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Topic starter
Does this ruling mean they have to pay even tho hey are not here?
If they sell and ship more than $9000/month to VI this makes a case for collection.
Brick-and-mortar companies often complain that they are put at a competitive disadvantage when they are required to collect sales taxes and online companies like Amazon are not.
The United States Supreme Court will let stand a decision that the companies must collect sales taxes despite the lack of a physical presence in the state.
sloop
Posted : December 2, 2013 10:59 pm
Oh please! More then 90 % of the time for items I want from amazon, they won't even ship to USVI!
Like they'll have drones in the VI- HA!
Posted : December 2, 2013 11:02 pm
Actually what they said was
"In March, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the companies had a sufficient presence in the state because of affiliated independent sites that linked to the retailers in return for a commission. “The bottom line,” Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wrote for the majority, “is that if a vendor is paying New York residents to actively solicit business in this state, there is no reason why that vendor should not shoulder the appropriate tax burden.”
Posted : December 2, 2013 11:09 pm
Topic starter
Thank you for reading the opinion an dnoting the relevant passage.
If one click thru site is domiciled in USVI. Amazon is soliciting?
Sloop
Posted : December 2, 2013 11:30 pm
Don't hold your breath...Amazon et al won't be paying Gross Receipts to the GVI anytime soon or ever IMO. Besides, as Alana33 suggested, its rare that you can ship an Amazon order directly to the USVI. I almost always have to ship my order to Paradise Freight in Miami not that I'm complaining though.
Posted : December 3, 2013 12:45 pm
Per USVI law, it is illegal to add a separate charge for the Gross Receipts Tax. It has to be included in the sale price. I don't see a practical way for Amazon to actually collect anything extra from USVI buyers in order to pay the tax. Would they do two-tiered pricing, just for us? Would they just fork over the tax even though they got nothing extra out of us? Would they stop selling to us? Maybe they'd bury it in an extra shipping charge.
Posted : December 3, 2013 8:04 pm
Definition of 'Sales Tax'
A tax imposed by the government at the point of sale on retail goods and services. It is collected by the retailer and passed on to the state.
So since we don't have a sales tax per se, our government has no grounds to request forwarding of a tax.
Posted : December 3, 2013 8:11 pm
