Amazon to Texas: Adios!
Amazon.com shutting Irving office over tax dispute
As a result of an ongoing tax dispute with Texas, Amazon.com has decided to take its ball and go home.
The online retailer said Thursday that it would shutter its Irving distribution facility April 12 and cancel plans to hire as many as 1,000 additional workers rather than pay Texas what the state says is owed in uncollected sales tax.
Texas wants $269 million from Seattle-based Amazon in past-due sales tax. It sent the bill to the company last October. Dallas News.
Someone In California noticed that, on his first purchase of this year, Amazon did in fact add an estimated sales tax amount to his invoice and include it on his credit card charge. This is something they weren’t doing in past years.
More details about this:
Amazon’s wording about this is very confusing, and, until I received my credit card statement, it wasn’t completely clear to me whether the “estimated” tax was going to be charged on my credit card. It was charged, and I was billed for the “grand total”, as below.
Here is the precise wording on Amazon’s invoice (amounts made up but arithmetic is more or less right):
Total Before Tax: $34.56
Estimated Tax To Be Collected: $3.35
Grand Total: $37.91
Amazon doesn’t indicate anywhere who is going to be paying the State of California, but I assume it’s got to be Amazon, since they have the money.
As a consumer/taxpayer, I don’t know how my tax return next year will be affected by what the State and Amazon are doing… assuming there’s some kind of coordination on this.
It may be that the word “estimated” is used because sales tax in California varies according to county and city taxes. It’s a nightmare for anyone involved. I think for use tax there’s a high figure that covers everywhere in the state. Maybe Amazon is using the word “estimated” because they can’t figure it out either. 
I haven’t done enough online ordering of physical goods from online vendors this year to see who else follows Amazon’s pattern. Webmaster World.
Texas users, expect that as well!
