Focus on Montana
This month, let’s take a journey out west to the state of
Montana. It is the 43rd most populous and the 4th most
extensive in land area of the 50 states. It is the largest landlocked U.S.
State. It is slightly larger than Japan. It is the 4th largest state
in the United States after Alaska, Texas and California.
The state has several nicknames, although none of them are
official. They include “Big Sky Country” and the “Treasure State.” The state’s
slogans include “Land of the Shining Mountains” and “The Last Best Place.”
The western half of Montana contains numerous mountain
ranges. Smaller island ranges are found throughout the state. In all, 77 named
ranges are part of the Rocky Mountains. The eastern half of Montana is
characterized by western prairie terrain and badlands.
3 Important Sales Tax Predictions To Watch For In 2020
The world of sales tax has changed a lot in the past year. Following the Supreme Court’s Wayfair decision, 2019 was the year most states began requiring businesses to collect and remit sales tax, and then began making marketplace facilitators (such as Amazon or eBay) responsible for collecting and remitting the taxes on sales that came through their marketplaces.
What changes can we expect to see this year? Keep reading for three predictions we believe are just around the corner.
Guest Blog- International VAT/GST Rules on Tech Transactions
Special thanks to Richard Barrett for today's blog contribution! Clients often ask us if we also do VAT/GST consulting, and we tell them that the 50 U.S. states are plenty for us to handle. But we are happy to refer Richard and the Vatglobal team to our clients with international transactions.
Smartphone apps, music streaming services, e-books, anti-virus software. You would be hard pressed to find too many people who had not made a purchase of one of these items recently, or indeed anything which was delivered to them digitally, and often at the press of a button.
8 New State Tax Laws You Should Know About For 2020
In the state tax world, the beginning of the year means new legislation goes into effect. Are you curious about which laws changed at the beginning of the month? Keep reading for eight states with new and updated sales tax laws you won’t want to miss.
Georgia: 529 Plan State Tax Update
For Georgia residents using a 529 Plan to save for college expenses, state tax deductions will double to be:
- $4,000 per child for single taxpayers
- $8,000 per year for those filing jointly with a spouse
This deduction will be available beginning with the 2020 tax year.
Focus on Alabama
Last month, we were in the cold climate of Alaska. This
month we travel to the humid subtropical climate of Alabama, located in the
southeastern region of the united states. It is the 30th largest by
area and the 24th most populous of the 50 states. With a total of
1,500 miles of inland waterways, Alabama has the most of any state.
About 3/5 of the land area is a gentle plain with a general
descent towards the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico. The north Alabama
region is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley
and creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes. The state ranges from
sea level at Mobile Bay to over 1,800 feet in the Appalachian Mountains in the
northeast. The highest point is Mount Cheaha, at 2,423 feet.
How To Navigate The California Manufacturing Partial Sales and Use Tax Exemption
The California Manufacturing Partial Sales and Use Tax Exemption, which went into effect July 1, 2014, allows certain manufacturers and biotech companies to exempt a portion of sales and use tax on purchases of qualified equipment used in manufacturing and R&D (research and development). While it’s been around for a few years, it’s still a viable benefit for companies purchasing equipment.
What You Need To Know About The Wayfair Decision And How It Affected Sales Tax
Here we are, about 18 months after one of the biggest jolts to the sales tax landscape. On June 21, 2018, state sales tax completely changed when the U.S. Supreme Court established precedent for economic nexus through South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc.
In the highly anticipated ruling, the Court ruled 5-4 in favor of overturning its 1992 Quill decision, which required sellers to have substantial physical presence before a state could enforce the sales tax collection responsibilities.
Writing for the Court’s majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy indicated, “The Court concludes that the physical presence rule of Quill is unsound and incorrect. The Court’s decisions in Quill Corp v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992) and National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue of Ill., 386 U.S. 753 (1967), should be, and now are, overruled.”
A Review of Marketplace Facilitation
With the rapid growth of online sales and companies like Amazon and Ebay, marketplace facilitation has become increasingly popular, but is also very complicated. As explained by avalara, states continue to be very aggressive in finding new ways to bring revenue into their state. Many have enacted marketplace facilitator laws, which are laws that regulate marketplace facilitation and vary by state and municipality. As with all things multistate, uniformity is not always the case and different pieces of legislation can get very confusing.
In this post, we review what the idea of marketplace
facilitation is, what the marketplace facilitator laws are and how marketplace
facilitator laws are impacting retailers.
Nexus: What Do You Need To Know And How Does It Relate To State Tax?
In the state tax world, one of the most important concepts is “nexus.” Also known as “taxable presence, “nexus” is the term that describes the minimum connection a company needs to have with a state in order to be subject to the state’s taxing scheme. This includes sales tax, income tax, gross receipts tax and more.
There’s a lot that goes into the discussion around nexus, and with the recent state tax law changes, there are frequent updates. This post is a helpful start to understanding what nexus is and how it affects your business.
How Does Physical Presence Nexus Establish State Tax Exposure?
One primary way companies establish nexus is through having a physical presence in that state. For example, if a business has “boots on the ground” in terms of employees or third-party contractors working in the state, or has inventory, other personal property or real property in the state, the company likely has nexus and needs to collect and remit state tax.
Focus on Alaska
On March 30, 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from
the Russian Empire for $7.2 million, or approximately two cents per acre. The
area went through several administrative changes before becoming recognized as
a territory on May 11, 1912. It was admitted to the union as the 49th
state on January 3,1959.
It is the largest U.S. state by area and the 3rd
least populous state in the U.S. It is the northernmost and westernmost state
and has the most easterly longitude in the U.S. because the Aleutian Islands
extend into the Eastern Hemisphere. With its myriad islands, Alaska has nearly
34,000 miles of tidal shoreline.
