Home Depot Denied Refund of NJ Sales Tax

National retail giant Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. (Home Depot) sought judicial recourse to obtain a refund of New Jersey sales tax it collected and remitted between August 1, 1999 and July 31, 2003, based on store purchases made with its private label credit card – by consumers who ultimately proved the inability to pay off [...]

Because It’s Such a Privilege to Sell Into New York

Not only do New Jersey merchants (and denizens in general) get the short end of the cultural stick vis-à-vis their neighbor to the East, right across the Hudson River, but now they’ll have to pay for the privilege of collecting sales taxes for New York. New Jersey businesses, along with several other border states, have [...]

Where are the Highest Combined State & Local Sales Tax Rates?

The nonpartisan Tax Foundation recently released its updated report on state and local sales tax rates. (Fiscal Fact No. 196, October 2009, found here), opening eloquently, “Sales taxes are paradoxically transparent and non-transparent. A taxpayer can easily see how high the tax is by looking at the receipt for any purchase. It’s hard to imagine [...]

How to Avoid Criminal Charges While Desperately Trying to Comply w/ Sales Tax Reporting in N. Carolina

I should be far too old to start a blog post with “OMG,” but I just can’t refrain: OMG, North Carolina’s move to impose a 1% temporary sales and use tax increase probably created more problems than were worth it. And now even the Department of Revenue has panicked. Applicable to sales dated September 1, [...]

Tax Due on Free Seasonal Flu Vaccines in Iowa

Retail giant Walgreens (WAG), the nation’s largest drugstore chain, recently requested an advisory letter (Policy Letter No. 09300051, Iowa Department of Revenue, August 17, 2009) from the Iowa Department of Revenue on whether its promotional campaign involving the free distribution of the seasonal flu vaccine purchased outside of Iowa to uninsured persons in Iowa would [...]

Wisconsin Becomes a Full SST Member State Today

As of today, Wisconsin becomes the 20th full member state to the SST (which also has three associate member states, namely Utah, Ohio, and Tennessee). Welcome aboard! Back on February 19th, when Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed his state’s Streamlined Sales and Use Tax conforming legislation into law, he said, “With streamlined sales taxes, we [...]