Online Taxes

By the end of 2024, over 30 sales tax holidays took place across 20 states, offering shoppers temporary tax breaks on items such as school supplies, clothing and appliances. These events are designed to drive consumer spending and boost retailers’ bottom lines, but for many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), they're more of a burden…

Retail has rapidly evolved since the start of the pandemic. Over the past two years, we watched as e-commerce adoption soared throughout 2020 in response to restrictions around in-person shopping. More recently, we’ve witnessed a surge in omnichannel retail as consumers returned to stores, but held on tightly to online shopping. All of these changes…

Retail operations have had to change drastically over the last year or so. The pandemic pushed more commerce online and has since accelerated omnichannel commerce as consumers demand flexibility in their shopping experiences. In fact, nearly 90 percent of retailers agree that a seamless omnichannel strategy is critical for business success. However, for omnichannel strategies…

Yes, your Beanie Babies got more expensive! Step by step, we traded the convenience of home shopping for price increases. Remember the good ole’ times when your internet purchases weren't taxed? Those times made way for a system where you were charged taxes but only when the seller was in the same state or country.…

The first half of 2021 was busy for tax policy changes in the U.S. In its mid-year sales tax changes report, Avalara uncovered some of the major changes impacting business this year, including how states are reconsidering COVID-19 tax relief policies, examining benefits of broadening the tax base, and continuing to pass remote sales tax…

It was no April Fool’s joke when the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) changed the sales tax compliance requirements on April 1. As part of the Massachusetts Advance Payment Program, two big tax changes went into effect for qualifying retailers: one, the requirement to report sales tax is on an entirely different schedule from the…

The pandemic-fueled acceleration of e-commerce led to record growth in domestic e-commerce sales in 2020. However, as domestic sales have grown, so have the number of cross-border e-commerce sales. According to Worldpay, 55 percent of online shoppers worldwide have purchased from another country in the last 12 months. The uptick in cross-border sales makes sense…

E-commerce can boil all the hustle, bustle and stress that accompanies an in-store shopping experience down to a few clicks or taps. For retailers, e-commerce is a chance to simplify the customer journey and stand out as a convenient and user-friendly shopping resource. While it’s wonderful, it’s not without its complications. Like traditional commerce, internet…

As one of the most dynamic sources of state and local revenue, sales tax is subject to frequent change. Each year, Avalara explores emerging trends in its annual sales tax changes report. In 2021, we expect to see additional COVID-19 tax relief programs, new economic nexus and marketplace facilitator laws, and more state efforts to…

The holiday shopping season is upon us and many retailers have shifted their focus to building up inventory and staffing in preparation for a longer-than-usual online shopping season. While retailers go through this process every year, preparing for holiday shoppers this year comes with an added layer of uncertainty as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and…