SB-0658, As Passed Senate, December 19, 2014
SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 658
A bill to amend 1933 PA 167, entitled
"General sales tax act,"
(MCL 205.51 to 205.78) by adding section 2b.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 2b. (1) A seller who sells tangible personal property to
a purchaser in this state is presumed to be engaged in the business
of making sales at retail in this state if the seller or a person,
including an affiliated person, other than a common carrier acting
as a common carrier, engages in or performs any of the following
activities in this state:
(a) Sells a similar line of products as the seller and does so
under the same business name as the seller or a similar business
name as the seller.
(b) Uses its employees, agents, representatives, or
independent contractors in this state to promote or facilitate
sales by the seller to purchasers in this state.
(c) Maintains, occupies, or uses an office, distribution
facility, warehouse, storage place, or similar place of business in
this state to facilitate the delivery or sale of tangible personal
property sold by the seller to the seller's purchasers in this
state.
(d) Uses, with the seller's consent or knowledge, trademarks,
service marks, or trade names in this state that are the same or
substantially similar to those used by the seller.
(e) Delivers, installs, assembles, or performs maintenance or
repair services for the seller's purchasers in this state.
(f) Facilitates the sale of tangible personal property to
purchasers in this state by allowing the seller's purchasers in
this state to pick up or return tangible personal property sold by
the seller at an office, distribution facility, warehouse, storage
place, or similar place of business maintained by that person in
this state.
(g) Shares management, business systems, business practices,
or employees with the seller, or in the case of an affiliated
person, engages in intercompany transactions related to the
activities occurring with the seller to establish or maintain the
seller's market in this state.
(h) Conducts any other activities in this state that are
significantly associated with the seller's ability to establish and
maintain a market in this state for the seller's sales of tangible
personal property to purchasers in this state.
(2) The presumption under subsection (1) may be rebutted by
demonstrating that a person's activities in this state are not
significantly associated with the seller's ability to establish or
maintain a market in the state for the seller's sales of tangible
personal property to purchasers in this state.
(3) In addition to the presumption under subsection (1), a
seller of tangible personal property is presumed to be engaged in
the business of making sales at retail of tangible personal
property in this state if the seller enters into an agreement,
directly or indirectly, with 1 or more residents of this state
under which the resident, for a commission or other consideration,
directly or indirectly, refers potential purchasers, whether by a
link on an internet website, in-person oral presentation, or
otherwise, to the seller, if all of the following conditions are
satisfied:
(a) The cumulative gross receipts from sales by the seller to
purchasers in this state who are referred to the seller by all
residents of this state with an agreement with the seller are
greater than $10,000.00 during the immediately preceding 12 months.
(b) The seller's total cumulative gross receipts from sales to
purchasers in this state exceed $50,000.00 during the immediately
preceding 12 months.
(4) The presumption under subsection (3) may be rebutted by
demonstrating that the residents of this state with whom the seller
has an agreement did not engage in any solicitation or any other
activity within this state that was significantly associated with
the seller's ability to establish or maintain a market in this
state for the seller's sales of tangible personal property to
purchasers in this state. The presumption under subsection (3)
shall be considered rebutted by evidence of all of the following:
(a) Written agreements prohibiting all of the residents with
an agreement with the seller from engaging in any solicitation
activities in this state on behalf of the seller.
(b) Written statements from all of the residents with an
agreement with the seller stating that the resident representatives
did not engage in any solicitation or other activities in this
state on behalf of the seller during the immediately preceding 12
months, if the statements are provided and obtained in good faith.
(5) An agreement under which a seller purchases advertisements
from a person or persons in this state to be delivered through
television, radio, print, the internet, or any other medium is not
an agreement described in subsection (3) unless the advertisement
revenue paid to the person or persons in this state consists of
commissions or other consideration that is based upon completed
sales of tangible personal property.
(6) This section applies to transactions occurring on or after
the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section
and without regard to the date the seller and the resident entered
into an agreement described in subsection (3). The 12 months before
the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section
are included as part of the immediately preceding 12 months for
purposes of subsection (3).
(7) As used in this section:
(a) "Affiliated person" means either of the following:
Senate Bill No. 658 (S-3) as amended December 19, 2014
(i) Any person that is a part of the same controlled group of
corporations as the seller.
(ii) Any other person that, notwithstanding its form of
organization, bears the same ownership relationship to the seller
as a corporation that is a member of the same controlled group of
corporations.
(b) "Controlled group of corporations" means that term as
defined in section 1563(a) of the internal revenue code, 26 USC
1563.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect October
1, [2015].