Ecommerce retailers have come under fire lately from brick-and-mortar store operations, as well as legislators, who consider the companies' exclusion from requiring customers to pay sales tax an unfair advantage.

The poster child of this battle has been online retail giant Amazon, which has been sued by a number of states, including Texas, for failing to pay sales tax. However, the company is seeking to rectify the problem through an agreement with Virginia.

According to Internet Retailer, Amazon is planning to invest $135 million in two new distribution centers in Virginia. The agreement outlines that Amazon will begin collecting sales tax from Virginia customers as early as September 2013, and the decision is likely to be followed by agreements in Indiana and Tennessee.

"Amazon is very grateful to Gov. McDonnell for his focus on Virginia jobs and for his efforts to work with other governors toward national resolution of the sales tax issue this year," said Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of global policy, according to the source.

The legislation would not only apply to companies with in-state facilities, however. E-retailers who operate out-of-state but sell in-state would still be required to collect sales tax from Virginia shoppers.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Monday, March 26th, 2012 at 2:03 am .