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South Dakota v. Wayfair: A TaxJar Perspective

by Mark Faggiano June 21, 2018

 

With their ruling in Wayfair v. South Dakota, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a landmark decision today regarding sales tax and how eCommerce sellers are required to charge it.

If you’d like to read more about the case or if you’d like to ask questions on the ruling,  we recommend you sign up for our upcoming webinar and join the conversation.

Given the substantial impact of this ruling, I’d like to weigh-in with some thoughts from TaxJar and how we’re thinking about the sales tax landscape ahead.

There are a lot of unknowns

Since the decision was announced, we’ve heard from a LOT of current and prospective customer. Big or small, every eCommerce business owner today is wondering how this new ruling is going to affect their business, and how they can get ahead of it.

And while we don’t have all of the answers to every question now, the one thing we can agree on, is that technology will be a key part of compliance.

We’re ready

At TaxJar, our mission is to make eCommerce easier for everyone. One thing we know for sure is that we’re in a unique position to deliver on this mission. Our commitment to our customers is the reason we created TaxJar, and the reason we hope to partner with your business.

We’ll continue to be the best sales tax resource for eCommerce

Our job is, and always has been, to be the best, most accurate and accessible sales tax resource available. We’re committed to bringing you up-to-date content in an easy-to-read format that helps you break down these complex rulings into pieces that you can digest. We know our customers are busy and the last thing they want to do is read sale tax legislation. So with all of the uncertainties coming our way, we’ll continue to be that resource for you.

We can easily adapt to change

If you haven’t gotten to know TaxJar yet, I’d recommend hopping over to our Life at TaxJar blog to see what makes us different. You’ll quickly learn that one of the things that sets us apart as a leader in our space, is our ability to know our customers’ needs, and our endless pursuit of improvement.

Though sales tax laws may seem antiquated, it’s already a landscape where we deal with change every day. Rates change, boundaries are adjusted, and our software keeps up with those updates with ease and transparency. We know how to handle change on a massive scale, as we already keep up with sales tax requirements on a national level.

Our technology is built for scale

Our sales tax software is built on modern infrastructure, and everything we deliver to customers is always developed and maintained in-house. We don’t outsource our development because technology is at the core of what we do, and what we’ll continue to do.  We know how we built it, and we know how it can change. Adapting to a new set of changing sales tax laws will remain a lot of work, but we’ll continue to deliver on our promise of simplifying sales tax, no matter what the laws are.

We’re here for you

While this ruling is seismic, it doesn’t yet change anything for sellers outside of South Dakota. There’s a lot of legislation and process that needs to happen before any additional laws are enacted.

Over the past five years, our solutions have helped more than 10,000 businesses and developers manage their sales tax needs. We’ve made improvements, listened to customer feedback, and know there’s no reason to stop that now.  

We know that the coming months and year will prove to be a busy one as the entire sales tax landscape for eCommerce will be potentially re-written. We also know that we’ll be the company that keeps up with that change for all of our customers.

Again, if you’d like to read more about the Supreme Court’s ruling in Wayfair v. South Dakota, or if you’d like to ask questions on the ruling,  we recommend you sign up for our upcoming webinar and join the conversation.

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