We are sure you have heard the old idiom, from Ben Franklin, there is nothing certain “Except Death and Taxes.”  His words in 1789 were actually “Our new Constitution is now established and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Ben was echoing words of other pundits of decades earlier, the funny thing is that while we all know these words to be true, they are life realities we would rather ignore, right?

The thing is the reality of taxes being inevitable is a rapidly growing matter of concern for business, in particular state and local  sales taxes. It all started with the dramatic growth of eCommerce. A company in Seattle Washington, not mentioning any names, could sell all over the country without charging sales tax, great for consumers but much to the detriment of local merchants and the coffers of state and local governments.

As it turned out the state of South Dakota decided it was enough. They passed a law in 2016 which lead to a lawsuit against another major online retailer, headquarter in Boston Massachusetts, to get their fair share of taxes. The wheels of justice turn slow but on June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of the state in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. The decision overruled a longstanding physical presence rule, allowing states to require remote sellers to collect and remit sales tax.

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Since Wayfair, most (but not all) states have adopted new rules defining what establishes sales and use tax obligation, known as nexus. Unfortunately for businesses, no two state sales tax nexus laws are alike.

On that day of June 21 of 2018 the inevitability of taxes became much more real and it is affecting business, business owners, in ways they never dreamed of, nor Ben Franklin.  The consequences can reach six figure penalties that can no longer be ignored.

Luckily there is an answer. A way to determine your risk and potential liability and tools to prevent what can be very painful penalties.

A very powerful solution that integrates real time with your Sage 300 is Sage Sales Tax by Avalara a cloud-based service that is the fastest, easiest, most accurate, and affordable way to calculate sales and use tax, manage exemption certificates, file returns, and remit payments across North America and beyond. Sage Sales Tax delivers instantaneous address validation and sales tax calculations on demand, makes it possible to digitally create, store, and access exemption certificates at the point of sale and close the loop on your sales tax compliance process by completing and filing all forms and remitting all of your sales tax with one easy payment.

Want to learn if you need to take action? We offer free and low cost tolls to determine your potential sales tax inevitability. To find out more, contact your Sage 300 Account Manager today.