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Streamlined Sales Tax

The effective date of the final statutory changes to bring Tennessee into compliance with the national Streamlined Sales and Use Project moved from July 1, 2011 to July 1, 2013 (Public Chapter 72 (2011)). The statutory changes effective July 1, 2013 include: the requirement that sales delivered or shipped to the customer be sourced to the delivery or shipping destination; modification to the single article limitation on local option sales taxes; use of a single return covering multiple dealer locations; and implementation of certain privilege taxes in lieu of sales tax.

Public Chapter 357 enacted in 2003 and Public Chapter 959 enacted in 2004 made numerous changes to the Retailers' Sales Tax Act to bring Tennessee into compliance with the national Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Project. Prior to the Streamlined law changes becoming effective, 2007 Public Chapter 602 delayed the effective date of those changes. The following provisions became effective on January 1, 2008: most of the streamlined sales tax uniform definitions; provisions concerning the registration of farmers for sales tax exemption purposes; provisions concerning the optional centralized registration system; and provisions concerning the optional use of certified service providers or certified automated systems for sales tax collection and remittance. As noted above, the remaining provisions will become effective July 1, 2013.

2008 Public Chapter 1106 enacted additional provisions to adopt streamlined sales tax uniform definitions for digital products, such as movies, music and books, that are transferred electronically.

Streamlined Sales Tax

Last update 9/26/2012