaska Introduces Economic Nexus for Sales Tax

By: Michael J. Fleming, CMI

Many of us in the state and local tax world are taught very early in our careers an acronym to help remember the five states that do not have a state-level general sales tax. The acronym is NOMAD and the states are New Hampshire, Oregon, Montana, Alaska, and Delaware. It is important to use the precise term “state-level general sales tax” because each of these states does have sales and use tax and/or similar taxes imposed on either specific business types or in local jurisdictions. For example, while Alaska has no sales and use tax at the state level, local jurisdictions are allowed to impose sales and use tax. There are currently 106 municipalities and boroughs that impose a tax.

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Michael FlemingNOMAD, alaska, state level, local jurisdictions, physical presence, economic nexus
Texas Nexus for Franchise Tax No Longer Requires Physical Presence
Texas Nexus for Franchise Tax No Longer Requires Physical Presence

By: Michael J. Fleming, CMI

Up until the beginning of this year, only Texas and Pennsylvania required a physical presence for their “income” taxes. Most states have allowed some form of economic nexus for their income tax for years. This stems from the language the U.S. Supreme Court used when they issued their opinion in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992).

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Michael Flemingfranchise tax, physical presence, texas, economic nexus, gross receipts tax, exposure
Alaska - The New Sales Tax Frontier
Alaska - The New Sales Tax Frontier

By: Krista Sleeper

“To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of most wonderful countries in the world” - John Muir

To those of us in the lower 48 states, Alaska is a state shrouded in a lot of mystery. Their sales tax situation is no different. Alaska is one of those states we can all rattle off as being one of the NOMAD states which have no state-level sales tax.

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Michael Flemingalaska, local jurisdictions, Wayfair, interstate, AML, alaska municipal league