Before February, if you bought a Michael Graves cheese grater at Target.com, you paid local sales tax, but if you ordered the same utensil from Target's section on Amazon.com, it was tax-free. Since Feb. 2, it has been taxed either way.
Target Corp. made the change "because of a realignment of the relationship" between Target Corp. and its Internet subsidiary, spokeswoman Cathy Wright said.
None of the above merchants, who realigned their tax collection policies simultaneously at the start of February, has acknowledged whether it was part of an agreement that eight national retailers struck with a group of around 40 states - including Pennsylvania and New Jersey - that has been working to recoup millions in uncollected revenue.
That agreement was signed at the end of January and specified that participating retailers begin charging sales tax of Internet shoppers in all states where they have stores on or around Feb. 1, according to John Coalson, an attorney from Alston & Bird in Atlanta representing the companies.
Neither Coalson nor the states would identify the participating retailers. But in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, among other states, the newly collected levies are trickling in.
"It's not really significant yet," said State Rep. David J. Steil (R., Bucks), who this spring plans to introduce legislation to simplify Pennsylvania sales tax to conform with a proposed national system. "The idea is, ultimately, to be able to collect [tax] on all remote sales."
Technically, when you buy from an out-of-state Internet or catalog merchant, you are supposed to pay any uncollected sales tax voluntarily on your state income-tax return. Every April, millions of taxpayers forget to do so.
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue said it collected about $5 million a year from taxpayers who pay voluntarily - a fraction of the estimated $100 million-plus lost in sales taxes on out-of-state purchases each year, according to the department. New Jersey gives similar numbers.
