Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: sales tax over the internet

The basic answer is YES.

Liability for sales or use tax is based upon "nexus" of the parties to the taxing state, not the medium used to place the order. Nexus results from a party's presence, in a technical legal sense, in the taxing state. Use of sales methods such as the telephone, U.S. mail, Internet etc. tend to produce less legal presence than sales methods such as stores, warehouses, live salespeople, etc. but do not assure exemption.

You are safest to start out with the assumption that your sales ARE TAXABLE until you have determined that they are exempt due to lack of nexus (or otherwise) based upon the advice of an attorney (or nonattorney sales tax expert) who is fully familiar with the particulars of your business, including where your nexus-determining operations, inventories, personnel, etc. are located.