Bradley Partner Bruce Ely Quoted in Bloomberg Law on Wal-Mart’s Stance on Online Sales Tax

Bradley attorney Bruce Ely was quoted in Bloomberg Law on Wal-Mart’s continued push for sales tax on e-commerce despite the purchase of discount e-retailer Jet.com. With stores in all 50 states, Wal-Mart faces a sales tax burden on all online sales while many of their competitors do not.

“I suppose that Wal-Mart could use a separate legal entity to purchase Jet and then argue that the dotcom entity does not have nexus for purposes of sales and use taxes,” said Ely. While that was common in the 1980s and 1990s, many states now require companies to report the sales of affiliates, which would negate such planning, Ely explained.

The complete article, “Wal-Mart’s Grab of Jet.com Won’t Alter Online Tax Stance,” appeared in Bloomberg Law on August 24, 2016.