By Maria T. Albanese, JD, LL.M, Checkpoint News

The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed a decision by the South Carolina Court of Appeals, which affirmed an Administrative Law Court (ALC) order upholding a $12,490,502.15 assessment by the South Carolina Department of Revenue for unpaid sales tax, penalties, and interest. The assessment stemmed from the Amazon Services, LLC’s (“Amazon”) failure to collect and remit sales taxes on transactions involving third-party merchants on Amazon’s website selling to South Carolina residents during the first quarter of 2016. (Amazon Services, LLC v. S.C. Dept. of Rev., S.C. S. Ct. Case No. 28319, 03/18/2026.)

Violation of Due Process Challenge

Amazon argued that it was not a “seller” as defined in as defined in S.C. Code Ann. § 12-36-70(1)(A), because it did not directly own or sell the goods, and therefore applying the tax obligation retroactively to marketplace facilitators violated due process because the legislature did not explicitly require marketplace facilitators to collect tax until Act 21 of 2019. The court noted that the Department had applied the statute as written in 2016, well before Act 21 was enacted, and therefore there was no retroactive application and no due process violation.

To dig deeper, visit the original article on the Thomson Reuters blog.