

Ask HN: How do you comply with new US sales tax law? - tantalor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketplace_Fairness_Act<p>Soon this law will require online retailers to collect sales tax, but deciding the correct tax rate for each purchaser and item is difficult.<p>Do marketplaces like Amazon or payment processors like Stripe handle this for you?<p>Is there an business opportunity to provide this type of service? How cheaply could it be accomplished?
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dangrossman
'This' doesn't exist yet, so nobody can handle it for you today. It's not yet
a law, and even if it were to become one, it will be months before any state
meets the requirements to begin collecting taxes. Until that happens, the tax
codes, databases and software they have to make available don't exist. Once
they do exist, yes there will be a business opportunity here, written right
into the bill in the form of Certified Software Providers.

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tantalor
Can a certified provider charge for the service?

Can I use an uncertified provider?

Can I create my own and compete with the certified providers?

How difficult is to become "certified"?

Do you have any sources on how this process works?

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dangrossman
Yes, read the bill. It's shorter than the wikipedia page about it.

<http://www.marketplacefairness.org/bill-text/>

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tantalor
I see. So they bid it out. Thanks!

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fastspring
FastSpring and SaaSy handle global tax collection, payment, etc. for desktop
software, SaaS, and downloadable gaming companies. We are the merchant of
record, so the vendor is not responsible for collecting and remitting taxes,
we are. There is a large number of other functionality we enable software
firms to outsource as well, with the intention of leaving developers to focus
on building their companies, not dealing with e-commerce infrastructure,
features, taxes, etc.

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t0
Most online retailers use platform software, so you can assume most of them
will add this feature. The opportunity lies in the ones that don't.

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aptwebapps
I'm already getting email from Avalara about it.

