Section 44-18.2-1 - Legislative findingsThe general assembly finds and declares that:
(1) The commerce clause of the United States Constitution prohibits states from imposing an undue burden on interstate commerce.(2) There has been an exponential expansion of online commerce and related technology, and due to the ready availability of sales and use tax collection software and Rhode Island's status as a signatory to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement under which there is an existing compliance infrastructure in place to facilitate the collection and remittance of sales tax by non-collecting retailers, it is no longer an undue burden for non-collecting retailers to accurately compute, collect, and remit and/or report with respect to their sales and use tax obligations to Rhode Island.(3) The existence and/or presence of a non-collecting retailer's, referrer's, or retail sale facilitator's in-state software on the devices of in-state customers constitutes physical presence of the non-collecting retailer, referrer, or retail sale facilitator in Rhode Island under Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (U.S. 1992).(4) While such a physical presence of the non-collecting retailer, referrer, or retail sale facilitator may not be "presence" in the traditional sense, a non-collecting retailer, referrer, or retail sale facilitator who uses in-state software and engages in a significant number of transactions with in-state customers in a calendar year or receives significant revenue from internet sales to in-state customers in a given calendar year evidences an intent to establish and maintain a market in this state for its sales.R.I. Gen. Laws § 44-18.2-1
Added by 2017 Pub. Laws, ch. 302,§ 8-18, eff. 7/1/2017.