The Wayfair Sales Tax Ruling, Five Years Later

It’s the 5th anniversary of the groundbreaking Wayfair Supreme Court decision–a ruling that marked a new era of sales taxA sales tax is levied on retail sales of goods and services and, ideally, should apply to all final consumption with few exemptions. Many governments exempt goods like groceries; base broadening, such as including groceries, could keep rates lower. A sales tax should exempt business-to-business transactions which, when taxed, cause tax pyramiding. collection and changed how we think about taxation in the digital age.

South Dakota v. WayfairSouth Dakota v. Wayfair was a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision eliminating the requirement that a seller have physical presence in the taxing state to be able to collect and remit sales taxes to that state. It expanded states’ abilities to collect sales taxes from e-commerce and other remote transactions. established a new precedent, allowing states to assert their authority in collecting sales taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. from remote sellers based on economic presence.

Jared Walczak, Vice President of State Projects, joins Kyle to provide insights into the evolving legal framework surrounding the Wayfair decision and sales tax collection. They discuss potential solutions that could simplify compliance and bring uniformity to online sales tax regulations.