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, affirmed on appeal in May 2026, though applying it to periods before its December 2023 publication still violates due process; 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 FTB's published calendar, even as the position reportedly persists on audit. The line now runs through the website itself, and it cuts both ways: the same expansion feeds throwback refund claims.

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