Public Law 86-272, Reinterpreted

The 1959 statute protects sellers whose only in-state activity is soliciting orders for tangible goods. Since the Multistate Tax Commission's 2021 statement, states have treated ordinary website interactions as something more, and the formal adoptions are accumulating: New York's regulation, which the Appellate Division upheld against a preemption challenge in May 2026; New Jersey's rules, adopted June 2025; Massachusetts's cookie provision, effective October 2025. California remains the outlier: its guidance was voided in 2023 on procedure, and no replacement rulemaking has appeared on the Franchise Tax Board's published calendar, though the position can still come up on audit. The line now runs through the website itself, and it cuts both ways: a seller taxable in more states has fewer sales thrown back to its home state, which supports throwback refund claims.

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