Amazon reported good and bad news in its battle against collecting state online sales tax in its just filed 10-K report. In what appears good news for the e-tailer, Amazon said that the Securities & Exchange Commission began looking into Texas’ decision to assess Amazon $269 million for uncollected sales tax in March and notified the company in November that it had concluded its inquiry. No mention was made of any SEC decision.
While Amazon continues to fight the Texas assessment, it also reported that in November Arizona issued assessments on behalf of the state and certain cities in the amount of approximately $53 million, including tax and interest, for uncollected tax for the periods March 1, 2006 through December 31, 2010. “The State of Arizona is alleging that we should have collected a transaction tax that is similar to a sales tax on applicable transactions during those years. We believe that the assessment is without merit and intend to vigorously defend ourselves in this matter,” Amazon said in its filing.
