Eagle Tribune – Virginia company sues Mass. over online taxes
NetChoice — a group that represents online retailers including Overstock.com, eBay and PayPal — argues that the Baker administration doesn’t have the authority to tax businesses with no actual presence in Massachusetts.
The group filed a legal challenge earlier this year blocking a similar policy that was supposed to go into effect July 1. Revenue officials rewrote the rules to get around issues raised by a state judge and imposed a Oct. 1 start date for the new policy.
NetChoice Director Steve DelBianco said the case could set a precedent.
“Crutchfield’s lawsuit relies on an existing Virginia law designed to protect Virginia businesses from the reach of a tax collector from a state where the business has no physical presence whatsoever — which is exactly what Massachusetts is trying to do,” he said.