I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5893 

To regulate certain State impositions on interstate commerce. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 14, 2016 

Mr. SENSENBRENNER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To regulate certain State impositions on interstate commerce. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Regulation Without 

5 Representation Act of 2016’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MINIMUM JURISDICTIONAL STANDARDS FOR STATE 

7 AND LOCAL SALES AND USE TAX COLLEC8 TION. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—A State may— 

10 (1) impose an obligation on a person for— 

11 (A) the collection of a sales, use, or similar 

12 tax, or 


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1 (B) the reporting of any information with 

2 respect thereto, on a person, 

3 (2) assess a sales, use or similar tax on a per4 son, or 

5 (3) treat a person as doing business in a State 

6 for purposes of such a tax, 

7 only if such person had a physical presence in the State 

8 during the calendar quarter with respect to which the obli9 gation or assessment is imposed. 

10 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR PHYSICAL PRESENCE.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 

12 (a), a person has a physical presence in a State only 

13 if such person’s business activities in the State in14 clude any of the following during the calendar 

15 year— 

16 (A) owns, holds a leasehold interest in, or 

17 maintains real property such as a retail store, 

18 warehouse, distribution center, manufacturing 

19 operation, or assembly facility in the State; 

20 (B) leases or owns tangible personal prop21 erty (other than computer software) of more 

22 than de minimis value in the State; 

23 (C) has one or more employees, agents or 

24 independent contractors present in the State 

25 who engage in specific solicitations toward obVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Aug 01, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5893.IH H5893

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1 taining product or service orders from cus2 tomers in that State, or prospective customers 

3 in that State, on behalf of the person; 

4 (D) has one or more employees or inde5 pendent contractors present in the State who 

6 provide on-site design, installation, or repair 

7 services on behalf of the remote seller; or 

8 (E) maintains an office in the State at 

9 which it regularly employs three or more em10 ployees for any purpose. 

11 (2) DE MINIMIS PHYSICAL PRESENCE.—For 

12 purposes of this section, the term ‘‘physical pres13 ence’’ shall not include— 

14 (A) entering into an agreement under 

15 which a person, for a commission or other con16 sideration, directly or indirectly refers potential 

17 purchasers to a person outside the State, 

18 whether by an Internet-based link or platform, 

19 Internet Web site or otherwise; 

20 (B) any presence in a State, as described 

21 in section 2(b)(1), for less than 15 days in a 

22 taxable year (or a greater number of days if 

23 provided by State law); 


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1 (C) delivery and product placement serv2 ices offered by an interstate or in-State com3 mon carrier; and 

4 (D) Internet advertising services provided 

5 by in-State residents which are not exclusively 

6 directed towards, or do not solicit exclusively, 

7 in-State customers. 

8 (c) PROTECTION OF NON-SELLERS.—A State may 

9 not impose a sales or use tax collection obligation, or an 

10 obligation to report any information with respect thereto, 

11 on a person or assess a sales, use or similar tax on any 

12 person other than a purchaser or a seller having a physical 

13 presence in the State. 

14 SEC. 3. DISPUTE RESOLUTION. 

15 The district courts of the United States shall have 

16 original jurisdiction over civil actions to enforce the provi17 sions of this Act, including authority to issue declaratory 

18 judgments pursuant to section 2201 of title 28, United 

19 States Code, and, notwithstanding the provisions of sec20 tion 1341 of such title, injunctive relief, as necessary to 

21 carry out this Act. 

22 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS AND EFFECTIVE DATE. 

23 (a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act: 

24 (1) MARKETPLACE PROVIDER.—The term 

25 ‘‘marketplace provider’’ includes any person, other 


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1 than a seller, who facilitates a sale. For purposes of 

2 this subsection, a person facilitates a sale when the 

3 person both— 

4 (A) lists or advertises tangible personal 

5 property and services for sale in any forum, in6 cluding a catalog or Internet Web site; and 

7 (B) either directly or indirectly through 

8 agreements or arrangements with third parties, 

9 collects gross receipts from the customer and 

10 transmits those receipts to the marketplace sell11 er, whether or not such person deducts any fees 

12 from the transmission of those receipts to the 

13 marketplace seller. 

14 (2) MARKETPLACE SELLER.—The term ‘‘mar15 ketplace seller’’ means a person that has any sales 

16 facilitated by a marketplace provider. 

17 (3) REFERRER.—The term ‘‘referrer’’ shall 

18 mean every person who— 

19 (A) contracts or otherwise agrees with a 

20 seller to list multiple items of tangible personal 

21 property and services for sale and the sales 

22 prices thereof in any forum, including a catalog 

23 or Internet Web site; 

24 (B) receives a fee, commission, or other 

25 consideration from a seller for the listing; 


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1 (C) transfers, via telephone, Internet link, 

2 or otherwise, a customer to the seller or the 

3 seller’s Web site to complete a purchase; and 

4 (D) does not collect receipts from the cus5 tomer for the transaction. 

6 (4) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ has the 

7 meaning given such term by section 1 of title 1 of 

8 the United States Code. Each corporation that is a 

9 member of a group of affiliated corporations, wheth10 er unitary or not, is itself a separate ‘‘person’’. 

11 (5) SELLER.—The term ‘‘seller’’ does not in12 clude— 

13 (A) any marketplace provider; 

14 (B) any referrer; 

15 (C) any carrier, in which the seller does 

16 not have an ownership interest, providing trans17 portation or delivery services with respect to 

18 tangible personal property; and 

19 (D) any credit card issuer, transaction or 

20 billing processor, or other financial inter21 mediary. 

22 (6) SIMILAR TAX.—The term ‘‘similar tax’’ 

23 means a tax that is imposed with respect to the sale 

24 or use of a product or service, regardless whether 

25 the tax is imposed on the person making the sale or 


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1 the purchaser, with the right or obligation of the 

2 person making the sale to obtain reimbursement for 

3 the amount of the tax from the purchaser at the 

4 time of the transaction. 

5 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the sev6 eral States, the District of Columbia, the Common7 wealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 

8 United States Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of 

9 the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other terri10 tory or possession of the United States and includes 

11 the State government or political subdivision entity 

12 responsible for tax collection and audits. 

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall apply with re14 spect to calendar quarters beginning on or after January 

15 1, 2017. 

Æ 


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