The days of avoiding Michigan state sales taxes by shopping online soon will be largely gone.
The Michigan Treasury Department says that mail-order and online retailers — even those with no physical presence in Michigan — must pay a 6 percent sales tax on all transactions on taxable sales in the state starting Oct. 1. Michigan has required retailers or e-commerce companies with brick-and-mortar stores or other types of physical presence in the state — including Amazon — to pay the 6 percent sales tax since October 2015. Starting in October, 2018 online out-of-state retailers that exceed $100,000 in sales or 200 or more transactions in Michigan within the previous calendar year will have to report and pay sales tax to the state. The new sales-tax revenue, according to Michigan law, would go toward the school-aid fund, the general fund and revenue sharing for local governments.