How One Court Decision Kept Us on Our Toes, Brought Us Together & Moves Us Forward

The Wayfair decision is unprecedented in the amount of change it brought to the sales tax landscape. It is also unprecedented in the way it has inspired camaraderie and community building among sales tax professionals in ways that make our field better and forward-looking.

All three of these aspects were nicely encapsulated in our Basics of Sales and Use Tax course this year.

The Wayfair decision was undoubtedly a driving factor behind attendance at Basics. People came to fill holes in their sales tax knowledge and stay on top of the latest changes.

However, it’s our hope that attendees left with much more. We hope they left feeling excited about the connections they made with their peers who are tackling many of the same challenges and confident in and proud of their career choice.

A few of our amazing Basics 2019 students

Throughout our Basics course we did our best to convey that there’s nothing wrong with being a sales tax nerd – particularly post-Wayfair when the need for sales tax pros is greater than ever.

We led by example by fully embracing our sales tax nerdom with a “birthday” celebration for the Wayfair decision. It was great fun!

“For me, this has been the most fun year in sales tax ever,” faculty member Charles Maniace said during the celebration, “At no point in time has [sales tax] been more important to more people, where the attention has been shined directly on our industry.”

The Wayfair decision elevated the profession and highlighted the enormous value of sales tax pros who have the necessary practical knowhow to keep companies compliant in a changing nexus environment. The ramifications of Wayfair will continue to move the profession forward from both community building and technical perspectives.

Speaking of technical expertise – the Wayfair decision has also acted as a platform for sales tax pros, like many of those on our faculty, to share their expertise.

We had the opportunity at Basics to ask faculty members Jordan Goodman and Diane Yetter to reflect on the year following the Wayfair decision, share challenges, and predict what the future will hold.

It’s pretty incredible how much frustration, emotion, and anticipation one word, “Wayfair,” can evoke for those who have only been in the field for a few months, like several of our Basics students, to those who have dedicated decades long careers in sales tax.

Are you a bigger sales tax nerd because of the decision? Have you felt more connected to other sales tax pros or more appreciated in your company in the past year? We certainly hope so.

Happy first birthday, Wayfair! Thanks for keeping us sharp, growing the Sales Tax Institute community of sales tax nerds, and challenging leaders of all types (corporate, government, etc.) to make sales tax more fair and efficient.