If you’re an online seller who never registered for sales tax in states where you built up nexus years ago, you owe back tax — and the exposure grows every day you don’t act. The good news: for most sellers, the actual liability is a fraction of what they fear, because marketplace facilitator laws retroactively remove Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Etsy sales from your calculation after each state’s effective date. The bad news: pre-marketplace-facilitator sales, and every dollar of your own Shopify/direct-store revenue, is still your personal problem — and in most states, unpaid sales tax is a trust-fund liability that follows the officers of the business personally.
This guide walks through the exact framework we use with clients to quantify exposure, choose the right resolution path (Voluntary Disclosure Agreement, amnesty, or standard back-filing), and — for foreign sellers without an EIN, ITIN, or US bank account — execute the cleanup without ever setting foot in the United States.
If you’d rather skip the reading and just have someone handle it: book a free consultation and we’ll scope your exposure and pricing in a single call.
What “back sales tax” actually means for online sellers
The critical framing: unpaid sales tax is not the state’s money you never sent — it’s the state’s money you should have collected from customers and now owe out of pocket.
Uncollected vs unremitted tax
There are two flavours of back sales tax, and they look identical to a state auditor:
- Unremitted tax — you collected sales tax from customers but didn’t send it to the state. This is straight-up theft in the eyes of any DOR. Interest and full penalties always apply.
- Uncollected tax — you had nexus, you should have been registered, you should have charged customers tax, but you never did. The state doesn’t care that the customer paid you a tax-inclusive price. The tax is still owed. You cannot go back and invoice past customers for it.
In our experience most sellers who come to us with a back-tax problem are in the second situation rather than the first. That distinction matters when we negotiate a VDA, because states view good-faith non-collectors more sympathetically than active collectors who pocketed the tax.
Trust fund liability and why sales tax is different from income tax
Sales tax is a trust-fund tax in every state that has one. The seller collects it as an agent of the state — it was never the seller’s money. That legal characterization has three consequences that surprise most sellers:
- The corporate veil doesn’t protect you. California, Texas, Florida, and effectively every other sales-tax state have equivalent statutes. If the LLC folds, the state comes after you personally.
- Bankruptcy usually doesn’t discharge it. Trust-fund taxes are generally non-dischargeable in Chapter 7.
- Willful non-payment can be criminal. More on this in the penalties section, but the felony risk is real above certain thresholds.
This is the single biggest reason why “wait and see” is the worst strategy. Income tax problems can sometimes be papered over with a corporate shutdown. Sales tax problems follow the human beings who ran the business.
When exposure starts: the nexus trigger date
Your exposure clock starts the day you crossed economic nexus in a state, or the day physical presence (typically FBA inventory) landed there — whichever came first. It doesn’t start when you found out about the law, and it doesn’t start when the state contacts you.
For most Amazon FBA sellers, physical nexus predates economic nexus by years. If Amazon moved your inventory into a California, Texas, or Pennsylvania fulfillment centre in 2019, you had physical-presence nexus in that state from that day forward, regardless of your revenue.
How to quantify your back-tax exposure (the 4-variable formula)
Every accurate exposure calculation runs on the same four inputs. Get these right for every state and the total falls out.
Variable 1: Historical gross sales by state
Pull every month of sales data going back at least 7 years (or to your first US sale, whichever is shorter), broken out by ship-to state. Amazon Seller Central provides this via the Sales Tax Report; Shopify via the “Sales by billing region” export; eBay and Walmart via similar reports.
You need gross sales (before refunds, discounts, or exemptions) broken into:
– Marketplace-facilitated sales (Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart)
– Direct sales (your own Shopify/WooCommerce store)
Keep them separate. The marketplace column will collapse dramatically once you apply Variable 3.
Variable 2: Nexus establishment date per state
For each state, find the earliest of:
– The month FBA inventory first appeared in that state
– The month your gross sales into that state crossed the state’s economic nexus threshold in effect that year
Thresholds have changed. California’s remote-seller economic-nexus threshold is total combined sales of tangible personal property for delivery in California exceeding $500,000 in the preceding or current calendar year. New York applies an economic nexus test based on sales and transactions into the state over a recent lookback period, but the exact dollar threshold, transaction count, and whether the test is conjunctive or disjunctive can turn on current NY DTF guidance. If you are approaching NY nexus on either sales or transaction volume, contact us for a current review. Florida’s remote-seller economic nexus is triggered by taxable remote sales into Florida exceeding $100,000 in the previous calendar year; the Florida DOR does not state a transaction-count prong.
Use the threshold that was in effect during the year in question — not today’s threshold. The exact position here depends on your own facts, so it is worth confirming with the state directly or talking to us about your situation.
Variable 3: Marketplace facilitator effective date
This is usually the single largest reducer of a back-tax number, and for marketplace-heavy sellers it can remove most of the exposure. How much it removes in your case depends entirely on your channel mix and the dates involved.
After a state’s marketplace facilitator (MF) effective date, the marketplace (Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Etsy) is legally responsible for collecting and remitting tax on your facilitated sales. Those dollars come out of your back-tax calculation for periods after the MF date.
Key MF effective dates from our verified state knowledge base:
| State | MF Effective Date |
|---|---|
| California | October 1, 2019 |
| Florida | July 1, 2021 |
| New York | Marketplace facilitator rules took effect on a state-specific date that varies by jurisdiction. If you need to confirm the effective date for a particular state’s marketplace facilitator law, contact us for a current review. |
Rather than give you a figure that may not apply to you, we would check this against the state’s current guidance for your specific setup — ask us and we will tell you exactly where you stand.
Your remaining Amazon exposure in a given state is only for sales before that state’s MF date. For a seller who launched on Amazon in 2020 or later, marketplace-facilitated sales typically create zero back-tax liability — the marketplace was already collecting from day one.
Direct-store sales (your own Shopify) never benefit from this shield. Shopify is not a marketplace facilitator. If you had nexus and made direct sales, that liability is 100% yours.
Variable 4: Penalty and interest stack
For each open state-year, calculate:
– Tax = taxable sales × combined state + local rate (destination-sourced for most states)
– Late filing penalty — set by each state’s own statute, and the percentage, whether it escalates monthly and the ceiling all vary, so use the actual rule for the state and year in question rather than a rule of thumb
– Late payment penalty — often layered on top
– Interest — accrues from the original due date at the state’s published rate
Under R&TC §6591, California charges a 10% penalty on sales tax that is not paid when due, and interest runs on top of it. Exactly how the late-filing and late-payment charges interact, and what ceiling applies to any given return, depends on your own facts, so confirm your position with CDTFA before relying on a number. New York’s sales tax late-filing penalty is generally 10% of the tax due for the first month and 1% for each additional month or fraction thereof, up to a maximum penalty of 30%, subject to any statutory minimums and exceptions. Florida’s late-filing penalty is generally 10% of the tax due, with a minimum penalty of $50, and it applies even when no tax is due on the return.
Interest is set separately by each state, usually re-published quarterly or semi-annually. Interest is generally not waivable — even a successful VDA rarely eliminates it.
Worked example: $2M lifetime FBA seller
A non-US seller who did $2M in gross US sales from 2020-2025, 95% through Amazon FBA, 5% through their own Shopify store, with FBA inventory scattered across 18 states:
- Amazon sales after each state’s MF date: no back tax to remit on those sales, because the marketplace collected and remitted it. That removes the tax, not automatically the obligation — depending on the state you may still need to be registered and to file returns reporting the facilitated sales.
- Amazon sales before MF date: minimal — most states’ MF laws were live before this seller launched
- Shopify direct sales, ~$100K spread across 18 states: this is where the real exposure sits. Purely to show the shape of the arithmetic, a hypothetical blended 7.5% rate applied to $100,000 of taxable sales would produce in the order of $7,500 of base tax before penalties and interest. That is an illustration, not a rate: real sales tax is destination-based and set state and locality by locality, so your own figure will differ. Get in touch and we will work it out on your actual numbers.
Most sellers walk in fearing six-figure exposure and walk out with a four- or low-five-figure clean-up bill.
Your four resolution options (ranked by outcome)
Voluntary Disclosure Agreements are the best outcome for the majority of sellers. Amnesty programs are opportunistic. Standard back-filing is a last resort. Doing nothing is not a strategy — it’s a bet that no state ever finds you.
Option 1: Voluntary Disclosure Agreement (VDA)
A VDA is a formal agreement between you and a state DOR: you come forward voluntarily, disclose your unregistered activity, file back returns for a limited lookback period, and in exchange the state waives penalties (and sometimes some interest) and agrees not to look further back.
Typical VDA terms:
– Lookback: 3-4 years (vs 7-10+ years for standard back-filing)
– Penalty waiver: yes (usually 100%)
– Interest: typically NOT waived
– Anonymous initial contact: yes, in most states — you (or your representative) negotiate terms before ever revealing the taxpayer’s identity
Eligibility usually requires:
– No prior registration in that state
– No prior contact from that state’s DOR
– Not currently under audit
California offers both In-State and Out-of-State Voluntary Disclosure Programs administered by CDTFA, with a standard 3-year lookback and typical penalty waiver.
VDA is the right answer whenever your back-tax liability is significant and you meet the eligibility criteria. It’s the primary tool we use for cross-border seller cleanups.
Option 2: State amnesty programs
Amnesty programs are more generous than VDAs when they’re open (often waiving interest as well as penalty), but they’re rare and unpredictable. States open them when they need revenue and want to bring non-filers into the system.
If a state has an active amnesty at the moment we scope your cleanup, we’ll route you into it. Otherwise, VDA is the workhorse.
Option 3: Standard back-filing (register and file all past periods)
This is what happens when a seller is ineligible for VDA — usually because they already registered and stopped filing, or because a state has already contacted them.
You register (or reactivate), and file every past return covering every period back to the nexus date. The state assesses full tax, full penalties, and full interest. There is no lookback limit — California’s statute of limitations extends to 8 years for periods where no return was filed, versus 3 years when returns were filed. New York and Florida operate similar rules.
Standard back-filing is the worst financial outcome but sometimes the only legal path. It’s often used for a subset of states in a cleanup where VDA isn’t available, alongside VDAs in the other states.
Option 4: Do nothing (and why it usually gets worse)
The “hope no one notices” plan has three failure modes that catch up with sellers:
- Jeopardy assessment. A state estimates your liability using third-party data (Amazon 1099-Ks, credit card processor reports, or discovery from an unrelated audit) and issues an assessment. You then have to prove the number is wrong — burden shifted.
- Marketplace account freeze. Amazon, eBay, and Walmart increasingly cooperate with state DORs. A state can serve process on the marketplace and freeze payouts.
- Personal liability. As discussed above, sales tax follows officers personally. Selling the business or shutting it down does not extinguish the debt.
The IRS-style “collections eventually run out” mental model does not apply to unfiled sales tax returns. In most states, the statute of limitations doesn’t even start until a return is filed. Non-filers face effectively unlimited lookback until they come forward voluntarily.
State-by-state VDA lookback matrix (2026)
Below is a general framework. Actual VDA terms are negotiated per taxpayer and vary based on facts. Do not treat this as a guarantee for any specific engagement.
Not sure how this applies to your business? We handle US sales tax registration, filing and remittance for ecommerce sellers as a fully managed service, for one fee. Book a free consultation and we will review your own position with you.
| State | Typical Lookback | Penalty Waiver | Interest | Anonymous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | 3 years | Yes | Reduced | Yes |
| Florida | 3 years | Yes (typical) | Standard | Yes |
| New York | 3 years | Yes | Standard | Yes |
| Texas | 4 years | Yes | Standard | Yes |
| Washington | 4 years | Yes | Standard | Yes |
| Most other states | 3-4 years | Yes | Standard | Yes |
MTC Multistate VDA: The Multistate Tax Commission runs a National Nexus Program that allows a single VDA application covering 30+ member states. For sellers with exposure in many states, this can be dramatically faster and cheaper than filing 30 individual VDAs — one submission, one negotiation, coordinated lookback across the entire member roster.
The trade-off: MTC lookback terms are standardized (usually 3-4 years) and less negotiable than a direct-with-state VDA. When a state’s direct VDA program would offer materially better terms, we go direct in that state and MTC for the rest.
For details on the multistate route, see our MTC multistate voluntary disclosure guide.
Specifics of any single state’s VDA program change — if you’re evaluating a specific state, contact us for a current review before committing to terms.
The non-US seller pathway: back taxes without an EIN, ITIN, or US bank
This is the single biggest gap in most “sales tax help” content, and the reason software tools cannot solve back-tax problems for foreign sellers.
If you’re an Amazon FBA seller based in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, or anywhere else outside the US — and you’ve built up back-tax exposure across multiple states — you need to solve four problems in sequence before you can execute a VDA.
Do you need an EIN before starting a VDA?
Yes, for almost every state. Sales tax registration in the US is keyed to a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN, or EIN). Foreign entities with no US presence obtain an EIN by filing IRS Form SS-4, and — critically — foreign applicants can get one by phone or fax without needing an ITIN for the responsible party.
We handle the SS-4 for clients as part of the intake process. It’s a 1-3 week turnaround on the IRS side.
If you already have a US LLC, the LLC already has an EIN, and that’s what we use.
How states accept payment from non-US sellers
The default assumption in most state e-filing portals is ACH debit from a US bank account. This is where foreign sellers get stuck when they try to DIY.
In practice:
– Most states accept wire transfer in addition to ACH. We coordinate wire instructions with each state’s treasury directly.
– Some states accept credit card with a fee.
– A few states have quirks — we work around them state by state.
You do not need a US bank account to clean up back sales tax. You do need a professional who has done this before and knows which door to knock on in each state’s treasury.
Foreign-address registration mechanics
Every state accepts foreign addresses on sales tax registration forms. This one varies by seller and by state, and it is the kind of detail we check for clients as part of the service — get in touch and we will confirm where you stand. We coordinate this when required.
Why software tools cannot solve this
Automated sales-tax software platforms and the major sales-tax software platforms provide calculation engines and filing automation — they do not, and legally cannot, act as your representative before a state DOR.
Specifically, DIY sales-tax software cannot:
– Sign a VDA on your behalf
– Negotiate lookback period with a state
– Represent you in an audit
– Coordinate wire payments from foreign bank accounts
– Handle SS-4 EIN acquisition for foreign entities
Software calculates. A service solves back-tax problems.
Don’t want to figure this out yourself? Sales Tax Compliance USA handles your entire US sales tax back-tax cleanup — exposure analysis, VDA negotiation, back-return filing, remittance coordination, and prospective registration — for a single flat fee. No hourly billing. Book a free consultation or learn more about our service.
For a full walkthrough of the foreign-seller path, see our guide on sales tax for non-US Amazon sellers.
The marketplace facilitator shield: sales you may no longer owe on
The most common expensive mistake we see foreign sellers make: overpaying back tax on Amazon sales that were already remitted by Amazon under marketplace facilitator law.
How MF laws retroactively reduce liability
Once a state’s MF effective date passes, the marketplace becomes the “retailer” for tax purposes on facilitated sales. Those sales are the marketplace’s problem — not yours. When you calculate back-tax exposure, sales after each state’s MF date drop out of the calculation entirely.
For a seller who did most of their volume 2020-2025 through Amazon, this often means the “back tax” number they were terrified of is actually very small.
Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, Shopify — what each collects
| Platform | Marketplace Facilitator? |
|---|---|
| Amazon | Yes — collects and remits in all sales-tax states |
| eBay | Yes — collects and remits in all sales-tax states |
| Walmart | Yes — collects and remits in all sales-tax states |
| Etsy | Yes — collects and remits in all sales-tax states |
| Shopify | No — Shopify is a hosted storefront, not a marketplace facilitator |
| WooCommerce, BigCommerce, etc. | No — same as Shopify |
The Shopify distinction is critical. Every dollar of direct-store revenue is your own sales tax liability. There is no marketplace shielding it. If you built a hybrid business — Amazon plus your own Shopify — expect your entire Shopify history to be in-scope for back-tax cleanup even if your Amazon history is fully shielded.
For a full breakdown of which platforms qualify, see our marketplace facilitator laws by state guide.
Direct sales via your own Shopify store are NOT covered
We repeat this because it’s the single most-missed point.
Penalty and interest exposure — the real numbers
In many states, the maximum late-filing or late-payment penalty is 25% to 30% of the tax due, but some states impose higher maximums. Interest keeps running until paid. Fraud is a different universe.
Late filing penalty tiers
Standard late-filing penalties in the states our clients most commonly touch:
- California: 10% late-filing penalty under R&TC §6591.
- New York: 10% for first month + 1% per additional month, $50 minimum.
- Florida: 10% of tax due, $50 minimum.
Most other states use a 5%-per-month structure capped at 25%.
Late payment penalties
Usually layered on top of late-filing penalty. California’s standard late-payment penalty under R&TC §6591 is 10% of the tax due, and §6591(c) limits the penalties imposed by that section to a maximum of 10% of the taxes for which the return is required per return (exclusive of prepayments) — there is no 20% combined maximum for standard late situations.
Interest compounding
Interest is set per state and re-published quarterly or semi-annually. Rates in the 5-10% annualized range are typical in 2026, though this varies. Interest is generally not waivable — even a successful VDA rarely eliminates interest, only penalty.
Over 5-7 years, interest often exceeds the underlying tax. This is why “do nothing” gets worse over time even if the state never contacts you.
Criminal exposure thresholds
Willful failure to file or remit collected sales tax can be a felony in most states above certain thresholds. The specifics vary — some states use dollar thresholds, others use pattern-of-conduct standards.
The category exists for cases where a seller collected sales tax from customers and pocketed it (unremitted tax). Non-collectors who never charged tax to customers face civil liability but rarely criminal exposure — unless there’s evidence of active concealment.
This is the single strongest argument for VDA over doing nothing. A properly executed VDA is presumptively good faith and effectively closes the criminal door in the states where it applies. If criminal exposure is a concern for your specific facts, contact us for a confidential review before doing anything.
For more on the penalty landscape, see our sales tax penalties and interest by state guide.
The step-by-step cleanup sequence we run for clients
This is the full 12-week process. Some cleanups run faster; multi-state cleanups with 20+ jurisdictions can run 4-6 months. The sequence is the same.
Week 1-2: Exposure analysis
- Historical sales data pull (Amazon, Shopify, eBay, Walmart, all channels) broken by ship-to state and by month.
- FBA inventory location history from Amazon.
- State-by-state exposure model: nexus date, MF-shielded sales, remaining exposure, penalty and interest stack.
- Written exposure summary with recommended resolution per state.
You get a clear picture of the total number and the recommended path before you spend anything on filings.
Week 3-4: VDA strategy per state
- MTC multistate VDA application drafted where advantageous.
- Direct-state VDA applications drafted where MTC is inferior.
- Standard back-filing plan for states without VDA eligibility.
- Anonymous initial outreach to states (where anonymous negotiation is permitted).
Week 5-10: Filing and negotiation
- VDA terms negotiated and finalized per state.
- Back returns prepared for every state, every period.
- Wire payment coordination with state treasuries (for foreign sellers).
- Signed VDA agreements returned to states.
- Payments made and receipts obtained.
Week 11-12: Ongoing compliance handoff
- Prospective registration completed in states where ongoing filing is required.
- Either handoff to client (if they want to DIY forward-looking compliance) or transition to our ongoing done-for-you filing service.
- Full documentation package delivered: exposure model, every VDA agreement, every back return, every payment receipt.
At the end, you have a clean slate — no back-tax hanging over the business, no personal exposure for the officers, and either DIY tools handed off or an ongoing service running.
DIY vs done-for-you: honest cost comparison
The three real options for cleaning up back taxes.
Software-only approach limitations
Automated sales-tax software can calculate what you should have collected historically. It can produce a number. What it cannot do:
- Sign a VDA on your behalf
- Negotiate with a state DOR
- Handle wire payments from foreign bank accounts
- Represent you if the state pushes back on your calculation
- Advise on lookback strategy
Software is a calculator. If the problem is a legal negotiation with 15 state governments, a calculator is the wrong tool.
Hiring a CPA hourly
A US-based CPA firm with sales tax expertise will typically bill $250-500/hour. A multi-state back-tax cleanup for a foreign FBA seller commonly runs 40-80 hours across intake, exposure modelling, VDA drafting, negotiation, and back-return preparation.
That’s a $15,000-40,000 hourly-billed engagement with no cost certainty until it’s finished. And most US CPA firms won’t take foreign-seller clients at all because of the foreign-address, foreign-payment, and EIN-acquisition friction.
Our flat-fee back-tax cleanup service
One flat fee scoped after we see your exposure model. Covers every state, every VDA, every back return, every wire payment. No hourly meter. No surprise scope creep. Delivered end-to-end by a firm that specializes in foreign seller compliance.
If you want to know what your specific cleanup would cost, book a free consultation. We’ll review your Amazon history, ship-to breakdown, and Shopify data, and quote you a flat fee to make it all go away.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far back can a state audit me for unfiled sales tax returns?
In most states, the statute of limitations does not start to run until a return is filed. This means non-filers face effectively unlimited lookback — a state can go back to your nexus date, whether that was 3 or 10 years ago. Filed returns are typically protected after 3-4 years. This asymmetry is why voluntary disclosure is so valuable: VDAs cap the lookback at 3-4 years even for non-filers.
Can I do a Voluntary Disclosure Agreement without an EIN?
For a business entity, no — you need an EIN for state sales tax registration. But foreign entities can obtain an EIN by filing Form SS-4 with the IRS (fax or phone), and you do not need an ITIN for the responsible party in most cases. We handle SS-4 acquisition for clients as part of intake.
Does Amazon collecting marketplace facilitator tax erase my back-tax liability?
For sales after each state’s MF effective date, yes — those sales are Amazon’s tax liability, not yours. For sales before the MF date, no — the liability sits with you. Sellers who launched on Amazon after 2020 typically have zero MF-era Amazon back-tax exposure, because most MF laws were already in effect. Shopify direct sales are never MF-shielded.
What happens if I just register now and start filing going forward, ignoring the past?
The registration itself often triggers state review of your historical activity. Once you’re on the state’s radar, a VDA is no longer available (because a VDA requires no prior state contact and no prior registration). You’ve eliminated your best tool and made the historical exposure worse, not better. Register forward only after you’ve handled the back-tax question.
How much does a multi-state back-tax cleanup typically cost?
Highly dependent on facts — number of states, number of years, whether you have Shopify direct sales, whether the marketplace shield covers most of it. For a foreign seller with pure Amazon FBA and post-MF exposure only, cleanup can be surprisingly cheap. For a hybrid seller with 5+ years of Shopify direct sales into 20+ states, five figures is realistic. We quote flat fees after the exposure analysis so you know the number before committing.
Can I be criminally charged for not filing sales tax returns?
Willful failure to file or remit is a felony in most states above certain thresholds, but it’s aimed at bad actors who collected tax from customers and pocketed it. Foreign sellers who never collected in the first place face civil liability but very rarely criminal exposure. A properly executed VDA closes the criminal door in the states where it applies. If criminal exposure is a concern for your specific facts, contact us for a confidential review.
Do I owe sales tax on Shopify sales the same way as Amazon sales?
No — you owe more. Amazon is a marketplace facilitator in every sales-tax state and collects on your behalf. Shopify is a hosted storefront, not a marketplace facilitator. Every dollar of direct-Shopify sales in a state where you have nexus is your personal collection and remittance obligation. This is the source of the largest hidden exposure for most hybrid sellers.
As a non-US seller, can states actually collect from me?
Yes. States cooperate with marketplaces to freeze payouts, and marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Walmart) will comply with a state’s process. Additionally, states can pursue collection in your home country via reciprocal tax collection treaties or via commercial collection agencies. The practical enforcement risk for foreign sellers is higher than most assume, precisely because marketplaces sit in the middle of the payment flow.
Should I use the MTC multistate VDA or file individually with each state?
Both, usually. MTC covers 30+ member states in a single application with standardized terms (3-4 year lookback, penalty waiver). For most states in the MTC roster, that’s the fastest and cheapest path. For states where direct negotiation would yield better terms, we go direct. For states not in the MTC program at all, we go direct. Real cleanups typically use a mix.
How long does a full back-tax cleanup take from start to finish?
12 weeks for a straightforward 3-10 state cleanup. 4-6 months for a large multi-state cleanup with MTC + direct-state VDAs running in parallel. The bottleneck is state DOR response time on VDA negotiations, not the filing work itself.
The bottom line
Back sales tax is a solvable problem in almost every case, and for foreign sellers with mostly Amazon FBA history, the real number is usually a fraction of what they feared. The framework is:
- Quantify exposure honestly using the 4-variable formula.
- Apply the marketplace facilitator shield to Amazon/eBay/Walmart/Etsy sales after each state’s MF date.
- Route each state to VDA, amnesty, or standard back-filing based on eligibility.
- Execute — file the returns, wire the payments, secure the signed VDA agreements.
- Register prospectively and either DIY forward or hand it to an ongoing service.
Do it now, not later. Every month of delay adds interest and shrinks the VDA window (any state contact eliminates VDA eligibility). And do it with someone who has done it before — this is not a software problem or a general-purpose CPA problem. It’s a specialist workflow.
If you’re ready to see your exposure number and get a flat-fee quote to make it all go away — including for foreign sellers with no EIN, no ITIN, and no US bank — book a free consultation or learn more about our full-service sales tax compliance offering.
Last verified: 2026-07-08.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax advice. Consult a licensed tax professional before acting on any of this content.
