Tax Commissioner Announces Remote Sellers Report

Bismarck, N.D. – Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger announced today that a new report showing the tax collected from remote sales for counties and cities with local sales tax is now available on the Office of State Tax Commissioner’s website. The report, found at www.nd.gov/tax/data, shows a comparison of the tax collected by remote sellers in 2019 and 2020 for counties and cities with local sales tax. Counties and cities that impose local sales and use taxes received a combined total of $6,775,463 in 2019 and $17,416,327 in 2020.

“Remote sales have drastically increased in the last two years,” Rauschenberger said. “In response, we have seen consistent growth in taxes collected from remote sellers, especially with many North Dakotans now choosing to make purchases online during the coronavirus pandemic.”

A remote seller is defined as a business that sells its products to customers in the state using the internet, mail order, or telephone without having a physical presence in the state. The landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, South Dakota Department of Revenue versus Wayfair, Inc., in 2018 brought to light the collection of sales tax from remote sellers. In its decision, the Supreme Court overturned an existing law requiring a physical presence within the state before the burden of collecting sales taxes could be imposed on a seller. As of today, a total of $108.8 million has been collected for the state and the counties and cities that impose local sales and use taxes.

“This landmark decision really affected both remote sellers, who are now collecting sales tax, but also local sellers, who now no longer have a competitive disadvantage due to a sales tax requirement,” added Rauschenberger.

Local sales and use taxes are taxes imposed by a county or city. More information regarding specific counties’ and cities’ local sales and use tax rates can be found in the Local Taxes by Location Guideline on the Tax Commissioner’s website at www.nd.gov/tax/ratechange. 

The local sales tax collected from remote sellers for the four largest cities in North Dakota in 2020 were as follows:

• Bismarck – $1,407,921
• Fargo – $3,132,382
• Grand Forks – $1,429,239
• Minot – $1,246,811

Taxpayers can stay up-to-date on North Dakota tax-related matters by visiting the Office of State Tax Commissioner’s website at www.nd.gov/tax or by connecting on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

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