Indiana Sales Tax Guide

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The need to collect sales tax in Indiana is predicated upon having a physical connection with the state. This is a concept known as nexus. Nexus is a latin word that means "to bind or tie" and it stands as the deciding factor for whether the Indiana Department of Revenue has the legal authority to require your business to collect, file, and remit sales tax. The two main principles most closely linked to nexus and taxes (especially multistate sales tax) are the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Commerce Clause, Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

Sales tax nexus in Indiana can be triggered by a number of factors. The most common include having a physical location (office, warehouse, plant, etc.) within the state, having employees within the state, or conducting marketing activities within the state.

More recently, internet commerce has sparked debate over what activities can trigger nexus and where sales tax should be collected. For example, Fulfillment by Amazon merchants may find their products stored in Amazon warehouses across the country. This presence of physical goods in a state may trigger nexus and expands the complexity of managing sales tax compliance.

Yes, Amazon has active warehouses in Indiana at this time. If you are an active Amazon seller and are subscribed to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you should download your Inventory Event Detail report from Amazon Seller Central to identify if any of your inventory is being stored in Indiana and possibly triggering nexus therein.

Although this is still considered by most FBA sellers to be a grey area, it's clear that states (including Indiana) are more aggresively defining nexus based on in-state FBA inventory. Our recommendation is to consider inventory stored in any Amazon warehouses in Indiana as a nexus triggering event and evaluate accordingly based on your situation and your tolerance for risk. Every FBA seller is different so the best advice we can offer here is to be conservative and assume the Indiana Department of Revenue will increasingly target all sellers (not just FBA sellers) with inventory stored in the state.

Click-through nexus in Indiana constitutes a situation in which a seller outside Indiana makes a sale to a resident of the state that is initiated through online contact with a 3rd party. Working with an affiliate marketer is a common example of a way in which click-through nexus may be triggered.

At this time, the Indiana Department of Revenue has not enacted a click-through nexus law.