"Ignoramus29524" wrote in message
...
On 2011-01-07, Spehro Pefhany wrote:
On Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:34:13 -0600, Ignoramus29524
wrote:

I also recently received an email from them warning me that they will
be terminating all Illinois Amazon affiliates.

i

Why? Some kind of ****ing match about income reporting?


Illinois wants Amazon to pay sales tax for items sold to IL
residents.

So they are passing a law that says that any web retailer that has
affiliates in IL, has "physical presence" or something like that, and
is obligated to pay. So, amazon said, it will just terminate all
Illinois affiliates.

Since I do not make any money from anazon affiliate program, I do not
personally care too much.

i

This has always been the law for Illinois sales tax. A company with some
physical presence in the state is responsible for collecting the tax on
Illinois retail sales. Amazon dodged around it by using "affiliates". Amazon
didn't collect, but technically, any Illinois affiliate shipping to an
address inside the state was required to collect it.

There is also a "use tax" in Illinois. It has been in effect since '55. In
effect if you buy items from out of state for use in Illinois, the purchaser
is supposed remit the tax. (you get credit for sales taxes paid to other
states). Reporting this has been on the honor system, and as a result nobody
ever does it.

Amazon could have probably stayed ahead of the curve by only connecting
interstate buyers and sellers.
But it would not have lasted forever.
The bottom line is that you owe tax on all purchased items used in Illinois.
They have not chased after mail order and internet sales because the
paperwork would be a nightmare.

The computer revolution is changing that.

Paul K. Dickman