The Streamlined Sales Tax Project is an organization whose purpose is to simplify sales and use tax law. They accomplish this by having state governments sign the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (SSUTA), which requires states to agree to implement certain uniform sales and use tax laws.
What is the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement?
The SSUTA is an agreement that aims to simplify and modernize sales and use tax administration in order to reduce the tax compliance burden for businesses. It seeks to create a system in which each state’s sale and use tax law is uniform and uncomplicated. The agreement focuses on:
- State level administration of sales and use tax collections
- Uniformity in the state and local tax bases
- Uniformity of major tax base definitions
- Central, electronic registration system for all member states
- Simplification of state and local tax rates
- Uniform sourcing rules for all taxable transactions
- Simplified administration of exemptions
- Simplified tax returns
- Simplification of tax remittances
- Protection of consumer privacy
The agreement also requires states to offer tax amnesty programs for sales and use taxes and to conform to the uniform definitions of a taxable sale. Agreeing to the SSUTA often requires changes to state sales and use tax laws.
States That Have Signed the SSUTA
Forty-one states and the District of Columbia have approved the agreement, but only twenty-three states have actually signed it and adopted the simplification measures. Those states are:
- Arkansas
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Rhode Island
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Vermont
- Utah
- Washington
- Wisconsin
- West Virginia
- Wyoming