TWO MONTHS OF 2019 NEBRASKA SALES TAXES UP $107 MILLION OVER SAME MONTHS OF 2018

NRF CREDITS LEGISLATION REQUIRING ONLINE SELLERS TO COLLECT  
According to the Nebraska Department of Revenue, the state received $107 million more in sales tax for November & December of 2019 than November & December of 2018. *

You read that correctly. November & December 2019 Nebraska sales tax receipts were up $107 million for the same months of the previous year.

While annual holiday spending translates to November & December being the months with the highest sales tax receipts each year, an increase of over 107 million dollars in the same months’ sales tax receipts from one year to the next for a state the size of Nebraska is extraordinary to say the least.

Increased consumer spending can account for a portion of the gain but the Nebraska Retail Federation suggests that the vast majority of the increase is a direct result of the passage of LB 284 in the 2019 legislative session.

Introduced by Senator John McCollister, the legislation put into Nebraska statute a requirement for out of state online sellers to collect and remit sales tax like Nebraska sellers have done since the inception of the tax.  The new law, championed by the Nebraska Retail Federation, requires sales tax to be collected by any out of state business that sells $100,000 of taxable product into the state or completes at least 200 transactions with Nebraskans annually. It also contains a “Marketplace” provision which requires marketplaces like Amazon and eBay to collect the tax for all items they sell, including those sold by their third party sellers.

Out of state online sellers were not required to collect Nebraska sales tax in November & December of 2018 but were required to do so in November & December of 2019. The resulting increase is much larger than expected.  The Nebraska Retail Federation has long suggested that the state was losing well over $100 million annually by not collecting these sales taxes that by law were already owed. The actual dollars received point to it being much greater than that amount.

To view the reports from the Nebraska Department of Revenue, CLICK HERE!
*Sales taxes are due by the 20th of the month following the tax period – so December receipts reflect November sales & January receipts reflect December sales.