Lamar Whitman Posts

The “Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA),” S. 743, has passed the Senate, and an identical House version, H.R. 684, is now pending in the House Judiciary Committee. This legislation would require businesses to collect and remit state sales taxes on sales of goods and services made into other states. This poses certain problems. For example, say a computer services company is headquartered in Virginia, but services clients in Maryland, Illinois and California.  Even if the Virginia bu ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission has re-opened the comment period through November 4 for regulations issued under “the JOBS Act” concerning crowdfunding. Since its release of amendments to Regulation D, Form D and Rule 156 on July 24, concern has been growing in the startup community that the SEC rules go against the spirit of the JOBS Act by requiring additional compliance steps not envisioned in the law. More specifically, the SEC’s rules implementing removal of the ban ...

We’ve written in the past about legislation that would require all businesses marketing goods or services to collect sales tax on behalf of each state into which the business sells products or services. Our main concern has always been the additional compliance burden this would place on all business, disproportionately affecting small businesses. Late last week, House Judiciary Committee (HJC) Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) set out his seven “Basic Principles on Remote ...

Continuing efforts to gather support for S. 193, “the Startup Innovation Credit Act of 2013,” we’re urging tech SMBs and entrepreneurs to participate in the TechVoice “Tweet Support for Startups” on October 30. All TechVoice members, as well as their member companies, will be encouraged to tweet their senators and Senate staff to ask for support and co-sponsorship of the legislation. Because the companion bill has not yet been introduced in the House, Tweet Day will ...

CompTIA and TechVoice recently joined the Tax Innovation Equality Coalition. This group is a player in the ongoing tax reform debate, particularly with respect to issues facing larger tech companies. This coalition supports: Implementation of a territorial tax system, which does not double tax income earned by U.S. multinational corporations overseas. Lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate so it is competitive with those of other developed nations. Equal tax treatment for any industry or type of ...

Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) took part in a TechVoice event on August 19 in Charlotte, NC, co-sponsored by CompTIA, the North Carolina Technology Association and the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. During the hour-long session, McHenry fielded questions from moderators Melanie Chernoff, public policy manager at Red Hat, Inc., and Ron Culler, CTO at Secure Designs, Inc. The topics ranged from cybersecurity and data breach to tax reform, and McHenry showed a strong commitment to and understan ...

CompTIA recently submitted testimony to the Senate Small Business Committee for a roundtable discussion on the effects of tax reform on small businesses. The event featured an open discussion on tax reform by representatives of the small business community. The Senate Finance Committee will ultimately consider the record of this event as part of its tax reform deliberations. CompTIA’s testimony called for tax code simplification; reduction of tax burden on SMB IT firms; growth and innovati ...

Yesterday, the Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act (“MFA”) by a vote of 69-27.  The MFA compels online and catalog retailers ("remote sellers"), no matter where they are located, to collect sales tax at the time of a transaction and remit to states where the customer resides. States are only granted the authority to collect these taxes after they have simplified their sales tax laws. This legislation (S. 743) now moves to the House, where its fate is less certain. &n ...

Interest is growing in the "Marketplace Fairness Act" recently introduced in the House by Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) (H.R. 684) and in the Senate by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) (S. 336). This legislation would require businesses to collect and remit state sales taxes on sales of goods and services made into other states. For states that have a sales tax, the Marketplace Fairness Act is a good thing. But for businesses, this legislation will result in additional compliance costs, and these costs will dis ...

Last week, the New York Court of Appeals ruled in a case brought by Amazon and Overstock.com that non-resident sellers offering products through a New York website will be required to collect New York sales taxes on sales made into the state. This collection requirement would apply even though the out-of-state business has no other presence in the state. In its ruling, the court analogized selling through a New York-based website to having a physical present in the state: “ … if a v ...