Amazon.com will begin charging sales tax in Louisiana

Buying things online could get pricier after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a case recently that will lead to Louisiana collecting millions of dollars in sales tax lost to increasingly popular internet retailers.
The US Supreme Court would not hear a challenge to a Colorado law requiring online sellers such as Amazon.com to notify customers and the state of how much they owe in taxes.
Because the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, Amazon.com will begin charging sales tax to its customers in certain states.
Louisiana passed a similar law that will now take effect next month given the results of the Colorado case.
Vermilion Parish School Board Attorney Calvin “Woody” Woodruff informed the Vermilion school board members that the Louisiana Association of Tax Administrators came to an agreement with Amazon.com to begin charging sales tax from Louisiana residents who purchase items on line from Amazon.com.
Amazon.com will be collecting sales tax on Jan. 1, 2017. The online company will be registering with each parish’s tax collector. In Vermilion, it is the Vermilion Parish School Board.
Online shoppers always have owed state sales taxes on their purchases, but the rule has been widely ignored. States have spent years examining ways to capture those lost tax dollars, but their options are limited when the retailers are not based in the state.
Starting next year, Vermilion Parish residents will have to pay an average of 10 percent in state tax. If you purchase an item from Amazon.com for $100, after Jan. 1, 2017, it will cost you an extra $10 because of sales tax.
Vermilion Parish will get a percentage of that 10 percent collected.