From GoingConcern we read: The following post is sponsored content by Shane Ratigan, Content Compliance Manager at Avalara.
Check back here this Wednesday at 1 pm for a live chat with Avalara who
will answer your questions. You can set up a reminder below.
You
don’t have to be a SALT accountant to know that sales tax is the topic
du jour amongst Congressional good fellows and itinerant gypsy song
makers. Blame Amazon, or tax free online shopping, or your evil,
bullying cousin Willis.
But read on, CPA warrior,
as we give you the 411 on the latest sales tax rigamarole. And then
you, yes YOU, can sound smart and incisive as you pass along these gems
to your clients.
From gypsy to country, al- rock
to techno-pop, the taxability of digital music and other products have
neurotic (under 40) CPAs wringing tear-soaked handkerchiefs in life
coach offices all along the West Coast. Can you hear them? They’re
crying now. “How can I advise on digital product taxability, when states
are a mess on the subject?” From the existential depths of the nearest
CPA’s psyche, parsing statutory guidelines regarding digital goods
taxability is as easy as getting your mini-pony to consume non-organic
buckwheatwhich which, as we all know, is NOT EASY AT ALL.
In terms of sales tax compliance, digital goods are hot right now—states are debating definitions
and the feds are considering uniform rules. As consumers increasingly
prefer to stream movies, or digital books, or -- only God knows why --
Taylor Swift tunes, states are under increased pressure to address this
new tax puzzle. And fast.
But good luck trying to
parse which state requires sales tax on digital goods (goods which
include everything from movies, to online games, to other streamed
content). They don’t agree or have much consistency between
jurisdicitons. And why should they? States cannot agree on candy
taxability, or whether CPA services should be considered taxable. Why
should digital goods be any different?
States like Washington define digital goods very specifically, while others barely spare a passing glance at the subject (we’re looking at you, New York).
The states are arrayed on an arc of specificity, ranging from ‘not very
helpful at all’ (NY) to ‘obsessively specific’ (WA).
Other digital taxability approaches du jour among states:
- some digital objects are tangible personal property;
- some digital objects are intangible software;
- or even that some digital objects are electronically supplied services.
For
the first time in decades, the federal government might be able to
dispel some of this confusion. The Digital Goods and Services Fairness
Act, currently being considered in the House, would standardize
definitions of digital objects across the U.S., while leaving the
question of taxability up to the individual states. The proposed law
hews very closely to the Streamlined Sales Tax
(SST) definition of digital objects and thus SST member states are
least likely to be impacted by a possible passage of the law.
So
put down those kerchiefs and carry on, CPA warriors! Every time a sales
tax statute is changed, a bell rings. And every time a bell rings, your
professional value is corroborated.
English
简体中文
Czech
Dansk
Deutsch
Español
Finnish
Français
Italiano
日本語
한국어
Nederlands
Norsk
Português
Русский
Svenska
Your website is terribly informative and your articles are wonderful.http://digitalproductblueprintreview.net/
ReplyDeleteYour website is terribly informative and your articles are wonderful.http://digitalproductblueprintreview.net/
ReplyDeleteI would office two additional sources for up to date MFA (Marketplace Fairness Act) info:
ReplyDeletehttp://emainstreet.org
http://marketplacefairnesscoalition.org
Both sites also address RTPA (Remote Transactions Parity Act) which is basically MFA 2.0.