US sales tax nexus checker

US sales tax nexus, explained without the panic

Nexus is the word that frightens Indian sellers most. Understood properly, it is far more manageable than the internet makes it seem.

"Nexus" simply means a connection to a US state strong enough to create a sales-tax obligation there. It can be created by physical presence, such as having inventory stored in an Amazon warehouse in that state, or by crossing an economic threshold of sales into the state. Because FBA spreads your inventory across many states, the raw rules suggest you could owe sales tax in dozens of places, and that prospect is what sends new sellers into a spiral. The checker above helps you see where nexus may apply to you; this section explains why the real obligation, for most FBA sellers, is far smaller than the fear.

Physical nexus vs. economic nexus

There are two ways to create nexus. Physical nexus comes from having a tangible presence in a state, and for FBA sellers the classic trigger is inventory sitting in an Amazon fulfillment center located there, something Amazon decides, not you. Economic nexus comes from exceeding a state’s sales or transaction threshold (often around $100,000 in sales or a set number of transactions) into that state, regardless of physical presence. On paper, a busy FBA seller could trip both kinds in many states at once. This is the scenario that fuels the panic, and it is also the scenario that marketplace-facilitator laws have largely neutralized for sales made through Amazon.

Why marketplace facilitator laws shrink your burden

The single most important fact for an Amazon FBA seller to understand is that nearly every US state has passed marketplace-facilitator laws, which shift the responsibility for collecting and remitting sales tax from the individual seller to the marketplace, Amazon, for sales made on its platform. In practice this means that for the vast majority of your Amazon sales, Amazon already calculates, collects, and remits the sales tax automatically; you do not register, file, or remit for those sales yourself. The frightening picture of registering in forty states and filing forty returns simply does not match how it works for a typical FBA-only seller. Your genuine direct obligations are usually limited and specific, not sprawling.

This is exactly why over-reaction is itself a costly mistake: sellers who panic and register in many states create ongoing filing obligations (and costs) for themselves that the facilitator laws had already handled.

When you might still have a direct obligation

There are situations where you still need to register and file directly. If you sell through your own website or another channel that is not a marketplace facilitator, those sales are your responsibility. A small number of states have particular rules or thresholds that can still require registration even for marketplace sellers in specific circumstances. And your federal obligations, the annual 1120/5472 filing for a foreign-owned LLC, are entirely separate from sales tax and always apply regardless. The right approach is a precise assessment of your specific channels and states, so you register exactly where you must and nowhere you needn’t, avoiding both under-compliance and the equally wasteful over-compliance.

The checker is a starting point for that assessment; the goal is a clear, short list of your real obligations rather than a vague, paralyzing fear of all of them.

From worry to a clear, correct position

Sales-tax nexus is a topic where accurate guidance saves both money and anxiety. Because the marketplace-facilitator framework handles most FBA sales automatically, the practical task is identifying the narrow set of obligations that genuinely apply to you, and keeping your separate federal filings current and on time. We assess your specific situation, tell you plainly where you must register and where you need not, and handle the federal filings whose penalties are steep, so the whole subject moves from a source of dread to a settled, correctly managed part of your business. The checker gives you a first read; an accurate, personalized assessment turns it into certainty.