What Small Business Owners Need To Know About Taxes And Selling Online In The Covid-19 Era

Covid-19 and the social distancing it requires has pushed more of our purchasing online. In fact, since March an extra $107 billion has been spent online, according to Adobe Analytics.

For small business owners forced to close their doors for months and now still seeing dramatic drops in walk-in traffic, that online shift and exposure to new customers has likely been a lifeline. But it also may mean they aren’t charging the necessary sales tax on those purchases. According to a recent survey by Avalara, only about half of businesses are familiar with the sales tax rules for online transactions with customers in other states.

As state and local governments are grappling with major budget deficits over the coming year, they’re going to be diligent about collecting all the tax they’re due. That means online sales taxes could potentially be a big area of focus for state tax collectors.

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