What eCommerce Sellers Need to Know About the Wayfair Oral Arguments

Here's a link to the full video broadcast, if you'd rather watch the video.



This week Dan Peisner and I discuss our reactions to the oral arguments that just took place at the US Supreme Court in the Wayfair case. It's been 25 years since the Supremes took up a sales tax nexus case, so it's a big deal. A large majority of observers have been predicting the overturn of Quill ever since the Supreme Court granted cert in the Wayfair matter, but many of them might be rethinking their predictions after the oral arguments. We'll give you our take on the case.



Here are some of the questions we addressed in this episode.

What is the background on Quill? 02:30

How did the Court rule in Quill? 04:30

Does Quill mandate that seller must have a physical presence? 04:55

Can you have nexus in a state without any physical presence? 07:15

Why would any state be against overturning Quill? 08:15

How many people thought that the Court would overturn Quill? 09:25

Will overturning Quill mean that sellers will have to know all the sales tax rules in 45 states? 10:16

If you just make one sale in a state do you have nexus? 11:50

Will taxpayers be subject to audits in other states? 12:45

How much do sales tax audits cost on average? 14:57

Can taxpayers extinguish a sales tax liability in bankruptcy? 17:20

Can you go to jail if you fail to remit sales taxes? 17:35

Did the Supreme Court seemed to be concerned overall with the cost of compliance to small businesses? 20:31

Was Malcolm Stewart arguing on behalf of South Dakota or did he end up damaging their case? 22:47

If the Court overturns Quill, can it be done prospectively? 24:15

Did Justice Alito say that every state will go after every possible penny? 27:32

Was there any big moment where you could say that South Dakota scored a hit? 28:50

Did Notice and Reporting come up in the arguments? 29:25

Will the states compromise and create comprehensive reform? 30:55

Will more states enact Notice and Reporting rules? 32:21

What did Justice Kagan say about how Quill helped Amazon to succeed initially and how that overturning Quill will now benefit Amazon? 33:30

How does Amazon win big if Quill is overturned? 35:15

What is Dan's prediction on how the ruling will come down? 38:18

Did Chief Justice Roberts indicate that the problem seems to be correcting itself? 39:28

Links to items mentioned in the podcast:



James Sutton article in National Review



Transcript of Oral Arguments