The Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers has issued an Information Bulletin to provide additional guidance to marketplace facilitators and sellers about each’s responsibility for sales tax, specifically focusing on how these obligations impact businesses with locations or presence within the state.
Louisiana merchants may rely on marketplace facilitators to collect and remit sales taxes on their behalf for sales made through marketplaces. Though marketplace sales are always considered remote sales, selling on a marketplace does not make the rest of a business’ sales classified as remote sales reportable to the Commission for Remote Sellers. If a Louisiana seller makes their own sales into Louisiana directly to customers, they are responsible for registering and remitting any tax due on their sales to the Department of Revenue and any required home rule authorities.
Marketplace facilitators must report sales to the Commission for Remote Sellers, regardless of whether they have a physical presence in Louisiana. Also noted, marketplace facilitators must keep documentation of seller information and exemption certificates to support the taxability of their sales. Sales facilitated on behalf of marketplace sellers based in Louisiana are still remote sales that should be taxed and reported by the marketplace facilitator as remote sales.
In Louisiana, the state has created systems to simplify the administration of sales tax on online sales. However, because these systems are separate from the main Department of Revenue, it can create questions for online sellers who have other tax obligations in Louisiana due to physical presence. This guidance and others created by the Commission can provide answers to allow businesses to be confident about their reporting obligations. (Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers, Remote Sellers Information Bulletin No. 23-001, September 8, 2023)