Court: Online bookseller owes New Mexico sales tax
Recent Cases
A nationally known online bookseller must pay more than a half million dollars in taxes for books, music and movies bought by customers in New Mexico, the state Court of Appeals has ruled in a dispute over the state's power to tax corporate chains and Internet shopping.
The court's decision came Wednesday in a case involving an out-of-state online business, Barnes&nobles.com, LLC, which was part of the corporate family of bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc.
The online retailer was assessed gross receipts taxes in 2006 of $534,563 for sales from 1998 to 2005. The company protested and a state agency hearing officer agreed with the company that it wasn't required to collect and pay the tax because it had no presence in the state or what is known as a "substantial nexus" with New Mexico.
The online retailer was organized under Delaware laws and it had no employees or offices in the state. However, a separate Barnes and Noble company operates three bookstores in New Mexico, with the first of those started in Albuquerque in 1996 and the most recent in Las Cruces in 2003.
Related listings
-
Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP Announces Class Action
Recent Cases 03/12/2012Glancy Binkow & Goldberg LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court, Northern District of Alabama, on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of Walter Energy, Inc. between April 20, 2011 and Sep...
-
Court blocks 2 more parts of Ala. immigration law
Recent Cases 03/09/2012A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked two more sections of Alabama's tough new law targeting illegal immigration pending the outcome of lawsuits that seek to overturn the law entirely. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order temp...
-
Ex-Detroit lawyer loses case over 'ghetto' remark
Recent Cases 03/08/2012A former top lawyer for the city of Detroit who lost her job for describing a local court as "ghetto" has lost an appeal over her dismissal. A federal appeals court says Friday that Kathleen Leavey's comments in 2009 were not protected under the Firs...
Texas Adopts Statewide Texting-While-Driving Ban
Effective September 1, 2017, Texas will become the 47th state to pass a statewide ban on texting while driving. Governor Abbott’s signing of House Bill 62 is an effort to unify Texas under a uniform ban and remedy the “patchwork quilt of regulations that dictate driving practices in Texas.”
The bill specifically prohibits drivers from reading, writing, or sending an electronic message on a device unless the vehicle is stopped. That includes texting and emailing. It does not, however, prohibit dialing a number to call someone, talking on the phone using a hands-free device, or using the phone’s GPS system.
Violations would be punishable by a fine ranging from $25 to $99, to be set by each municipality. Although penalties could rise to as much as $200 for repeat offenders.
Studies have found that a driver’s reaction time is half as much when a driver is distracted by sending or reading a text message. According to state officials, in 2015 more than 105,000 traffic accidents in Texas involved distracted driving, leading to at least 476 fatalities.