Senators Introduce Online Sales Tax Bill with Bipartisan Support.
The sales tax collected in Texas is in fact a sales and use tax. When consumers purchase items online and no sales tax is paid, the purchaser is supposed to remit the tax to the state. Form 01-156 Texas Use Tax Return should be filed with a payment on or before the 20th day following the period (month or year) during which items subject to use tax are brought into Texas. For example, if you purchase a Kindle from Amazon.com, no sales tax is collected. Your responsibility is to remit the tax.
Why do some online vendors collect sales tax and other’s don’t?
A fancy word for the reason is nexus. Nexus is a connection and in the sales tax world, that means if a company has a connection to Texas, usually a physical connection, that company is required to collect sales tax. Amazon.com closed a Dallas distribution center to avoid collecting sales tax on sales delivered in Texas.
This ability to disregard sales tax on sales creates an advantage for online stores over Main Street stores. The legislation introduced, referenced above, by a bipartisan group of 10 senators attempts to level that field. Amazon does support the legislation.
