Arizona 2024 2024 Regular Session

Arizona Senate Bill SB1556 Comm Sub / Analysis

Filed 02/01/2024

                    Assigned to FICO 	FOR COMMITTEE 
*Pending Committee Assignment
 
 
 
ARIZONA STATE SENATE 
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, Second Regular Session 
 
FACT SHEET FOR S.B. 1556 
 
TPT; administration; remote sellers 
Purpose 
Allows a remote seller to elect to pay a single municipal tax rate (single rate) and prescribes 
requirements for administration of the single rate. Extends reciprocity, if another state tax agency 
extends comity for remote seller administration and if a central clearinghouse is established, to 
remote sellers for communicating through state tax agencies and remitting taxes from state to state. 
Background 
On June 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. 
previous decisions made by the same court in 1967 (National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Illinois 
Department of Revenue) and 1992 (Quill Corp. v. North Dakota), which both held that only 
businesses with a physical presence inside a state may be required to collect that state's sales tax. 
If a business did not have nexus in the state, and therefore did not collect the tax, then the buyer 
was required to pay use tax instead. 
Laws 2019, Chapter 273 established the economic nexus thresholds under which a remote 
seller must collect and remit tax on retail sales in Arizona. If a remote seller does not conduct sales 
through a marketplace facilitator, economic nexus applies if the gross proceeds of sales or gross 
income derived from sales in Arizona exceed $100,000 within a calendar year. If the threshold is 
met midyear, the remote seller must obtain a transaction privilege tax (TPT) license from the 
Arizona Department of Revenue (ADOR) and begin remitting the tax on the first day of the month 
that starts at least 30 days after the threshold is met. 
If requiring a remote seller to pay TPT on the taxable sales, rather than the gross proceeds 
of sales or gross income derived from sales, results in a change in taxes remitted, there may be a 
fiscal impact to the state General Fund. 
Provisions 
Single Municipal Tax Rate 
1. Allows a remote seller, beginning in calendar year 2025, to elect to pay a single rate, rather 
than the tax rate for each individual municipality, after notifying ADOR of the election. 
2. Applies the single rate election to all taxable retail sales of tangible personal property, unless 
the remote seller revokes the election by notifying ADOR.  
3. Sets the single rate in a calendar year at the average of all municipal tax rates for the preceding 
fiscal year.   FACT SHEET 
S.B. 1556 
Page 2 
 
 
4. Requires ADOR, as soon as practicable after the end of each fiscal year, to determine the 
average rate of municipal taxes during the preceding fiscal year and the single rate for the 
following calendar year.  
5. Specifies that a remote seller is not liable for any additional amount of municipal taxes if the 
remote seller elects to use the single rate.  
6. Requires ADOR to administer, collect and enforce the single rate in the same manner as other 
local excise taxes. 
7. Allows ADOR to adopt rules and publish and prescribe forms necessary to administer the 
single rate.  
Remote Seller Sales 
8. Requires, beginning in calendar year 2025, a remote seller with more than $100,000 of taxable 
sales, rather than $100,000 of gross proceeds of sales or gross income derived from sales, to 
pay the required retail TPT and use tax.  
9. Requires a remote seller that meets the sales threshold midyear to pay the required taxes 
beginning January 1 of the following year, rather than the first day of the month following the 
threshold being met.  
State-to-State Central Clearinghouse 
10. Requires ADOR, if another state tax agency extends comity to Arizona for remote seller tax 
administration, to allow a remote seller to communicate exclusively through the state tax 
agency of the state in which the remote seller is located, including allowing the remote seller 
to report and remit the tax owed to Arizona to the state tax agency of the state in which the 
remote seller is located for that state tax agency to remit to Arizona on behalf of the remote 
seller. 
11. Requires ADOR, in conjunction with other state tax officials and if a central clearinghouse is 
established, to use the central clearinghouse to accept all tax returns and remittances for remote 
sellers.  
12. Requires ADOR to cooperate with other state tax agencies in the development of the central 
clearinghouse. 
Compliant Purchaser 
13. Requires ADOR to prescribe a compliant purchaser certificate for a purchaser that purchases 
tangible personal property for resale from a remote seller that allows the purchaser to pay the 
TPT that the remote seller would have been required to pay directly to ADOR. 
14. Allows ADOR to establish criteria for a purchaser to qualify for the compliant purchaser 
certificate, an application process and reporting and remittance requirements to taxes owed.   FACT SHEET 
S.B. 1556 
Page 3 
 
 
15. Specifies that a remote seller that obtains a compliant purchaser certificate from a purchaser 
has no obligation to collect, remit or pay the TPT for that sale and deems the purchaser liable 
for an amount equal to any tax, penalty and interest the seller would have been required to pay. 
Miscellaneous 
16. Allows ADOR to adopt rules and publish and prescribe forms necessary to administer the 
single rate and state-to-state tax administration for remote sellers.  
17. Exempts ADOR from rulemaking for one year. 
18. Defines terms. 
19. Designates this legislation as the Sales Tax Simplification Act of 2024. 
20. Contains a statement of legislative findings. 
21. Makes technical and conforming changes.  
22. Becomes effective on the general effective date.  
Prepared by Senate Research 
January 30, 2024 
MG/cs