Title: Protecting Businesses from Burdensome Compliance Cost Act of 2019
Policy area: Taxation

Summary:
Protecting Businesses from Burdensome Compliance Cost Act of 2019
This bill limits the authority of a state to require a remote seller to collect (1) a tax or fee owed by a purchaser located in the state incident to a purchase of a good or service from the seller, and (2) information incident to the purchase. A remote seller is a seller with no physical presence in the state in which the purchaser is located at the time of the purchase.
A state may not impose the requirements for collecting taxes or fees and related information on a remote seller unless the purchase occurs after this bill takes effect and the tax or fee is imposed under a statute in effect in the state where the purchaser is located at the time of the purchase. A subdivision of a state may not impose the requirements on a remote seller.
The tax or fee must apply to purchases throughout the state of the good or service. The rate must be uniform and may not exceed the combined rate of the state and local taxes and fees payable by purchasers in the state of the good or service from sellers physically present in the state.
The state statute may not require the seller to (1) remit the taxes or fees to more than one location, or (2) provide information about the purchaser other than the zip code of the purchase and the aggregate amount of fees or taxes collected in a particular zip code.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 379 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 379

To limit the authority of a State to require remote sellers to collect 
 taxes and fees owed by purchasers then located in such State incident 
  to their purchases of goods and services from such sellers, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 9, 2019

  Mr. Gibbs (for himself and Mr. Gianforte) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To limit the authority of a State to require remote sellers to collect 
 taxes and fees owed by purchasers then located in such State incident 
  to their purchases of goods and services from such sellers, and for 
                            other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Businesses from 
Burdensome Compliance Cost Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY OF STATES TO REQUIRE REMOTE SELLERS TO 
              COLLECT TAXES AND FEES OWED BY PURCHASERS OF GOODS AND 
              SERVICES.

    (a) Limitation.--Except as provided in subsection (b), a State may 
not require a remote seller--
            (1) to collect a tax or fee owed by a purchaser then 
        located in such State incident to the purchase of a good or 
        service from such seller, or
            (2) to collect information incident to the purchase of a 
        such good or service from such seller by such purchaser,
if such seller does not have a physical presence in such State at the 
time of such purchase.
    (b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to the 
purchase of a good or service if--
            (1) such purchase occurs after the effective date of this 
        Act,
            (2) the tax or fee described in such subsection--
                    (A) is imposed only on a purchaser pursuant to a 
                statute then in effect in the State in which the 
                purchaser is located at the time of such purchase, and
                    (B) is also payable incident to purchases 
                throughout such State of such good or service, and 
                payable at a uniform rate that does not exceed the 
                combined rate of the State and local taxes and fees 
                payable by purchasers in such State of such good or 
                service from sellers physically present in such State 
                at the time of such purchases, and
            (3) such statute does not require a remote seller--
                    (A) to remit to more than a single location in such 
                State, taxes and fees owed by purchasers then located 
                in such State and collected by such seller, or
                    (B) to provide to such State any information about 
                such purchasers, other than--
                            (i) the zip code areas in which such 
                        purchasers were located in such State at the 
                        time of the purchases, and
                            (ii) the aggregate amount of such taxes or 
                        fees collected by such seller owed by such 
                        purchasers in a particular zip code area.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF AUTHORITY OF SUBDIVISIONS OF STATES.

    A subdivision of a State may not require a remote seller--
            (1) to collect a tax or fee owed by a purchaser then 
        located in such State (or in such subdivision) incident to the 
        purchase of a good or service from such seller, or
            (2) to collect information incident to such purchase.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) Remote seller.--The term ``remote seller'' means a 
        person that sells a good or service and that does not have a 
        physical presence in the State in which purchaser is located at 
        the time the purchase of such good or service occurs.
            (2) State.--The term ``State'' means any of the several 
        States, the District of Columbia, or a commonwealth, territory, 
        or possession of the United States.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2020, and shall apply with 
respect to purchases that occur on and after such date.
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