The question is more likely one of 'when does the sale take place?' And for many jurisdictions, it takes place when 'good delivery has been made.' (when the revenue is earned, payment is irrelevant here)

1. So if you walk into a store, and walk out with goods, (paid or on credit) the point of 'written' sale is the same as 'delivered' sale. So the jurisdiction is the store, or seller's location.

2. If you walk into the same store, but order a certain type of good (based on local laws) for delivery to a different jurisdiction (say your home or business) then delivery jurisdiction is used as that is the 'point of sale' where the seller has technically 'earned' the revenue. (until then, your payment constitutes a deposit - their liability.)

3. If you order online (or by 'mail' in the old days) for 'local pickup' then you most likely will be paying tax based on the seller's (or pickup location) jurisdiction, same as if you had walked in and out with the goods personally. (#1)

4. If you order online (or mail) for delivery, that's the same as #2 above.

Of course, laws vary widely, so those are general scenarios. They may not apply to you.

The recent change in the U.S. is that until a particular Court decision, online sales (as well as by mail) had no legal nexus as States couldn't tax 'out of state' sales. (at least not in the general case, there might have been some exceptions) One can argue the correctness of the decision, but it currently stands, so we have to deal with the aftermath.

I don't know the history of this in other countries.

Regards,
Adrien

On 2/28/22 8:34 AM, Michael or Penny Novack wrote:
I think that is perhaps confusion more than right/wrong.

In remote sales (internet, etc.)  it is the location of the buyer.

But if not a remote sale, if person living in state A buys something at a seller in state B (and state B has sales tax) collected based on that. Now the buyer might still owe sales tax to state A when bringing the whatever home. When they pay that on their state return, they can claim credit for the sales tax (if any) already paid for that thing to state B.

Living as I do in a state which has sales tax and has a neighboring state that does not, I am of course very familiar with this. People living in my state A close to the border often intentionally shop in state B, especially for small things they can get away with not reporting. It is also why state A has a special way of checking that sales tax is paid on big ticket items like vehicles (proof of sales tax needed for registering the vehicle).

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