Docucopies.com Thumbs its Nose at CA Sales Tax Law
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA—Docucopies.com, an online digital printing company, will stop collecting California sales tax effective immediately. The company recently opened a production center here, which cut its delivery time from four business days to one on most of the West Coast. As a result, its physical presence in the state makes Docucopies.com subject to California commerce laws that require the company to collect sales tax from any customer whose printing products are delivered to California.
Previously the company, which is incorporated in Minnesota and has its headquarters in Wisconsin, only collected sales tax for work delivered to WIsconsin customers.
Docucopies.com’s management contends it understands the state’s massive budgetary problems, but thinks collecting sales tax on e-commerce is the wrong way to solve them.
“We’re helping the economy, first and foremost,” said President and CEO David Pressley. “We help schools, small businesses, non-profits and even government agencies save tens of thousands of dollars while bringing more money into the San Luis Obispo community. We don’t think it’s fair to ask these customers to carry the burden of sales tax when it was the governing bodies, not the private sector, who got themselves into this budget problem in the first place.”
During the last five years, Docucopies.com has nearly doubled its workforce. Requiring online companies to collect sales tax is one way government could stifle this sort of growth, Pressley added.
The company is working with its CPA and legal firms to investigate the legality of this move. For the time being, though, it will not be charging sales tax.