I have been a seller out of my home in California and did not find the system at all complicated.
Of course, many of these are not going to be applicable to an internet business but someone who has reasonable knowledge in that area is going to have to make that call and the business owner is responsible if the wrong call is made.
Whoever writes that ap and guarantees it will make it easy. It's guaranteed to happen, and quickly.
If an internet business is responsible for collecting sales taxes, would they not be subject to audit by all these taxing authorities?
The blazing brownshirts from California will have a hell of a time making any kind of net revenue out of collections from small businesses out of Stae. Larger entities have all the shipping manifests and accounting records already computerized. So if they are using application software to do the calculations, I really don't see it as a big deal. They already have to do it with freight rates.
Did you collect sales tax from your customers in all the other states and cities which collect sales tax? Did you you file all the appropriate tax returns and remit the collections to the appropriate taxing authorities? Businesses are fine if they only have to deal with one set of laws but having to stay up to date on all tax laws across the country is what is being balked at. If seller's state sales tax law applies, no issues. However, what has been proposed is that the buyer's state sales tax law applies which creates all kinds of issues.
There are 47 states which have sales tax. If a business had to file quarterly in those states, that's almost 200 tax returns which have to filed. Most states require a monthly filing once you cross a fairly-modest threshold. Cross that and the work load goes up by a factor of three.
A couple of nice little computer apps are not going to make everything a-okay. In my mind, it is an unreasonable burden to place on small businesses. It creates an administrative nightmare and hinders actual productivity. Filing forms is not productivity.