Wallets tightening, States unhappy

Welcome back trash lovers!

With the colors starting to change, so are the tunes of the states. Looks like some of the bigger states are really starting to feel the recession. Their actions show.

NY is going after an individual personally for not paying a sales tax liability. While CA is trying to reign in as much as they can. They even penalized a recent widow.

Fact of the matter is, there is less consumer spend. So less taxes. So gov’t is making less money. Arkansas may be in a surplus but that’s not the norm.

If you haven’t been, now’s the time to be digging into the trash. Pick out those bits relevant to you. The Shopify partnerships with Faire & Amazon will add another layer of compliance complexity too.

We’ll cover all this and more…

• Shopify x Faire could impact you

• States are feeling the recession

• Don’t overpay for Amazon Prime

• Meme of the week

• “How long do I have to register after reaching nexus?”

DON’T UNDERSTAND SALES TAX? 🤔 

Zamp can run a sample audit & nexus analysis to help you understand your liability exposure - free only for subscribers.

You can also check out their Free Sales Tax Guide here.

SHOPIFY x FAIRE IMPACT ON YOUR BUSINESS 

Last week, Shopify partnered with Faire.

Last month, Shopify partnered with Faire’s #1 rival, Amazon. Here’s how:

🛒 Who is Faire?

• B2B retail marketplace started in 2017

• 100k brands & 700k retailers

• $1 billion in retail volume in first 4 years

• Raised $1.3 billion, latest valuation at $12.5 billion

• Featured section: “Brands not sold on Amazon”

🛍️ Shopify x Faire Impact

• Establishes Shopify’s POS as preferred provider for Faire’s retail community

• For retailers: reorder bestsellers from 10 million products via Faire’s buyer app

• For brands: simplifies wholesale distribution to thousands of retailers through Faire’s seller channel

• For consumers… brands can leverage Faire’s free map tool to help finding consumers find products locally

💰 But wait there’s more for Shopify...

• Shopify owns a stake in Faire

• New merchants to join Shopify (today: 4 million US merchants)

A month ago, analysts were saying “Shopify’s bull run is likely over”

Since then, they’ve come out with 2 killer partnerships to enable both DTC and B2B commerce.

Given Shopify’s investment in Faire, I wonder how this will impact the strength of their relationship with Amazon.

STATES FEELING THE RECESSION  

California is cracking down…

A widow who took over the family business after her husband’s death was charged $300K in sales tax, penalties and interest. She had no idea about the prior state of the business and is now liquidating. Yikes.

An auditor is going after a company that underreported $2.6M in sales.

On the flip side, the CA office is also pushing tax deadlines for those affected by disasters - Hurricane Idalia and Lee. Wildfires on Maui. Seawater Intrusion in Louisiana.

In weirder news…

Tennessee is imposing tax on horse-drawn carriage rides. That’s a real recession indicator.

OVERPAYING FOR AMAZON PRIME?

It’s Prime Day this week.

Many of you will probably spend too much week to justify your Amazon membership. We all know most of those items are going to end up in the trash anyways…

Funny thing is, not all Prime memberships are made the same. Some of you pay $139 / year… while others over $149 / year.

And no, there’s no discount code or favoritism. The difference? Sales tax.

Amazon Prime is taxable in 36 states + DC, so choose wisely when figuring out who in the family is responsible for payment. Could end up saving you enough for a Chipotle bowl.

Learn how your product is taxed in the US → 

MEME OF THE WEEK

PARTNER SPOTLIGHT 🌟

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Bookskeep provides the complete package for planning, building and maintaining financial stability and growth.

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YOUR QUESTIONS, ANSWERED!

Q (Kevin): Once I achieve nexus, how long do I have to register?

A: It depends on the state.

Some states require sellers to register as soon as they cross an economic nexus threshold and to start collecting tax on the very next transactions. That’s the situation in Ohio.

However, other states, like Kentucky provide sellers with 60 days after cross its sales or transaction economic nexus threshold.

Thank you for reading along. I’ll be back next Sunday with more sales tax shenanigans.

If you enjoyed this one, please share it with your network. 🤝

If you caught a laugh, reply back and let me know. I live for the people.

If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions, please let me know by responding to this email or DM me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Until next week’s 🗑 …

Rohit