Amicus Briefs

South Dakota v Wayfair, Overstock, & Newegg

On March 28, 2018 the AAA-CPA filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in support of the respondents in the South Dakota v Wayfair, Overstock, & Newegg (No. 17-494) case before the US Supreme Court. The case involves a South Dakota law that provides an out of state company has sales tax nexus with the state for merely selling more than $100,000 of goods or more than 200 sales total sales in the state in a 12-month period. The law was designed to fast track a case to the US Supreme Court to challenge a 1992 US Supreme Court holding Quill Corp v North Dakota (504 U.S. 298). In Quill, the Court held a physical presence in the state is required to meet the substantial nexus requirement of the dormant Commerce Clause.

South Dakota, claiming a dire need for revenue, has asked the Court to allow a broad jurisdictional reach over remote sellers to collect taxes that the State’s own citizenry has been unwilling to pay. The AAA-CPA respectfully requested the Court consider various sales tax compliance burdens that will be imposed on remote sellers if Quill is overturned. The vast expansion of sales tax jurisdictions and the growing complexity of sales tax laws over the last fifty years, have made the burdens of multi-state sales tax compliance greater now than when this Court originally ruled that state laws imposing taxation on retailers with no physical presence in the state violated the Commerce Clause.

AAA-CPA members, with both accounting and law backgrounds, have unique perspectives on business and the courts. At the same time, a significant number of the AAA-CPA members have devoted their careers to the fields of federal and state tax law, representing a very wide variety of industries. As such, AAA-CPA member have first-hand knowledge of the challenges facing a business when having to engage in multi-jurisdiction sales tax and use tax compliance and just how difficult it is for a business to defend against sales tax audits and assessments. Because of these qualifications, AAA-CPA has a compelling interest in this Court’s ruling. 

Florida Department of Revenue vs. American Business USA Corporation, March 27, 2015

 

Maryland State Comptroller of the Treasury vs. Brian Wynne, September 26, 2014

Ovcerstock.com, Inc. vs. Amazon.com LLC and Amazon Services LLCSeptember 23, 2013