U.S. Supreme Court Revisits Quill and Physical Presence

OMA Connections Partner, Clark, Schaefer, Hackett (CSH), posts: “On April 17th, the U.S. Supreme Court revisited Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, which held that in order for a state to impose sales tax on an out-of-state seller, the seller must have physical presence in the state. The case is being reviewed again because the recent South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. suit is asking that the Quill decision be repealed.

“… The Quill standard has enabled online sellers to forego collecting and remitting sales tax in states where the seller has no physical presence. The potential revenue loss for the states in uncollected sales tax is enormous – in the billions of dollars. …

“It is difficult to predict which way the Court will decide this case. But no matter their decision, it will be binding precedent across the country. Either the physical presence standard will continue to be the law and Quill will be upheld, or the Court will overturn Quill and set forth new nexus standards. A decision is expected sometime in June …”