On Sat, Jul 2, 2011 at 10:00 AM, Gruss Gott <[email protected]> wrote: > > Help requested! > > So if I have this straight: > > (1.) California residents used to be able to buy books from, say, > Amazon and not pay sales tax.
Yes. Amazon does not collect sales tax in any state. Several states have passed laws requiring that online merchants collect state sales tax. > > (2.) New law says that now Amazon has to charge CA sales tax *if* > Amazon has warehouses, offices, or employees in CA The California law was specifically written to cover companies that don't have physical retail outlets in the state. > (3.) Because of the "if" above, Amazon is saying "marketing > affiliates" won't get commission because they would constitute > "employees" or the legal equivalent. (also this must imply that > Amazon will close any of its facilities there and not open any) Yes, that is the gist of it. Amazon does have businesses here, but not retail businesses. The affiliates were defined by the state as retailers so the affiliate accounts were closed. Whether Amazon will move its other businesses, like A9, out of state remains to be seen. > > Questions: > > (a.) By "marketing affiliate" they mean a CA-based web site about, > say, quantum mechanics that has a link to David Deutsch's book, The > Fabric of Reality? That site used to get a commission, but now they > won't? Is that correct? A referral fee usually from 4-6% of the selling price, but not just on books. Amazon has thousands of products. > (b.) Thus the web site (and it's employees and revenue) could move to > another state and still thus re-enable the revenue? That also is up in the air. I am waiting for legal confirmation that using my Georgia registered LLC will not cause me problems with the state Franchise Tax Board because I live in California. I need the revenue, but not enough to risk pissing off the tax authorities. > (c.) But there are Amazon competitors still willing to paying the commission > like B&N? Because B&N has physical retail stores they already charged sales tax on all transactions, so the new law does not impact them other to drive Amazon affiliates into their open ar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:339738 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
