(A)(1) "Marketplace facilitator" means any person engaged in the business of facilitating a retail sale of tangible personal property by:
(a) listing or advertising, or allowing the listing or advertising of, the products of another person in any marketplace where sales at retail occur; and
(b) collecting or processing payments from the purchaser, either directly or indirectly through an agreement or arrangement with a third party.
(2) If a person meets the criteria set forth in item (1), then that person is a marketplace facilitator regardless of whether the person receives compensation or other consideration in exchange for his services.
(B) A marketplace may be physical or electronic and includes, but is not limited to, any space, store, booth, catalog, website, television or radio broadcast, or similar place, medium, or forum.
(C) For purposes of subsection (A), a marketplace facilitator includes any related entities assisting the marketplace facilitator in sales, storage, distribution, payment collection, or in any other manner, with respect to the marketplace.
(D) When a marketplace facilitator is comprised of multiple entities, the entity that lists or advertises, or allows the listing or advertising of, the products sold at retail in the marketplace is the entity responsible for remitting the sales and use tax to the State.
HISTORY: 2019 Act No. 21 (S.214), Section 2, eff April 26, 2019.
Editor's Note
2019 Act No. 21, Section 1, provides as follows:
"SECTION 1. The General Assembly finds:
"(1) the South Carolina Sales and Use Tax Act requires any person engaged in business as a retailer to remit the sales and use tax on all retail sales of tangible personal property not otherwise excluded or exempted from the tax. This requirement applies to all retail sales of tangible personal property by the retailer, whether the tangible personal property is owned by the retailer or another person. Retailers selling tangible personal property at retail on consignment, by auction, or in any other manner must remit the sales and use tax on such retail sales;
"(2) the Internet marketplaces where a person sells tangible personal property at retail by listing or advertising, or allowing the listing or advertising of, another person's products on an online marketplace and collects or processes the payment from the customer are retailers required to remit the sales and use tax on such retail sales under the provisions of South Carolina sales and use tax law;
"(3) with the changing economy and ever expanding role of the Internet in the retail market, the longstanding requirement in the sales and use tax law that a retailer remit the tax on retail sales of tangible personal property owned by another person must apply to all retailers, including both Internet retailers and brick and mortar retailers;
"(4) retailers selling another person's tangible personal property on the Internet must clearly understand and be informed of their requirements to remit the sales and use tax in the same manner as retailers selling another person's tangible personal property in a brick and mortar store; and
"(5) this act shall not be construed as a statement concerning the applicability of the South Carolina Sales and Use Tax Act to any sales and use tax liability in matters currently in litigation or being audited."