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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Amazon.com Fights|$269 Million Tax Bill

DALLAS (CN) - Amazon.com is fighting a $269 million bill from Texas, for uncollected sales taxes. In a 10-Q filing with the SEC, Amazon said it received the bill for purchases by Texas residents from December 2005 to December 2009. Amazon has a distribution center in Irving, Texas.

"The State of Texas is alleging that we should have collected sales taxes on applicable sales transactions during those years," Amazon wrote. "We believe that the State of Texas did not provide a sufficient basis for its assessment and that the assessment is without merit. We intend to vigorously defend ourselves in this matter."

R.J. DeSilva, a spokesman for the Texas Comptroller's Office, said in a statement that Amazon.com was audited for sales tax for the 4 years and was billed in August.

"The company has requested a redetermination, which means this is an ongoing audit and could be decided as part of the administrative hearings process," DeSilva said. "The company would send documents and this process will continue."

The Dallas Morning News reported that the Comptroller's Office began investigating in May 2008 after the newspaper questioned why Amazon did not charge sales taxes, though it had had a distribution center in Irving, near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, since 2006.

Amazon says the distribution center is owned by a subsidiary, Amazon.com KYDC LLC, which has the same address as Amazon's Seattle headquarters.

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