Why has Amazon suddenly started charging sales tax?

Question

I live in New York State and, for the past month or so, Amazon has been adding tax to everything I buy. I know the rule that if a vendor has a retail outlet in New York they have to charge tax, however, other web sites aren't charging sales tax for the exact same items. I canceled an Amazon order for a GNS yesterday when it added taxes and ordered it from someone else -- tax free.

Answer 1

Amazon now has a distribution center in NY.  That's why they now must charge sales tax on shipments destined for NY.

The rule isn't a "retail outlet" but ANY nexus in the state.  Any presence at all meets the nexus test so any warehouse, office, retail outlet, distribution center, mail drop, etc. means that sales taxes MUST be collected and rendered to the State.

When looking at on-line purchases it usually makes more sense to consider the total cost, not just sales taxes.  I can often buy things on line and pay the tax yet have a lower total cost inclusive of delivery charges even though I'm paying the tax.

Answer 2

Amazon hasn't suddenly started doing anything different.  Amazon sells stuff themselves but they also front-end for a lot of other small companies and even big ones like Target.  Without looking very closely, you never really know if you are buying directly from Amazon or if they are passing on your order to somebody else.  Those somebody elses have different sales tax rules so sometimes you pay and sometimes you don't.  Amazon's link explaining this is shown below.

By the way, did you know that almost all states have a "Use Tax" which  you have to pay when you file your state income tax?  The Use Tax is your state's sales tax on anything you bought out of state (including the internet) on which you did not pay some other state's sales tax.  In other words, when you do buy something from Amazon and they do not charge sales tax, you are required to report it to your state and pay sales tax on it then or else you would be breaking the law.