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Articles by Robert Dumas
E911 Compliance for VoIP Providers: Tax Collection Guide
Emergency response systems are a critical part of public safety infrastructure in the United States. When someone dials 911, a complex network of technology and services helps ensure that emergency responders can locate and assist the caller as quickly as possible. Funding these systems requires ongoing investment. That’s where E911 fees, also known as E911 surcharges or 911 fees on phone bills, come into play.
Selling your business? Don't let sales tax derail the deal
When founders begin thinking about selling their business, the focus is usually on valuation, growth, and finding the right buyer. But as we discussed on a recent episode of It Depends: A Sales Tax Podcast by TaxConnex, what often makes or breaks a deal isn’t performance, it’s preparation. More specifically, it’s how well a company can withstand due diligence.
Setting Up Your Sales Tax Calculation the Right Way in 2026
Getting sales tax right on your invoices is one of the most critical parts of managing sales and use tax compliance. With thousands of state and local jurisdictions, constantly changing rates, and evolving taxability rules, many businesses struggle to determine the best way to calculate sales tax accurately. The good news is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. The right approach depends on your business model, where you operate, and what you sell.
Software Alone Isn’t Sales Tax Compliance: Why People Still Matter
Sales tax automation has become an essential part of compliance, but automation alone doesn’t guarantee accuracy. While technology can support certain tasks, it can’t replace the expertise and accountability required to manage sales tax end to end. As sales tax rules grow more complex and enforcement increases, many businesses discover that relying solely on software creates gaps in their compliance process. What sales tax software does well Sales tax software can be a valuable tool.
Sales Tax Compliance Is More Than Filing Returns (Here’s What It Really Involves)
Sales tax compliance often gets reduced to one task: filing returns. In reality, it’s an ongoing, multi-step process that becomes more complex as businesses grow across states, sales channels, and product lines. Since the South Dakota v. Wayfair decision, companies are managing sales tax obligations across 46 states and Washington, D.C., with more than 10,000 jurisdictions, each with its own rules, rates, and filing requirements. Even small errors can lead to penalties, interest, and audits.
In-House vs. Outsourced Sales Tax Compliance: Which Is Right for Your Business?
Sales tax compliance has become increasingly complex since the South Dakota v. Wayfair decision. With 46 states and Washington, D.C. administering sales tax and more than 10,000 jurisdictions in play, businesses must manage rules that vary by location and change often. As companies grow across states, sales channels, and product lines, many face a common question: Should we manage sales tax in-house, or is it time to outsource?
Sales Tax Year in Review, Compliance Strategies for 2026
Hard to believe the year is almost over – and it’s also hard to believe just how much change sales tax can stuff into just 12 months. But change did occur, and it’s up to you to stay current and compliant in 2026 with sales tax. Here’s an overview to help you get started in such areas as nexus and taxability, your possible sales tax exposure and ways you can protect yourself and make compliance easier in the future.
How States Make Money On Sales Tax Audits
Recently – and especially after the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Wayfair) – states have become more serious about sales tax audits. State retail sales taxes yielded an average of $444.5 billion in revenue in recent years, and states don’t want to miss any of that. Time and expense of audits aren’t free, of course, but states are recognizing the revenue potential, too: For a relatively few dollars a state can recognize thousands in tax income retrieved.
Sales Tax Concerns of Coming Holiday Season
The High-Stakes Holiday Shopping Environment Holiday shopping season is the playoffs for retailers; Everything must work perfectly, from the warehouse to the order-taking taking to the shipping and everything between. This is especially so for ecommerce retailers, who tend to deal with shoppers with short fuses who can simply click away from the site and who will show long memories when next shopping season rolls around.
Strange Ideas New Customers Have About Sales Tax
Everybody who enters business knows all about taxes. They just don’t know about every tax. One glaring omission, surprising especially from business owners, is sales tax. For example, laws governing marketplace facilitators popped up when states saw that platforms were charging sales tax on the sale of their own or certain third-party sales but not on all sales. Wherever this revenue was going, the state wanted it, and nexus laws were born.
AI Can’t Replace Experience: The Limits of Machine-Managed Sales Tax
AI can analyze your data, reconcile reports, and process transactions, but can it be trusted to file your taxes? Some providers now rely on AI bots to manage the majority of your compliance, from onboarding to filing and remittance. It sounds impressive, until you realize what’s missing: context, judgment, and accountability. What’s marketed as “smart” or “simple” compliance can become a costly mess without human oversight or customization.
Sales Tax Scaries 6: Relying on Automation
When Automation Turns into a Compliance Nightmare Robots run amok in many horror movies – and relying too heavily on automation can make your sales tax compliance a similar nightmare.
Taxable Foods: On Which Grocery Items Do You Pay Sales Tax?
Understanding How Food Sales Tax Works Across States Food’s everywhere this time of year, and so are the sales taxes levied on it. Too bad those taxes aren’t levied in any way that seems to make sense to the average online food vendor selling into one of the trickier states. Holiday Food Sales & Surprising Tax Implications Thanksgiving for example, America’s biggest food holiday, can create a mishmash of sales taxes if you’re selling online.
Sales Tax Scaries 5: Changing Rates
When the Unexpected Strikes in Sales Tax A lot of monsters get their traction in horror movies because they’re doing the unexpected. Similarly, when you sell across multiple states, one scary problem quickly emerges: how fast and how often sales tax rates change. Unlike federal income tax, which has just seven brackets, states levy sales tax over a huge range.
Sales Tax Scaries 4: Nexus and Taxability
When Sales Tax Creeps Up on You Ever notice how the first characters in every horror movie never realize they’re in danger until it’s too late? Not to sensationalize the point, but sales tax can lurk around the corners, too – especially as companies lose their heads expanding product lines and operations. These milestones are happy ones for a company, to be sure, but they might also put some bats in nexus calculations. What Is Nexus in Sales Tax?
Sales Tax Scaries 3: Audits
Surviving the Scare of a Sales Tax Audit: How to Stay Prepared Few things are scarier in the tax world than an audit. Spending days, weeks, even months pouring through your books looking for discrepancies in your sales tax compliance and other ways to penalize your company can send terror into an e-commerce business. The Reality of Sales Tax Audits A recent survey of businesses that were just audited showed that almost half were audited by their home state and almost half by other states.
Sales Tax Scaries 2: M&As
The Hidden Dangers of Sales Tax in Mergers and Acquisitions Few business deals can ignite optimism like a merger/acquisition: new personnel, new challenges, exciting new opportunities and revenue streams. Too bad that past undisclosed sales tax obligations by one party can kill the whole deal with a scream. M&As were down last year, but the deals still totaled $1 billion. Historically, though, up to three-quarters of these deals tank – and surprise past-tax problems are frequently a reason.
Sales Tax Scaries (Part 1)
Could Your Sales Tax Become a Horror Story? This part of the year is filled with horror stories. Could your sales tax become one of them?
Everything You Need to Know About the Latest With Marketplace Facilitators
“Marketplace facilitator” is slowly becoming a familiar term in the sales tax world. What once started as a world of large nebulous platforms where small vendors could reach larger audiences has become thanks, to the likes of household names like Amazon, a more common tool in ecommerce. What Is a Marketplace Facilitator? Tools, like times, change, And what is a marketplace facilitator?
Drop shipment: Simple Yet Complex for Sales Tax
What Is a Drop Shipment in Sales Tax Terms Sales tax comes with a lot of important terms. One is “drop shipment." Drop shipments are common in ecommerce and often occur when a seller uses a distributor for order fulfillment to a buyer. In such a transaction, a distributor must charge sales tax to the seller.
What’s New in Sales Tax?
(Sales Tax Updates and State Legislative Changes) There’s always something changing in the world of tax, especially sales tax. Here’s a review of some of the recent changes and updates. Washington State Expands Service and Digital Taxation Washington taxes services – and more. They’ve been busy in Olympia. Effective Oct. 1, 2025, the Washington business and occupation (B&O) tax rate for services and other activities for businesses with gross income over $5 million is increased from 1.75% to 2.1%.
How States Address Grocery Sales Tax Rates
Cut them now, trim them over time, hold them steady by bundling them with other tax packages, or punt to the next generation of lawmakers and voters. As the cost of living continues to skyrocket, many U.S. states are rethinking grocery sales tax rates. In August, the U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% compared with July, the largest monthly gain since January. This pushed the annual inflation rate to 2.9%, up from 2.7% the previous month.
SST - A great idea, but is it for everybody?
The Streamlined Sales Tax project started 25 years ago with a sensible goal: Bring order to the chaos to the U.S. patchwork system of states’ sales tax and help remote sellers meet their obligations. The SST project gained particular momentum after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 Wayfair decision introduced the idea of economic nexus for remote sellers. It has its benefits, but there can be drawbacks.
Navigating Sales Tax Compliance in eCommerce & Retail: Part 2
In Part 1 of this series, we explored the foundations of sales tax compliance in eCommerce and retail: nexus, taxability, and drop shipments. In this follow-up, we’ll dig into some of the more advanced and often overlooked areas of sales tax compliance, including home-rule jurisdictions, marketplace facilitators, tax automation, and the registration and filing process.
Navigating Sales Tax Compliance in eCommerce & Retail: Part 1
Sales tax compliance in eCommerce and retail is anything but simple. Between changing state rules, multiple jurisdictions, and unique business models, the process can quickly become overwhelming. At its core, though, compliance comes down to one word: awareness. Awareness of nexus (both physical and economic), awareness of the taxability of your products and services, and awareness of all the complexities of being a remote seller across states.
Shop app: How does it handle sales tax and is it a marketplace facilitator?
One critical tool to eCommerce back office is the checkout tool, and the best of such checkout tools evolve as e-commerce evolves. Good ones must be nimble, able to handle all the details of sales tax and grow as their platform grows. Sales tax can be such a confusing field, however, it can be difficult to keep up.
Potential Pitfalls of Over-Reliance on AI in Sales Tax Mapping
As automation and AI become more integrated into sales tax systems, many businesses assume these tools can completely replace human input. While tax engines and AI models are powerful in managing and applying tax rules, they rely on the accuracy of its inputs, or tax mappings. What Is Tax Mapping and Why It Matters Tax mapping is the process of aligning a company’s SKUs to the tax codes associated with a tax engine.
Time constraints surrounding sales and use tax
Your online business is painfully aware of tax deadlines for income, payroll, property and other local taxes. Sales and use taxes have their deadlines, too – a dizzying number to follow, potentially with bad consequences if you miss even one. A lot of complications Currently, sales tax across the U.S. has many deadlines, often every month – but not on the same day for every business or state.
Do You Need a Sales Tax Software if Your Shopping Cart Calculates Rates?
Maybe. Not all e-shopping carts are created equal for online shipping sites like yours, and your cart may get the job done for sales tax calculation. But few can handle the entire compliance process – and what about calculations for sales that don’t go through your cart? How carts work An e-shopping cart must include a sales tax solution at checkout.
Are recruiting services taxable?
Services are generally not subject to sales tax... Generally. As jurisdictions continue scrambling for revenue, states – Kentucky being the latest – are beginning to tax more services. Twelve other states plus the District of Columbia levy a sales tax on permanent placement and temporary staffing: Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Tennessee. (Hawaii, New Mexico, South Dakota and West Virginia tax all services.) Other states cherry pick the services they tax.
Can CPAs be held liable for sales tax non-compliance?
The liability for sales tax non-compliance is clear for companies. A “responsible person” is liable for the sales and use tax owed, as is the business entity and any of its other responsible persons. Responsible parties can trickle down to the person whose duties involve managing and paying taxes or any other person who has the authority or ability to control business payments and decisions.This liability extends beyond the business, as well, even to potentially seizing an exec’s personal assets.
TaxConnex Named to Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies
TaxConnex has been recognized on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America for the first time, ranking 358 among financial services companies with a three-year revenue growth of 54%. The Inc. 5000 list is an annual ranking that spotlights the most successful and dynamic independent businesses in the United States. It is widely regarded as a benchmark for entrepreneurial success and sustained growth.
Choosing the right sales tax calculator for your business
If your business is creating sales tax obligations in your home state or in states nationwide – selling enough in a year, say, to create economic nexus – you better start looking at best options to calculate that tax. One is calculation software, but how does that work? Do you need to download rates, or do you need a software to calculate rates immediately? What can this software do and what can’t it do? The answer often depends on the details of your business.
Sales tax myths
It seems that most people would rather hear inaccurate advice that makes them feel good rather than accurate advice they don’t like. And that seems to hold regarding sales tax, a constantly changing yet critical business process. We keep hearing so many stubborn misconceptions and myths about sales tax. Companies that believe those without doing their homework risk a hard path of non-compliance, back-tax payments, interests and penalties. Here are some of the most common myths.
Step-by-step guide to the VDA process
If your sales tax obligations have gotten ahead of you – and you owe back taxes – you have a few tools to mitigate your problem. You can refund collected sales tax to your customers, or you can proactivity register with a jurisdiction and pay what you owe. Another, maybe more advantageous tool for you: the Voluntary Disclosure Agreement (VDA).
How sales tax calculation systems do - and don’t - work
Sales tax compliance software can seem like a valuable resource to remote sellers who struggle to calculate what they must collect from customers and remit to some of the more than 10,000 state and local tax jurisdictions around the country. And this kind of automation can work wonders – when it works right. In our recent survey of finance pros, 84% of respondents using software to manage sales tax report that their software does not handle the entire sales tax process.
Excise tax versus sales tax
Soon after you start dealing with sales tax, you’re going to also run into excise tax. What’s the difference? According to the IRS, excise taxes “are imposed on certain goods, services and activities.
Sales tax holidays for the rest of the year
Your compliance obligations are tough enough given the almost dizzying variety of rates, filing frequencies and other seemingly random details of the states that have a sales tax. One of those biggest details you sure can’t ignore: sales tax holidays. They’ve have been around for decades, but only recently have these brief periods of tax breaks gained widespread traction, usually as political tools to give constituents supposed relief.
Florida gets rid of sales tax on commercial rent
After a nearly decade-long effort, Florida is getting rid of its sales tax on commercial rent. Florida was the only state to impose such a sales tax. Examples of taxable commercial real property rentals include commercial office, retail space, warehouses and self-storage units. The law takes effect Oct. 1. The elimination of this tax, which has been part of Florida's revenue structure since 1969, is expected to save Florida businesses more than $1 billion dollars.
Domestic Manufacturers’ Growth Could Bring Sales Tax Problems
“Made in America” is back in the spotlight. As companies move operations back to the U.S. due to global supply chain disruptions and shifting trade policies, domestic manufacturing is seeing renewed momentum. But along with this growth comes a lesser-known complication: increased sales tax risk. Why Are U.S. Manufacturers on the Rise? The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of global supply chains.
Do You Have to Pay Sales Tax on Clubs & Membership Dues?
Do you have to charge or pay sales tax on memberships? The answer: It depends on the type of membership, and the state you’re in. As more organizations offer memberships online from gyms and wellness centers to retail warehouse clubs; questions about sales tax on memberships and dues are increasingly common. This guide breaks down what you need to know. Are Memberships Taxable? Some memberships are taxable, some are not.
Ecommerce Takes the High Ground in Cyber Week Shopping
For years experts have protected that one day ecommerce would surpass brick- and-mortar retail holiday sales. Welcome to 2025’s holiday shopping season. Season to date (Nov. 1 to Dec. 1), consumers have spent $137.4 billion online, up 7.2% year over year (YoY). News reports added that initial data from RetailNext, which measures real-time foot traffic in physical stores, found that U.S. Black Friday traffic fell 3.6% compared with 2024.
How to Manage Sales Tax Compliance in Complex Industries
Managing your sales and use tax obligations is a hassle for any business owner, but for some companies it can feel like fighting an uphill battle. Industries like telecommunications, hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing, and technology face unique challenges when it comes to sales and use tax obligations. And what you sell and the way you get to marketing can add even more confusion. So what makes an organization more complex in terms of sales tax compliance?
Ryan Bradford, from LI laggard to sought after speaker
When procurement executive Ryan Bradford’s role ended at The New York Times last May, he was a once-every-few-months LinkedIn visitor, and he couldn’t remember his last post. Fast forward six months to this past November, and he’s a sought-after speaker and digital communicator extraordinaire. How did he manifest this thought leadership journey? What lessons are there for the rest of us jobseekers? I spoke with him recently to find out. Laura: So, Ryan, what got you started on LinkedIn?
Current and Emerging Tax Trends & Software
The corporate tax landscape is constantly evolving, shaped by regulatory changes, technological advancements, and shifting economic conditions. Staying informed and adapting to these developments is essential for businesses aiming for compliance, efficiency, and financial success. As tax laws continue to change, so do the tools and technologies that help businesses navigate them.
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BofA, JPMorgan, Others To Pay $46M To End Rate-Swaps Suit
Several major U.S. and European banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG, reached a $46 million deal on Thursday to resolve a long-running multidistrict litigation over an alleged plot by the banks to limit market competition over interest rate swaps.
The latest on a national sales tax
Everything old is new again – and that goes for ideas of a national sales tax. H.R.25 of the 118th Congress, the GOP’s “Fair Tax Act of 2023,” is the latest attempt. The embattled bill, now in committee, was introduced early this year to replace the federal income tax. What’s in the bill? What’s at stake for the revenue of states that already have their own sales tax? And why should eCommerce companies pay attention.
Getting digital with sales tax in 2023
At least three states opened this year with proposals to revamp taxes concerning digital advertising and data. Massachusetts legislators seem to be leading the way, with multiple draft bills that would adopt a digital advertising services tax on commercial data collection or the sale of personal information.
Kentucky now taxes a range of services
“Services” are generally not subject to sales tax while tangible personal property generally is subject to sales tax. This over simplification can get you sideways in various states as there are lots of exceptions to these general rules. Kentucky is the latest in terms of taxing specific services. The Bluegrass State looks to expand sales tax on what it calls high-growth services.
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