Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act of 2010 - Prohibits a state or local jurisdiction from imposing multiple or discriminatory taxes on or with respect to the sale or use of digital goods or services delivered or transferred electronically to a customer.
Restricts taxation of digital goods and services to the retail sale of such goods and services and by the jurisdiction encompassing a customer's tax address.
Prohibits the use of existing regulations or administrative rulings relating to the taxation of tangible personal property or other services to impose any tax on the sale or use of digital goods or services.
Prohibits taxation on or with respect to the sale or use of digital medical, education, or energy management services.
Provides that if charges for digital goods and services are not separately stated from charges for other goods or services, the charges for digital goods and services may be taxed at the same rate and on the same basis as charges for other goods and services unless the seller can reasonably identify the charges for digital goods and services from its business records.
Grants jurisdiction to federal district courts to prevent a violation of this Act.
Expresses the sense of Congress that each state shall take reasonable steps to prevent multiple taxation of digital goods and services where a foreign country has imposed a tax on such goods and services.
[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5649 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5649
To promote neutrality, simplicity, and fairness in the taxation of
digital goods and digital services.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 30, 2010
Mr. Boucher (for himself and Mr. Smith of Texas) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To promote neutrality, simplicity, and fairness in the taxation of
digital goods and digital services.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Digital Goods and Services Tax
Fairness Act of 2010''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Consumers, businesses, and other participants engaged
in electronic commerce may be subject to multiple, confusing,
and burdensome taxation because of inconsistent rules among
thousands of State and local jurisdictions and disparate
treatment of digital goods and digital services.
(2) A consistent framework for taxation is needed that will
not impede electronic commerce and the sale of digital goods
and digital services, by preventing multiple taxation, and
providing greater certainty and simplicity.
(3) Neutrality should guide tax policy and administration
in this area. Transactions involving similar types of goods and
services should be taxed fairly, regardless of the method and
means of distribution, whether through electronic transfer or
through other channels of commerce. New or different taxes on
electronic transactions should be barred.
(4) To ensure neutrality and avoid multiple taxation,
certain rules should be adapted to reflect the unique nature of
electronic commerce and how digital goods and digital services
are provided.
(5) To recognize the critical role that online health,
energy management, and education services will play in our
economy, these services should be exempt from all State and
local taxes.
SEC. 3. MULTIPLE AND DISCRIMINATORY TAXES PROHIBITED.
No State or local jurisdiction shall impose multiple or
discriminatory taxes on or with respect to the sale or use of digital
goods or digital services.
SEC. 4. RETAIL, SOURCING, AND OTHER LIMITATIONS.
(a) Retail Limitation.--Taxes on or with respect to the sale or use
of digital goods or digital services may be imposed only on or with
respect to a sale to, or use by, a customer.
(b) Sourcing Limitation.--
(1) In general.--Taxes on or with respect to the sale or
use of digital goods or digital services may be imposed only by
the State and local jurisdictions whose territorial limits
encompass the customer's tax address. This limitation shall be
deemed satisfied if sourcing is determined by a seller pursuant
to State sourcing rules adopted pursuant to the Streamlined
Sales and Use Tax Agreement.
(2) Tax address.--The customer's tax address shall be--
(A) with respect to digital goods or digital
services that are sold to a customer by a provider of
mobile telecommunications service that is subject to
being sourced under section 117 of title 4 of the
United States Code, and furnished to the customer in
conjunction with such provider's mobile
telecommunications service, the customer's place of
primary use, as defined in section 124 of title 4 of
the United States Code;
(B) if subparagraph (A) does not apply, and if the
digital good or digital service is received by the
customer at a business location of the seller, such
business location;
(C) if neither subparagraph (A) nor subparagraph
(B) applies, and if the location where the digital good
or digital service is received by the customer is known
to the seller, such location;
(D) if none of subparagraphs (A) through (C)
applies, the customer's address that is either known to
the seller or, if not known, obtained by the seller
during the consummation of the transaction, including
the address of the customer's payment instrument if no
other address is available;
(E) if an address is neither known nor obtained as
provided in subparagraph (D), the address of the seller
from which the digital good or digital service was
sold; and
(F) notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) through (E),
for digital goods or digital services that are
delivered to a person other than the customer,
including advertising services, the delivery location
if known or, otherwise, the customer's address
determined under subparagraph (D) or (E).
(c) Limit on Expansive Interpretation.--No tax on or with respect
to the sale or use of tangible personal property, telecommunications
service, Internet access service, or audio or video programming service
may be construed by any regulation, administrative ruling, or
otherwise, to be imposed on or with respect to the sale or use of a
digital good or a digital service. No tax on or with respect to the
sale or use of a digital good may be construed by any regulation,
administrative ruling, or otherwise, to be imposed on or with respect
to the sale or use of a digital service. The limitations provided by
this subsection shall not apply to any construction that was approved
by a judicial determination made on or before June 30, 2010.
(d) Certain Taxes Prohibited.--No tax shall be imposed on or with
respect to the sale or use of digital medical services, digital
education services, or digital energy management services.
SEC. 5. BUNDLED GOODS AND SERVICES.
If charges for digital goods or digital services are aggregated
with, and not separately stated from, charges for other goods or
services, then the charges for digital goods or digital services may be
taxed for purposes of this Act at the same rate and on the same basis
as charges for the other goods or services unless the seller can
reasonably identify the charges for the digital goods or digital
services from its books and records kept in the regular course of
business.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS AND OTHER SPECIAL RULES.
For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions and rules
apply:
(1) Customer.--The term ``customer'' means a person that
purchases a digital good or digital service, for a purpose
other than resale. For the purpose of determining a place of
primary use under section 4(b)(2)(A), ``customer'' means the
``end user'', as such term is used in section 124 of title 4 of
the United States Code, of the purchased digital good or
digital service. For purposes of this definition, purchase for
resale includes purchase of a digital good or digital service
for further commercial broadcast, rebroadcast, transmission,
retransmission, licensing, relicensing, reproduction, copying,
distribution, redistribution, or exhibition of the digital good
or digital service, in whole or in part, to another person.
(2) Delivered or transferred electronically.--The term
``delivered or transferred electronically'' means delivered or
transferred to the customer by means other than tangible
storage media. It is not necessary that the product or service
be physically transferred to the customer, provided that the
customer may access or remotely use the product or service.
(3) Digital good and digital service.--The term ``digital
good'' means any good or product that is delivered or
transferred electronically to the customer, including software,
information maintained in digital format, digital audio-visual
works, digital audio works, and digital books; and the term
``digital service'' means any service that is delivered or
transferred electronically to the customer, including the
provision of remote access to or use of a digital good, but the
term ``digital service'' does not include telecommunications
service, Internet access service, or audio or video programming
service. For purposes of this section, ``audio or video
programming'' means programming provided by, or generally
considered comparable to programming provided by, a radio or
television broadcast station. ``Video programming'' shall not
include interactive on-demand services, pay-per-view services,
or services generally considered comparable to such services
regardless of the technology used to provide such services.
(4) Digital education service.--The term ``digital
education service'' means a primary, secondary, undergraduate,
postgraduate, or professional educational service delivered or
transferred electronically to a practitioner or student.
(5) Digital energy management service.--The term ``digital
energy management service'' means a service that utilizes
digital information to manage a customer's energy use, to allow
a customer to respond to energy market information or
circumstances, or to identify customer demand with particular
energy supply.
(6) Digital medical service.--The term ``digital medical
service'' means a health care, health information, or health
education service that is delivered or transferred
electronically to a practitioner, researcher, or patient.
(7) Digital code.--The term ``digital code'' means a code
that conveys to a customer only the right to obtain a digital
good or digital service. A digital code may be obtained by any
means, including by email or by tangible means regardless of
its designation as ``song code'', ``video code'', or ``book
code''. The tax treatment of the sale or use of a digital code
shall be the same as the tax treatment of the digital good or
digital service to which the digital code relates. The sale of
the digital code shall be considered the sale transaction for
purposes of this Act.
(8) Discriminatory tax.--The term ``discriminatory tax''
means any tax imposed by a State or local jurisdiction--
(A) on or with respect to the sale or use of any
digital good or digital service at a higher rate than
is generally imposed on or with respect to the sale or
use of tangible personal property or of similar
services that are not delivered or transferred
electronically;
(B) on or with respect to any seller of digital
goods or digital services at a higher rate or by
incorporating a broader tax base than is generally
imposed on or with respect to sellers in transactions
involving tangible personal property or involving
similar services that are not delivered or transferred
electronically. This provision applies only to the
extent that the higher rate or broader tax base is
attributable to the fact that such person sells digital
goods or digital services; or
(C) that is required to be collected with respect
to the sale or use of digital goods or digital services
by different sellers or under other terms that are
disadvantageous to those applied in taxing the sale or
use of tangible personal property or of similar
services that are not delivered or transferred
electronically.
For purposes of this subsection, all taxes, tax rates,
exemptions, deductions, credits, incentives, exclusions, and
other similar factors shall be taken into account in
determining whether a tax is a discriminatory tax.
(9) Generally imposed.--A tax shall not be considered
``generally imposed'' if it is imposed only on specific
services, specific industries or business segments, or specific
types of property.
(10) Multiple tax.--The term ``multiple tax'' means any tax
with respect to which no credit is given for comparable taxes
paid to other States or local jurisdictions on the same
transaction. Taxes imposed by physically overlapping State or
local jurisdictions shall not be considered to be multiple
taxes by reason of being applied within the overlapping area.
(11) Sale and purchase.--The terms ``sale'' and
``purchase'', and all variations thereof, shall include
``lease'', ``rent'', and ``license'', and corresponding
variations thereof.
(12) Seller.--The term ``seller'' means a person making
sales of tangible personal property, digital goods, digital
services, or other services.
(13) State or local jurisdiction.--The term ``State or
local jurisdiction'' means any of the several States, the
District of Columbia, any territory or possession of the United
States, a political subdivision of any State, territory, or
possession, or any governmental entity or person acting on
behalf of such State, territory, possession, or subdivision and
with the authority to assess, impose, levy, or collect taxes.
(14) Tax.--The term ``tax'' means any charge imposed by any
governmental entity for the purpose of generating revenues for
governmental purposes, including any tax, charge, or fee levied
by a taxing jurisdiction as a fixed charge for each customer or
measured by gross amounts charged to customers, regardless of
whether such tax, charge, or fee is imposed on the vendor or
customer and regardless of the terminology used to describe the
tax, charge, or fee. The term ``tax'' does not include a tax on
or measured by net income or an ad valorem tax.
SEC. 7. FEDERAL JURISDICTION.
Notwithstanding section 1341 of title 28 of the United States Code,
and without regard to the amount in controversy or citizenship of the
parties, a district court of the United States has jurisdiction,
concurrent with other jurisdiction of courts of the United States and
the States, to prevent a violation of this Act.
SEC. 8. REGULATIONS.
The Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of
the Treasury, shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary or
appropriate to carry out the purposes of this Act. In promulgating any
regulations under this Act, the Secretary shall also seek the
consultation of the Executive Director of the Governing Board of the
Streamlined Sales Tax Project.
SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION.
(a) General Rule.--This Act shall take effect on the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(b) Application to Liabilities and Pending Cases.--Nothing in this
Act affects liability for taxes accrued and enforced before the date of
enactment of this Act, or affects ongoing litigation relating to such
taxes, except as provided in section 4(c) of this Act.
SEC. 10. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that each State shall take
reasonable steps necessary to prevent multiple taxation of digital
goods and digital services in situations where a foreign country has
imposed a tax on such goods or services.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E1255-1256)
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
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