SUPREME COURT ISSUES 5–4 OPINION IN HIGH–PROFILE STATE TAX CASE

On June 21, 2018, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., the most significant state tax case to face the high court in decades. In a narrow, 5-4 decision, the Court overruled long–standing precedent, announced first in National Bellas Hess v. Department of Revenue of Illinois (1967) and reaffirmed in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota (1992), and held that a state tax authority may require an out–of–state business to collect and remit sales or use tax without regard to whether that company has a physical presence in that state, while emphasizing other factors. Four justices, led by Chief Justice Roberts, dissented, and would have affirmed existing precedent, leaving to Congress the decision whether to craft a different rule. The case will now return to the South Dakota state courts for further proceedings.

The Brann & Isaacson team of George Isaacson, Martin Eisenstein, and Matthew Schaefer represented Respondents Wayfair, Overstock.com, and Newegg throughout the litigation, with Isaacson arguing the case to the Supreme Court in April. Unusually for a firm of its size, B&I attorneys have argued multiple cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, and filed amicus curiae briefs with the court in leading tax and intellectual property matters. The firm has represented over 100 companies in sales and use tax matters throughout the country, including more than a dozen of the 100 largest Internet retailers in the country.