I was ready to jump on the Amazon bandwagon since the holiday's are coming up. But, I was shocked to see that they are no longer accepting Affiliates from North Carolina... It seems are state government has created some outrageous tax that Amazon would not agree to. They lobbied against it but the state is trying to fill a budget gap. I had my products picked out and my articles written for traffic... I've got to stay on top of the news...
Yeah, 'cause it's pretty old news. I'm surprised I was accepted though, seeing as I'm from one of the smallest states.
Don't blame Amazon for this! A few others have followed them and more will in the future. You need to make your views known to your political masters who ruled on this. It will only lower state revenues.
From what I've been able to find out, it looks as if people lobbied hard against it, but in the end the state wouldn't listen. The articles I read stated that Amazon even sent representatives to the state floor to plead the case of the affiliates. I'm sure they hated to lose that revenue just as bad as those who were already affiliates.
Yeah it does suck for North Carolina affiliate marketers. They are not alone though. I believe New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut are following suit as well. On the bright side, it means less competition.
I had the same thought because my LLC is registered in Delaware. I sent an email to Amazon to see if it was possible and this was their response: "The payee address on your account should reflect your primary residence or place of business. If this information is incorrect, please make the appropriate changes online through Associates Central. You may be asked to provide proof of residency at your new address. If so, we will contact you with instructions on what documentation to provide and the submission process." If they ask for proof of your actual, physical address, it won't work. I haven't tried yet - still deciding if it's worth it. Thanks, Jean
If you have a family member in another state, you may want to have them apply and share the revenue with them.
If you register an LLC in Delaware for example you should be able to open a bank account with a bank there. You can have funds deposited to that bank and then use online banking to move funds to the account you want. There are online sites that will help you set everything up for a fee of course but make sure you do due diligence, get references from other business owners they have helped. And the sweet thing Delaware is a tax free state
And now it looks like more states are going to follow suit - New Mexico, Virginia Mississippi and Colorado are considering applying this affiliate tax from what I`m reading. http://www.amnavigator.com/blog/category/affiliate-advertising-tax/
What are you reading????? There is no such thing as an affiliate tax..... It is the states collecting sales taxes they would normally collect in the online world and Amazon & others think they can avoid paying these sales taxes by eliminating their affiliates from each of the states that are going to or are collecting their sales tax. Once all 50 states pass the state tax legislation Amazon will be forced to face facts and allow the affiliates back into the program or they will lose a tremendous sales force, that will negatively impact Amazon's bottom line if they disappear.
I think you`re playing on words. Here’s an excerpt from the Colorado bill: (II) (A) Commencing March 1, 2010, if a retailer enters into an agreement with an affiliate under which the affiliate, for a commission or other consideration, directly or indirectly refers potential customers, whether by a link on an Internet web site or otherwise, to the retailer, then the affiliate shall be presumed to have solicited business on behalf of such retailer and such retailer is deemed to be doing business in this state.
No I am not State Sales Tax - you (if you are a USA resident) and millions of others living in the USA have paid it every time you conduct a real world transaction involving the payment of money, for goods or services taxable by state law. Online the US consumer has not had to pay State Sales Taxes due to a moratorium that was placed on Internet Sales to prevent States from collecting Sales Tax from its residents. The current economic downturn and lack of federal dollars to support each of the states will dictate and end to the moratorium on non collection of State Sales Taxes. If you can find a real world usage of the word "affiliate" or "affiliate tax" in legislation covering taxes before the Internet e-commerce period, I will be very very surprised. The term affiliate in the Colorado legislation could also be used to mean commission sales person.... If you re-read the paragraph what it states is any Retailer (Amazon, Zappos etc) who pays someone a commission is said to be operating in the aforementioned State, and thus must pay State Sales Tax to said State. It won't matter how it is phrased as the law will also cover anyone who purchases items or services from the Retailer.... Basically no matter how its written or twisted, any transaction by any retailer unless a IRS recognized non-profit in said State, will be responsible to pay State Sales Tax....