Protecting Businesses from Burdensome Compliance Cost Act of 2019

I 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Businesses 4 from Burdensome Compliance Cost Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:47 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H379.IH H379 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 379 IH SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY OF STATES TO RE- 1 QUIRE REMOTE SELLERS TO COLLECT TAXES 2 AND FEES OWED BY PURCHASERS OF GOODS 3 AND SERVICES. 4 (a) LIMITATION.—Except as provided in subsection 5 (b), a State may not require a remote seller— 6 (1) to collect a tax or fee owed by a purchaser 7 then located in such State incident to the purchase 8 of a good or service from such seller, or 9 (2) to collect information incident to the pur- 10 chase of a such good or service from such seller by 11 such purchaser, 12 if such seller does not have a physical presence in such 13 State at the time of such purchase. 14 (b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply with 15 respect to the purchase of a good or service if— 16 (1) such purchase occurs after the effective date 17 of this Act, 18 (2) the tax or fee described in such sub- 19 section— 20 (A) is imposed only on a purchaser pursu- 21 ant to a statute then in effect in the State in 22 which the purchaser is located at the time of 23 such purchase, and 24 (B) is also payable incident to purchases 25 throughout such State of such good or service, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:47 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H379.IH H379 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 379 IH and payable at a uniform rate that does not ex- 1 ceed the combined rate of the State and local 2 taxes and fees payable by purchasers in such 3 State of such good or service from sellers phys- 4 ically present in such State at the time of such 5 purchases, and 6 (3) such statute does not require a remote sell- 7 er— 8 (A) to remit to more than a single location 9 in such State, taxes and fees owed by pur- 10 chasers then located in such State and collected 11 by such seller, or 12 (B) to provide to such State any informa- 13 tion about such purchasers, other than— 14 (i) the zip code areas in which such 15 purchasers were located in such State at 16 the time of the purchases, and 17 (ii) the aggregate amount of such 18 taxes or fees collected by such seller owed 19 by such purchasers in a particular zip code 20 area. 21 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF AUTHORITY OF SUBDIVISIONS OF 22 STATES. 23 A subdivision of a State may not require a remote 24 seller— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:47 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H379.IH H379 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 379 IH (1) to collect a tax or fee owed by a purchaser 1 then located in such State (or in such subdivision) 2 incident to the purchase of a good or service from 3 such seller, or 4 (2) to collect information incident to such pur- 5 chase. 6 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 7 For purposes of this Act: 8 (1) REMOTE SELLER.—The term ‘‘remote sell- 9 er’’ means a person that sells a good or service and 10 that does not have a physical presence in the State 11 in which purchaser is located at the time the pur- 12 chase of such good or service occurs. 13 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 14 the several States, the District of Columbia, or a 15 commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United 16 States. 17 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 18 This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2020, and 19 shall apply with respect to purchases that occur on and 20 after such date. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:47 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H379.IH H379 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS