The National Retail Federation (NRF) is applauding introduction of federal legislation that would make it easier for states to require that online retailers and other out-of-state merchants collect sales tax just like brick-and-mortar stores.
 
Traditional retailers were dealt a blow in 1992 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Quill v. North Dakota that retailers are required to collect sales tax from out-of-state customers only if they have a physical presence, meaning a store, warehouse or office, in that customer's state. The court ruled that the 45 state and 7,600 local sales tax systems made it too difficult for a retailer to know how much sales tax to collect.

According to a news release from the NRF, on Wednesday, Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) introduced H.R. 5660, the "Main Street Fairness Act." The legislation would allow the 24 states that have adopted the "Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement," an agreement designed to simplify sales tax laws created in reaction to the Supreme Court's 2002 decision, to require out-of-state sellers to collect tax, whether they have a physical presence of any kind in the state or not.

According to the release, the act establishes uniform definitions of taxable items, sets up mechanisms to facilitate collection and distribution of sales tax across state lines and provides software and free databases to retailers that tells them how much tax to charge.
Ref: <a href="http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullNews.asp?id=34208">Idexonline</a>