Another factor in calculating sales tax losses is the tax compliance by sellers and purchasers. For instance, there is uncertainty about the amount of tax collected by sellers. Many remote sellers collect tax only in one or two states, but others collect tax in all states. Some collect no tax at all. Where a seller does not collect the tax, the buyer is usually required to self-impose the tax.
Disagreements arise in use tax compliance by businesses.
Unfortunately, little hard data on business compliance is available. According to the report, only 2 of 17 states were able to provide impirical evidence of use tax compliance by businesses. These two states, Washington and Wisconsin, found from use tax audits that about 80 percent of the use tax owed by businesses was paid voluntarily. This 80 percent figure is one that is cited frequently by state and local tax experts in support of the assertion that sales tax losses from B2B sales is not a significant problem. The extent to which Internet sales displace other types of remote sales .