Starting Wednesday, Amazon.com shoppers in Indiana, Nevada and Tennessee will have to pay sales tax on their purchases. This brings the number of states in which Amazon automatically adds tax to purchases to nineteen. In the three latest additions, the levies are expected to generate more than $50 million a year collectively, according to state officials.
Three more states have joined the growing list where you’ll be charged sales tax on Amazon purchases: Indiana, Nevada, and Tennessee. Amazon already collected tax in 16 states, and in 2016, South Carolina will join them, bringing the number up to an even 20. Technically speaking, you’re supposed to add up purchases on your tax returns (the “use tax”) no matter where you are, but that oft-ignored rule has increasingly given way to automatic point-of-sale charges. This hasn’t happened without strong pushback from Amazon and other online retailers, though; they’ve gone through several long legal slogs as states pursue sales revenue and parity for local brick-and-mortar businesses.