Court Case: South Dakota v Wayfair, Inc

Question 1

What were the three parties involved in this case?

Answer 1

1. Wayfair
2. South Dakota DOR
3. US Supreme Court

Question 2

What were the facts of this case?

Answer 2

• South Dakota enacted a bill in 2016 stating that online retailers would need to collect tax.
• Certain online retailers (such as Newegg, Wayfair, and others) didn’t abide by the new law because their was an existing precedent saying that a company only had to have physical presence in order to be required to collect tax.
• South Dakota sued Wayfair to enforce their new law, which then ended up being escalated to the Supreme Court.

Question 3

What Clause did the case revolve around?

Answer 3

Commerce Clause

Question 4

What year did the case take place?

Answer 4

2018

Question 5

What was the Supreme Court’s decision in the case?

Answer 5

South Dakota’s tax was upheld and declared legal, resulting in all online retailers being required to collect and remit tax based on economic presence, rather than physical presence.

Question 6

What previous case was overturned by the decision in the Wayfair case?

Answer 6

Bellas Hess vs Quill Corp