Illinois Shoppers, Your Amazon Tax Holiday Is Over
From Crain's Chicago Business
Amazon.com will begin collecting state sales tax from Illinois shoppers starting Feb. 1, marking the end of a protracted battle that reached the Illinois Supreme Court.
Amazon and other e-commerce merchants are now required to collect and remit a 6.25 percent sales tax under a state "e-fairness" law that went into effect January 1. The law revises one that had been struck down by the state supreme court in 2013.
That original law had tried to subvert a decades-old federal ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that exempted many online transactions from state sales taxes. The nation's highest court decided in 1992 that a state can't collect sales tax from out-of-state e-tailers unless the seller maintains a physical presence in the state imposing the tax.
The original Illinois law went into effect in 2011, as the state sought to recoup the estimated $169 million it then lost in uncollected tax when Illinois consumers made online purchases.
That move prompted the departure of Illinois web marketers that channel orders to Amazon. Some moved to Indiana or Wisconsin, and others went out of business as e-retailers stopped doing business with them when the tax was enacted.
Courts struck down that 2011 ruling beginning in 2012.
But this May, the Illinois House sent a Senate-passed bill to then-Gov. Pat Quinn that would fix the overturned law.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From Crain's Chicago Business
Amazon.com will begin collecting state sales tax from Illinois shoppers starting Feb. 1, marking the end of a protracted battle that reached the Illinois Supreme Court.
Amazon and other e-commerce merchants are now required to collect and remit a 6.25 percent sales tax under a state "e-fairness" law that went into effect January 1. The law revises one that had been struck down by the state supreme court in 2013.
That original law had tried to subvert a decades-old federal ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that exempted many online transactions from state sales taxes. The nation's highest court decided in 1992 that a state can't collect sales tax from out-of-state e-tailers unless the seller maintains a physical presence in the state imposing the tax.
The original Illinois law went into effect in 2011, as the state sought to recoup the estimated $169 million it then lost in uncollected tax when Illinois consumers made online purchases.
That move prompted the departure of Illinois web marketers that channel orders to Amazon. Some moved to Indiana or Wisconsin, and others went out of business as e-retailers stopped doing business with them when the tax was enacted.
Courts struck down that 2011 ruling beginning in 2012.
But this May, the Illinois House sent a Senate-passed bill to then-Gov. Pat Quinn that would fix the overturned law.
Read more in our daily News Update...