Comments on: New York Court Dismisses Amazon’s Objections To Paying State Taxes

By: liv03

liv03 — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 06:24:32 +0000

It is the shipping address as far as I’m aware.
Hypothetically…one could, for instance (not that I’ve tried… ;] ) avoid NY taxes when out of school by shipping items to one’s university address in a tax-free state, which then be forwarded them to them in NY. This would work with a billing address in NY. May have an extra day to wait, though.

This works with universities that forward mail so I’m sure if you can hop over the state line to get your package it would work!

By: Amazon Ordered To Pay Back $119 Million In Taxes In Japan. More Tax Trouble May Be Ahead.

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:45:29 +0000

[...] has a history of getting in trouble for the way they deal with taxes. In its 2008 annual report [PDF] released in April this [...]

By: SIMPLEROBB.COM

SIMPLEROBB.COM — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:00:12 +0000

Would you seriously do that to avoid taxes?

By: Is Amazon Dropping Affiliates From Your State?

Is Amazon Dropping Affiliates From Your State? — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:32:53 +0000

[...] This happened to New York affiliates too. I was able to find an article that gives the details: New York Court Dismisses Amazon’s Objections To Paying State Taxes [...]

By: Amazon now one-third of all U.S. e-commerce, analyst says | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:45:39 +0000

[...] Amazon really hit home in the U.S. when it became widely-known that you could buy products online without paying sales tax. That fire continues to be stoked state by state, but if you think about just how much sales volume [...]

By: natschultz

natschultz — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:11:11 +0000

This definitely hurts rural people more than urban/ suburban people. There are lots of small business affiliates in the middle of nowhere who were actually making a decent living online.

This hurts those affiliates who can no longer sell their goods (in the case of Amazon or Ebay). but it also does not help those communities if they didn’t have any “bricks and mortar” stores like that near them to begin with.

Yeah, the B&N around the corner from me might benefit, but if I happen to live up in North Country that was deliberately bankrupted by the state’s anti-small dairy farm programs of the last century, then I lose out all around.

By: natschultz

natschultz — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 08:00:21 +0000

Why? This is actually a brilliant idea. Whay about those UPS Stores? UPS bought out Mailboxes Etc – a place where anyone could buy a PO Box. I’m assuming UPS Stores still do that. But, they also do deliveries from there.

So, what if I go to a UPS Store in NJ and open a PO Box and tell them to deliver all packages to me in NY.

How can that be illegal? Amazon ships the package to NJ. Then a Third Party, contracted by me, signs for the package and then hands it back to be sent from NJ to me in NY.

This can’t possibly be illegal for two reasons: First, if I actually have a home in NJ as well as NY, then I have every right to have my items shipped to my NJ address. I can then ship that package to my other house in NY. Why not? It would be no different than driving the package betwenn the two homes myself (just a lot better for the environment).

Second, corporations move their “business” addresses to tax-friendly states all the time. Like Citicorp and Chase – their headquarters are in NYC, but all their business transactions go through Delaware or South Dakota.
The City Group building is in NYC, but my credit card and student loan payments go to South Dakota.

My house on Long Island would be my “headquarters” and my PO Box in NJ would be my “Bill To” address. Actually, under this third-party middleman system the PO Box could be in any favorable state. Most likely there will be only a few tax-friendly states left (like Delaware and SD are for the banks) and those few states will THRIVE!

By: natschultz

natschultz — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:18:34 +0000

I was wondering the exact same thing. Is it based on billing or shipping? Most articles say “Items shipped to NY,” but afilliates accept a payment from Amazon, so their billing address is probably key. So, open a bank account in PA!
I was really wondering about the consumer – if I use my NY credit card but have my items shipped to Maine, then do I not pay taxes because the items were shipped to Maine?

By: Juicy Links: January 12 - January 16 : Exclusive Concepts Blog

Juicy Links: January 12 - January 16 : Exclusive Concepts Blog — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:32:10 +0000

[...] New York Court Dismisses Amazon’s Objections To Paying State Taxes [...]

By: JOLT Digest » Amazon.com v. New York | Harvard Journal of Law & Technology

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:29:31 +0000

[...] Erick Schonfeld of Tech Crunch comments, agreeing with New York’s motive but objecting to the means state legislators used to achieve them. He writes that the law creates “bad precedent” insofar as it overstates the connection between Amazon and its “affiliates.” [...]

By: Paul Clieu

Paul Clieu — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:09:00 +0000

In Europe Sales Tax (called VAT) varies from 15% UK, 19% Germany to about 25%. In my opinion, the main reason sales tax in the USA peaks at about 8% is fear of tax free interstate commerce.

If they States can remove that fear, then look forward to European levels of sales tax you can’t avoid. Then, with all this extra money, you will see huge increases in salaries and pensions for state employees, more wasteful regulations and state interference that destroy private sector jobs.

By: Marketing News Roundup, January 14

Marketing News Roundup, January 14 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:39:19 +0000

[...] New York court dismissed Amazon’s objections to paying state taxes, filed after the New York law passed back in [...]

By: Marketing News Roundup, January 14 | Advertising Blog

Marketing News Roundup, January 14 | Advertising Blog — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:44:15 +0000

[...] New York court dismissed Amazon’s objections to paying state taxes, filed after the New York law passed back in [...]

By: Michael Perlman

Michael Perlman — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:48:07 +0000

You might still get charged with the tax, as your billing address (which often needs to match your credit card billing address) is presumably in New York State. Does the law apply to orders billed to or shipped to New York State?

By: Selling Books On Amazon » Blog Archive » More fallout from New York Tax Law

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:02:59 +0000

[...] courts yesterday dismissed Amazon’s lawsuit against the New York State change to tax law that would require Amazon to pay taxes on New York residents who were involved in [...]

By: iWeb Blog » Nouvelles Techno iWeb, Jan. 14

iWeb Blog » Nouvelles Techno iWeb, Jan. 14 — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:02:01 +0000

[...] juge de la cour suprême de l’état de New York a autorisé le prélèvement de taxes sur Amazon et ses ventes dans l’état. Si d’autres états américains suivent la tendance, alors de nombreux sites de e-commerce [...]

By: iWeb Blog » iWeb Tech News Highlights, Jan. 14th

iWeb Blog » iWeb Tech News Highlights, Jan. 14th — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:00:31 +0000

[...] New York Supreme Court judge has authorized the state to gather taxes from Amazon. The decision also affects overstocks, and most e-commerce websites, which may have to review their [...]

By: Amazon’s Sales Tax Lawsuit in NY State Court Gets Dismissed [Amazon Tax] | ComputerFinance.net

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 12:29:08 +0000

[...] Eric Schonfeld of TechCrunch wrote back then: The law, as written, is just a bad law. And it would set a dangerous precedent. [...]

By: New York Court Dismisses Amazon’s Objections To Paying State Taxes « Weekle - your leader in World - technology, business, politics, nature, trips and more…

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:36:21 +0000

[...] http://www.tech...aying-state-tax... Posted by weekle Filed in politics Tags: amazon, buziness, court, Dismiss, law, [...]

By: Amazon Required To Pay New York State Tax... Who's Next?

Amazon Required To Pay New York State Tax... Who's Next? — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:51:55 +0000

[...] Erick Schonfeld, “New York Court Dismisses Amazon’s Objections To Paying State Taxes,…, Timothy Prickett Morgan, “New York judge OKs Amazon Tax,” Channel Register, January [...]

By: Amazon’s Sales Tax Lawsuit in NY State Court Gets Dismissed [Amazon Tax]

Amazon’s Sales Tax Lawsuit in NY State Court Gets Dismissed [Amazon Tax] — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:02:51 +0000

[...] Eric Schonfeld of TechCrunch wrote back then: The law, as written, is just a bad law. And it would set a dangerous precedent. [...]

By: john

john — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:34:00 +0000

Wow, that is unfortunate for those in New York and Amazon itself. I would agree too that sales tax is generally horrendously complicated when I worked with some people on back-end tax related operations for another e-commerce site.

On the note about Amazon, I recently came across an interesting table that details the discounts on Amazon at http://www.uberi.com

Maybe that will help some others.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:52:15 +0000

Amazon has this new website

http://amazonbe...t.blogspot.com/

where you can find pretty good deals, on a more fun way, than surfing thru amazon itself…. however if you get lost, or if you really really like amazon they still allow you to search from there

By: Technormality

Technormality — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:03:20 +0000

Not missing the point at all.. No sales tax (burden) anywhere is a better option. Fire all of the “Pamper the People” freaks from the government, problem solved. I am tired of these politicians and government staffers bending over backwards to wipe every citizen and non-citizens butt, just to get re-elected and wipe more butts.

Get back to basics, roads, infrastructure, protecting the country etc.! Let the basics pay for themselves, tax only when a necessity.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:17:57 +0000

I feel like people are missing a huge reason to force Amazon to pay sales tax: fair competition. Local merchants are basically starting at a government-protected pricing disadvantage.