[emuflies]

There'd be nothing more welcome to most affiliates than a determination that these Nexus/SalesTax laws are Unconstitutional because of the Interstate Commerce clause.

It'd be useful to hear some recap, analysis and educated speculation about this issue from some knowledgeable folks.

1) What has been done so far in the legal process? By who? The outcomes?

2) Possible timelines for how this issue will play out. Months? Years? Why so long?

In a lot of ways, Amazon might not be the best plaintiff to contest this (not that we care, if they do manage to succeed..). Lots of small/medium merchants would be genuinely hit by this nightmare. Is Amazon the only one pursuing legal action, or is there some good effort at organization by others?

[BizDocs]

This proposed N.C. tax violates the Commerce Clause (stemming from the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution) by restricting interstate commerce.

For purposes in this explanation:

“Out-of-State Retailer” refers to an online company that:
* Has no stores, offices, or employees in N.C.
* Sells products to N.C. residents.
* Sponsors advertising links on websites managed by businesses and individuals who live in N.C.

“In-State Retailer” refers to an online company that:
* Has stores, offices, and/or employees in N.C.
* Sells products to N.C. residents.
* Is already collecting sales tax and has established procedures for administering it.

To accommodate the collection and payment of the sales tax to the State of North Carolina, Out-of-State Retailers who have not previously had to collect this tax will encumber additional expenses. This may include modifications to their websites and in-house software. It may require them to hire additional personnel for tracking, record keeping, and other administrative functions needed to fulfill the tax requirement.

The state of North Carolina (and others) have provisions in their general statutes that allow local governments to impose a sales tax in addition to the state tax. Therefore, Out-of-State Retailers may have to deal with additional time and expense to administer sales tax for local municipalities within the state of North Carolina.

In-State Retailers will not be faced with these additional burdens.

Allowing N.C. to impose this tax as written would open up this taxation right to all states and local municipalities, thereby creating even burdens on Out-of-State Retailers.

Some Out-of-State Retailers may have the resources to administer all these taxes and continue to sponsor links on websites managed by N.C. businesses and residents (and in other states).

Most Out-of-State Retailers will not have the means to make the changes necessary to comply with the administration of taxes they have not previously had to collect. Their only choice is to drop the sponsored links on websites managed by N.C. businesses and residents (and in other states).

This means that some Out-of-State Retailers will have the advantage of sponsoring links in N.C. while most will not - simply because of the N.C. sales tax law regarding these links.

[red80]

Given the word "affiliate" can be very broad, can someone please confirm if the affiliate tax laws apply to partnerships outside of what we consider "affiliate marketing"? Meaning a deal made outside of and tracked outside of LinkShare, Performics, Share-a-sale, etc. I assume so but would be more comfortable gaining knowledge from someone who knows a little more about this.

Thank you!