Supreme Court Declines to Hear Amazon Nexus Case, According to Ryan

NEW YORK, Dec. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Earlier today, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear argument on two cases involving online retailers.¹ In the cases of Overstock.com, Inc. v. NY Dept. of Taxation, et al. and Amazon.com LLC, et al. v. NY Dept. of Taxation, et al., the Court denied writs of certiorari without comment, effectively staying out of the dispute for now but leaving the status quo undisturbed. The New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state, had previously rejected arguments from the plaintiffs that New York is violating the United States Constitution by requiring companies to collect sales tax from customers without having a physical presence in the state.

In 1992, the Supreme Court determined that physical presence is a requirement for establishing nexus between a company and a state for purposes of sales tax.² The recent advent of state-level "Ecommerce laws" and the federal Marketplace Fairness Act (currently held up in committee) has reignited the debate over physical presence as a requirement for nexus, as some states rush to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in sales tax revenue lost due to online sales.

¹ Order List: 571 U.S. (December 2, 2013).
² Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992).

About Ryan
Ryan is an award-winning global tax services firm, with the largest indirect and property tax practices in North America and the seventh largest corporate tax practice in the United States. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the Firm provides a comprehensive range of state, local, federal, and international tax advisory and consulting services on a multi-jurisdictional basis, including audit defense, tax recovery, credits and incentives, tax process improvement and automation, tax appeals, tax compliance, and strategic planning. Ryan is a three-time recipient of the International Service Excellence Award from the Customer Service Institute of America (CSIA) for its commitment to world-class client service. Empowered by the dynamic myRyan work environment, which is widely recognized as the most innovative in the tax services industry, Ryan's multi-disciplinary team of more than 1,600 professionals and associates serves over 9,000 clients in 40 countries, including many of the world's most prominent Global 5000 companies. More information about Ryan can be found at www.ryan.com.

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Jeremiah T. Lynch
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