Amazon collects sales tax for you — here's what's still on you

Every US state that levies a statewide sales tax now has a marketplace facilitator law: on orders sold through Amazon, it is Amazon that calculates, collects and remits the sales tax — not you. That solves the biggest piece of the puzzle, but it does not make sales tax disappear from your life: what remains depends on the state, on whether you also sell outside marketplaces, and on where your inventory sits.

What Amazon does for you

Under facilitator laws, the marketplace — not the individual seller — is the party responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax on marketplace orders. This is state law, not an Amazon feature: the marketplace is treated as the seller (or vendor) for those transactions. Florida's statute, for example, requires the marketplace provider to collect and excludes those sales from the seller's own return entirely (Fla. Stat. §212.05965); Wyoming simply deems the facilitator the vendor (W.S. 39-15-502).

What can still be on you

1. A filing obligation may survive even for marketplace-only sellers — it depends on the state. States split into two camps:

• “Excluded” states — marketplace sales stay off your return entirely. Florida (§212.05965(4)(a)) and Illinois (the marketplace-seller FAQ says to leave those sales off Form ST-1 entirely) work this way; in Arizona a marketplace-only remote seller does not need a TPT license at all (ADOR marketplace FAQ).
• “Deducted” states — if you are registered, you still report the gross including marketplace sales, then subtract them with a dedicated deduction. California does this under its Marketplace Facilitator Act (CDTFA), and Texas includes marketplace sales in Item 1 of the return before excluding them (Texas Comptroller: marketplace FAQ).

2. Your own website is yours. Facilitator laws cover marketplace orders only. If you also sell direct — Shopify, your own checkout — you collect and file yourself in every state where you have nexus.

3. Economic nexus counting differs. Whether marketplace revenue counts toward a state's economic-nexus threshold is a per-state rule, and the answers genuinely diverge: Texas counts it (their FAQ walks through a $300k marketplace + $300k direct example crossing the $500,000 threshold), while Georgia counts only direct sales — their bulletin's worked example has a seller with $120,000 and 300 transactions of which only the $10,000 / 20 direct ones count (GA DOR SUT-2020-01).

4. Inventory can create presence. Some states treat goods stored in an in-state warehouse — including FBA stock — as a physical connection with the state. Whether that creates a registration duty for a marketplace-only seller again varies; check the specific state before assuming either way.

How to know what your state expects

We keep a per-state page for the 12 states most relevant to Amazon sellers — filing frequencies, real due-date rules with weekend shifts, what marketplace sellers do and do not file, with citations to each state's statute or revenue department: start from the tax calendar and pick your state. If your state is not there yet, the state's revenue department page is always the source of truth.

Where Taxller fits

Taxller's compliance map is built exactly around this split: it distinguishes “who remits for you” from “where you are actually registered and must file,” instead of shouting “nexus reached!” at marketplace revenue the facilitator already handles. Books from settlements plus a calendar of the deadlines that are genuinely yours — that is the whole point.

Sources

• Fla. Stat. §212.05965 — marketplace providers and marketplace sellers
• Texas Comptroller — Remote sellers and marketplace FAQ
• CDTFA — Marketplace Facilitator Act
• Georgia DOR — Marketplace facilitators FAQ (SUT-2020-01)
• Arizona DOR — Marketplace facilitators and out-of-state sellers