Maryland has amended a sales and use tax regulation to provide that “taxable price” includes the face value of any coupon, voucher, or similar item for which the vendor can be reimbursed or compensated in any form by a third party. This includes compensation in the form of advertising or promotion such as with an online deal-of-the-day coupon or similar discount, as offered by companies like Groupon. Therefore the taxable base will be the price before the discount and tax will be based on the value of the deal rather than the price paid for the voucher. The definition of “taxable price” is also amended to remove the requirement that a buyer remain liable for payment of a consumer excise tax in order for the tax to be excluded from the taxable price. (Reg. ยง03.06.01.08, Maryland Comptroller of the Treasury, effective August 19, 2013)