Video Transcription:

Hi, Paul Rafelson here to talk to you about sales tax. Lately, sales tax has been on the top of mind of every Amazon merchants, not just in the United States, but all over the world.

I have been doing webinars in New Zealand, not actually going, but everybody who I’m talking to, you know, 100 plus people from New Zealand, all of a sudden they care about the sales tax in Jefferson County, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, it’s crazy out there.

What is also crazy is the information, and I’m here to talk to you.

I’m Paul Rafelson, I’m a tax lawyer, I’m a corporate tax litigator, I’ve been fighting states my whole career and all of a sudden I got very involved in the Amazon issue, because to me it was a little bit personal because all of a sudden I realized that these stakes that I’ve been fighting my whole career for, some of the biggest corporations in the world, are now coming after you expecting you to file the same amount of tax returns as Walmart.

And very defenseless, unfortunately, you know, I’m watching everybody sort of run and hide and at the same time, there’s companies out there, you know, trying to say, oh, we’ll be conservative,  share some softwares.

It’s very cheap, just file some tax returns, maybe it’s, you know, $14 a month per state, but there’s a lot that you don’t know, and there’s a lot that’s not being said.

So, I want to address conservatives really quickly, just so you understand what that means, because I would disagree with that, I don’t necessarily believe that that is being conservative.

I think everybody’s situation is different and there are considerations that aren’t being told that you need to know.

For example, when you file and register with the state ,you may be opening yourself up to that tax liability, and strategically, that may not make the most sense. There might be better ways to do that.

Two, you may actually be throwing yourself into an income tax problem as well, because the states will most likely say that you owe back income tax at some point or two, because it’s expensive to file income tax and it’s not just the tax.

I mean, if you’re from Florida, if you’re from a no income tax state, at the personal level, you might be seeing your tax bill go up by a lot, but if you’re from a high tax state like in California, you might see your tax cost just gets spread around different states.

But, that’s expensive to do because all of those tax returns, they’re very expensive. Think about your own tax return, think about what your account charges you, I’m not going to say it starts on 50, but it’s not cheap.

You’re going to have to file tax returns in every state, you’re going to have to file partnership returns in every state. Depending on your structure, you’re going to have file personal income tax returns in every state reporting higher income flows through.

It’s going to be a disaster and it’s going to be expensive and part of the reason why you may be protected, there’s a lot out there that might protect you.

So, before you just go jumping into the fire, do some homework, watch my videos, reach out to me and let’s talk.

And again, I’m coming from it, I’m a lawyer, I’ve been doing this for over 12 years, I teach at a law school, state and local tax and constitutional law.

I don’t do tax returns, I don’t fill out forms, you know, those companies that do that often don’t have lawyers, and so I strongly suggest you understand that this is a legal issue and I hope that you will not just take for granted this idea that the answers are no and that you’re definitely on the hook for everything.

There’s so much more and I can’t wait to tell you more about it. Thanks so much, have a great day.