Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair

From Melinda May, CPA | Featherstone

South Dakota v. Wayfair

The 20^th century reasoning of the physical presence requirement did not recognize the realities of the 21^st century, a divided (5-4) Supreme Court found earlier this year. In South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., 6/21/18, the Court held that the physical presence requirement no longer applied, paving the way for enforcement of a South Dakota law that requires many “remote” sellers to collect applicable sales tax on purchases by South Dakota residents.

The majority in the Wayfair decision pointed to some favorable aspects of the South Dakota law. For one, it applies only to remote sellers with at least 200 transactions or $100,000 in revenue from South Dakota buyers in a calendar year. Therefore, a company that occasionally ships a few moderately priced items across state lines needn’t master all the sales tax rules pertaining to South Dakota buyers and collect the tax and remit it to the state.

In addition, South Dakota is a party to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, which reportedly has 24 member states. This agreement, designed to standardize taxes in order to reduce administrative and compliance costs, provides sellers access to sales tax administration software.

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