Supreme Court Ecommerce Tax Decision Opens Pandora’s Box for Retailers

Posted by Ian McCue, Content Manager
The federal government took a major step toward regulating ecommerce on Thursday when the Supreme Court upheld a South Dakota law that allows the state to gather sales tax from online businesses with at least $100,000 in sales from state residents or 200 transactions in the state annually. This overturned a ruling from 1992, Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, that prevented states from collecting taxes from companies without a physical presence in their state.
The 5-4 decision is meant to level the playing field between online sellers and traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. In the coming months and years, states will change their laws on ecommerce taxes based on this decision. Ecommerce sales added up to $450 billion in 2017,