Phone/mail orders the same as online sales?

[Arizona_928]

I bought a few thousand worth of industrial electrical components through a vendor in Texas. He has a product list (no prices) on a very basic website with no online store. Phone/ mail order only. Placed my order. Did not have to pay the new online sales tax as he said. "We don't have an online store"....

Does that sound correct? My state's new online tax page mentions only online sales....

[jwasbury]

Arizona's online tax is a relatively new animal, and seems to be in additional to the normal sales tax regime. The practical reality here is your state will be using this law to go after deep pockets like Amazon or Ebay. Small retailers like your supplier in TX are probably going to fly below the radar, and if you have to phone your order the argument that its not an online sale/store is pretty solid IMO.

I can't speak to the new online tax law there, but for traditional sales taxes a state cannot impose a collection responsibility on a vendor who has zero physical presence in their state.

Edit: This new AZ law is not a separate tax regime, but is changing state law to conform with the Supreme Court case South Dakota v. Wayfair https://www.aicpa.org/advocacy/state/south-dakota-v-wayfair.html. Basically overturns the physical presence requirement I mentioned earlier for large retailers (over 200 transactions or $100,000 or sales to state residents)

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by jwasbury

I can't speak to the new online tax law there, but for traditional sales taxes a state cannot impose a collection responsibility on a vendor who has zero physical presence in their state.

That's my thought as well. It went back and forth in the politics and religion forum. My state is requring retailers to pay a registration fee to the state's department of revenue, and collect sales (use) tax... The question is... Who is going to to collect that out of state tax... the FBI. LOOL