Virginia affiliate tax

Virginia already makes online sales to in-state residences/businesses taxable.

Been paying that tax for years...

KJ

That's true....this bill is strictly for affiliates and is what killed the affiliate biz for NY. I'm already getting emails from a variety of vendors I promote basically telling me that if it passes they'll pull the plug on anyone based in VA.

Worst thing to do in a recession is to raise taxes. Wonder if they have every heard of the Laffer curve.

Sign up here to help fight it: http://www.performancemarketingassociation.com

Here's an email I just got with info on what you can do to help:
The advertising tax is quickly moving through the Virginia state senate. The finance committee approved the bill (SB 660), and it will go to the senate floor for a vote on Tuesday, February 16th. If this law passes, merchants will terminate Virginia affiliates (it happened in NC, RI and NY).

Brick and mortar retailers are behind this bill in a big way. We need to show the senate that this law will hurt thousands of affiliate businesses if it passes. We need a large show of force.

We urgently need your help to send emails to state senators before end of business Monday the 15th.

It's important but simple - just copy and paste!

We need you to send one type of letter to all senators, and another type of letter to your personal senator. Templates and key points we have found to be the most effective are below.

Link to Virginia senators email addresses:
Senate of Virginia - Email Lists

Link to find your own state senator:
Welcome to the Virginia General Assembly - Who's My Legislator?

Key points to keep in mind:

• Be extremely polite and respectful. Do not express your frustration over the bill or the process.
• The following points address what we feel they need to understand:
  • You oppose the bill because it doesn't help Virginia's budget, and it will devastate your income.
  • You have a website and you earn an income by providing ads on your website.
  • You advertise, you do not sell. You have nothing to do with any transaction. You don't take money. You don't deliver a product. You probably don't know who the customer is. You advertise and refer traffic to advertisers, that's it.
  • Describe a little about your business or web sites (in simplest terms) and why affiliate marketing is important to you.
  • If passed, your out-of-state retailers will most likely terminate, like they did in New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island. And your income will be devastated.

Template - for all senators
Subject: I oppose SB 660 - Dealer registration for sales and use taxes

Dear Senator [ ]:

I strongly oppose SB 660, the dealer registration tax bill. If this bill passes, the state will NOT gain additional taxes, and my small business income will be devastated in the process.

My income is earned by selling advertising on web pages. [recommended: insert a few words describing your websites, and why affiliate marketing is important to you - keep it simple!]

If SB 660 passes, out-of-state retailers for whom I advertise will terminate our partnerships. When similar laws were passed in New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island, over 200 retailers terminated their affiliate programs, and many have promised to do the same in Virginia. If these retailers terminate my partnership, my income will be devastated.

This law would be futile: Virginia will not collect any new sales taxes, and my business will be destroyed in the process.

I respectfully request you reject SB 660. It will not earn any additional tax revenue for Virginia, and it will damage my business in the process.

Sincerely,

Template - for your personal senator
Subject: I oppose SB 660 - Dealer registration for sales and use taxes

Dear Senator [ ]:

I live in your district and I strongly oppose SB 660, the dealer registration tax bill. If this bill passes, the state will NOT gain additional taxes, and my small business income will be devastated in the process.

My income is earned by selling advertising on web pages. [recommended: insert a few words describing your websites, and why affiliate marketing is important to you - keep it simple!]

If SB 660 passes, out-of-state retailers for whom I advertise will terminate our partnerships. When similar laws were passed in New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island, over 200 retailers terminated their affiliate programs, and many have promised to do the same in Virginia. If these retailers terminate my partnership, my income will be devastated.

This law would be futile: Virginia will not collect any new sales taxes, and my business will be destroyed in the process.

As one of your constituents, I respectfully request you reject SB 660. It will not earn any additional tax revenue for Virginia, and it will damage my business in the process.

You can find your district for the email list above here (click the + sign next to District after you enter your info):
https://www.voterinfo.sbe.virginia.g...ookieSupport=1

If you live in VA, you need to send your senator an email and even call them Feb 15th - it goes in for a vote this week.

Nevada... also the only state that upholds the no personal liability for single owner LLCs

I spoke with the VA senator's office and they listened to me and confirmed the receipt of my email.

I also just found out that the bill is expected to pass in the VA Senate and then it's off to the House in 1-2 weeks. Even if you don't live in VA - we need your help since it can impact your state in the future.

Join performance marketing (free) asap to keep abreast of everything:
Performance Marketing Association

I just spoke with Rebecca (their executive director) and they need as much help as possible. I'll be at the hearings in VA as they come up - if you're nearby, PLEASE show up.

Whoa, this is a big deal. I live in Richmond, about 10 minutes away from the capital, so I'll definitely be showing up.

Time to write a letter to my senator.

Well...the bill passed in the Senate and now is off to the House sometime soon.

Anyone in VA - write and especially CALL your delegate and your Senator. The delegates are the people who control the House vote.

I just wanted to share with each of you what I received today from a particular merchant. It sounds as if Affiliates in Virginia, New York, Rhode Island , North Carolina are on the urge of loosing their affiliate business. Is this the beginning to the end of affiliate commissions?



Dear Drs. Foster and Smith Affiliate:

Here at Drs. Foster and Smith, we truly value the affiliate relationship with each and every publisher, as well as the dedication you have provided the program. Unfortunately, at this time we regret to inform you that we have chosen to remove all Virginia affiliates due to business reasons connected to the pending bill SB 660. Currently, this law is in effect in New York, Rhode Island, and North Carolina. The removal of all Virginia affiliates will be effective immediately as of February 17th, 2010.

Again, we appreciate and value your efforts to date and hope that we may again be able to resume the productive business relationships which we have enjoyed with you. We appreciate your understanding in the sudden decision of this matter and wish you the best.

Regards,
The Drs. Foster and Smith Affiliate Team

Reality:

To the legislature, "affiliate" means "scam"

They are not trying to swell the tax rolls. They are trying to get these scammers out of their state.

This might be stupid but how is being an affiliate really different than being an independent contractor? So if that passes (or has passed) in North Carolina (where I live) I cannot sell anything for anyone else and get paid a commission on someone else's product? Anyone have a plain English blog post or explanation because I just don't understand all the legal stuff!

I live in NC where Amazon and others pulled my account last year. You can still be an affiliate n NC for any company that will deal with you but the State now expects you to pay them the sales tax on each sale and of course I and every other marketer in NC are complying 100%. Amazon and many other big stores wanted to get caught up in the mess that may occur if one of their affiliates were to not pay the tax.

Get used to it. I don't think any State is 'safe' to own a business. Pretty soon there will be a 'walk out the front door' tax. The Government will put a bucket outside your front door and you'll have to pay to leave your own house.

I used to be on the same side as the fence as you guys, but then I did some in depth digging, and found stuff most of you are not aware of.

Here's the poop: unless you physically cross a state line to make a purchase, you are responsible for reporting and paying in state sales tax on any purchase you make from an out of state business. Believe it or not, this is done on the honor system.

Unfortunately, the honor system doesn't exactly work, so what are states to do?

Of course, the ideal solution would be for states to ditch sales tax altogether, and make up for it in other ways. But that's too good an idea to implement, so now they have to constantly dig up convoluted ideas to perpetuate a system that has obviously been obsoleted by technology.

Maybe I should run for office? Nah, the entire east coast would explode from common sense overload, and that wouldn't be good for anyone.

"Affiliate biz is fine in NY, Amazon did not cut bait and neither did alot of other high end affiliates."


yeah..I believe the NY affiliate base was so strong for amazon, they decided it was worthwhile to charge the sales tax in that state.