Transaction Trends

Sales tax laws are in flux. Changes in the legal, regulatory and policy environment have prompted state governments to make updates to their sales tax laws, creating new challenges and opportunities for payments companies.

In an upcoming ETA webinar on February 5, 2020 at 1:00 pm, policy experts will discuss these changes and the impact it is having on how merchants are required to collect sales tax. They will also discuss how some states are looking to “marketplace facilitators” to collect sales tax on behalf of the merchants they serve.

The webinar presenters are:

• Ed Marshall, Partner, Arnall Golden Gregory LLP
• Charlie Kearns, Partner, Eversheds Sutherland

In advance of the webinar, Transaction Trends interviewed Kearns to get his insights into the webinar’s content and value.

Transaction Trends: Why are sales tax issues and policy changes an important topic for payments professionals to understand?
Kearns: The last few years have been some of the most active ever from a state sales tax perspective. These law changes have had a material impact on the payments industry, whether directly or indirectly by affecting their retail customers. Beginning with the Supreme Court’s Wayfair v. South Dakota decision, and the resulting state law changes to adopt the so-called Wayfair thresholds, then the significant uptick in marketplace facilitator legislation, the sales and use tax landscape has changed dramatically since June 2018. Along with more recent trends of real time sales tax collection and digital advertising taxes, the payments industry has been acutely affected by these changes. And, more generally, these sales tax changes have had a significant impact on the digital economy, of which the payments industry plays a vital role.

What are the key opportunities and challenges for our industry as sales tax laws change?
There are several opportunities and challenges for the payments industry following these sales tax law changes – leaning heavily on the “challenges” side of the ledger. The most significant challenge to the industry is the possibility of collecting sales tax on transactions between retailers and consumers, whether that risk is due to unintended consequences of over-broad laws (as with marketplace collection statutes) or more direct threats (as with real time sales tax collection).

What can webinar attendees expect to learn in this upcoming webinar?
Attendees will learn about the latest state sales tax developments, from legislation to litigation, that impact the payments industry and how to avoid becoming entangled in these complex laws.

Click here to register for the webinar.