Yikes,
I don't know how closely anyone has been following this but it's getting knarly.
New York Goes Gangsta With Tax Law
"If the seller registers and starts collecting sales tax by June 1,
the seller will not be liable for
tax not collected for sales tax quarters prior to June 1. Conversely, if you don't register
and it is later determined that you should have, you could be subject to tax dept audit
for quarters prior to June 1."
So they are saying this doesn't just START June 1st, but if companies with affiliates in New York DO NOT start collecting tax by June 1 they can be hit for BACK taxes. Note: The company only has to have affiliate sales of 10K a year to be liable for the tax.
AS A RESULT COMPANIES ARE ALREADY STARTING TO CANCEL ALL THEIR NEW YORK AFFILIATES. According to Sam, a notice just went out to Drs. Foster and Smith affiliates letting them know all New York affiliates were being removed from the program until this is cleared up or the law is possibly reversed or Amazon wins their suit against the state and gets this reversed.
Since New York stands to gain $50 million from this tax, they aren't going to give up easily.
And again, if this law is not challenged and ruled against, other states will adopt it, then merchants could start removing affiliates that reside in other states.