Author Archives:
Alexis Nash

Atlanta based online businesses and remote sellers may soon be required to register, collect and remit sales tax to the Tennessee Department of Revenue. The need for companies to collect sales tax for these transactions was ushered in by the 2018 Supreme Court ruling in the South Dakota v Wayfair ruling. The Court changed the long-held guidance that a company needed to have a physical presence in a state before nexus (trigger for sales tax collection) was established. After the ruling, many states have implemented regulations similar to the one upheld in the case, including Texas, Alabama and North Carolina to name a few. On July 1, 2019, Tennessee will join the long list of states requiring out of state online retailers, meeting certain criteria, to collect sales tax on qualifying transactions with in-state customers.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 wrote into law Internal Revenue Code Section 199a, the Qualified Business Income Deduction. This 20% deduction is available to owners of certain pass-through entities and has the potential to reduce a business’s effective tax rate by a significant amount. Unfortunately, the deduction is not available to all taxpayers. Not only is the deduction limited for high earners, but owners in certain service industries are phased out of the benefit completely. Some doctors will be able to benefit from this new tax deduction, but others will not be so lucky.

Most business owners don’t spend much time thinking about taxes. The time, energy and resources needed to run their business, drive growth and enhance profitability usually monopolize their mind.