[JCrooks - AffiliateWindow]

Looks like Kansas is moving forward with click-through tax legislation by amending Senate Bill No. 371 from the 2012 session. Check out page 4 of this document. This is the type of wording that gets affiliates dropped.

Time to get organized, people! You can make a difference by talking with your legislators. We learned that in Colorado; it just requires a lot of commitment and being relentless, but it can be done.

Good luck - we're all rooting for you.

[mdavis]

Does anyone have any more information on this since it passed last month? I'm having a hard time finding stuff on it.

Here's a link to the actual bill http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b201...3_enrolled.pdf but my "legal speak" is a little rusty, so I'm not 100% sure what to make of it.

[JCrooks - AffiliateWindow]

My understanding is that the legislation passed, and will go into effect in July, 2013.

[AffiliateWarrior]

Is it me, or are they legislators getting "smarter"... note the language :

" The retailer enters into an agreement with one or more residents
of this state under which the resident, for a commission or other
consideration, directly or indirectly refers potential customers, whether by
a link on an internet website,"

So now, it's not even about active solicitation (email, social, flyers, mass mailers) it's just placing a link?

What a freakin' disaster, this pretty much signs the death warrant for Kansas affiliates with most programs.

[mdavis]

@JCrooks - Yeah, that's what I'm reading, too. I just can't find an exact date. Pretty much everything says "on or around July 1, 2013." But, in reading the bill, it says 90 days after the bill passes... which would be sometime in mid-July.

@AffiliateWarrior - It definitely seems that way!

Here's another specific line I had questions about:
"the cumulative gross receipts from sales by the retailer to customers in the state who are referred to the retailer by all residents with this type of an agreement with the retailer is in excess of $10,000 during the preceding 12 months... The term ‘‘preceding 12 months’’ as used in this subparagraph includes the 12 months commencing prior to the effective date of this subparagraph"

Can anyone here shed some light on that before I jump to any conclusions on my own interpretation?

[Convergence]

Originally Posted by AffiliateWarrior

Is it me, or are they legislators getting "smarter"... note the language :

" The retailer enters into an agreement with one or more residents
of this state under which the resident, for a commission or other
consideration, directly or indirectly refers potential customers, whether by
a link on an internet website,"

So now, it's not even about active solicitation (email, social, flyers, mass mailers) it's just placing a link?

What a freakin' disaster, this pretty much signs the death warrant for Kansas affiliates with most programs.

The operative word is "residents". How do they define a "resident". If the Google has an office in Kansas, are they considered a "resident"?. If a magazine publisher is in Kansas, and has a website, are they considered a "resident" and therefore, any paid ads of any kind are included?

Is an affiliate who is incorporated, in any way, a "resident" or is it just individuals?

Is the phrase "The retailer enters into an agreement with one or more residents of this state" translated to mean if any "resident" of Kansas agrees to post a link for ANY type of compensation, that will create the nexus - IE: Magazine example above, is not headquartered in Kansas, but they have a free-lance sales person, that resides in Kansas, selling ad space - does that alone create the nexus?

It's vague enough language to be all encompassing...

[JCrooks - AffiliateWindow]

Part of the challenge with these bills is that the next step is "interpretation." That's where some real danger lies as well. It will have to be interpreted by the tax division in Kansas.

In previous interpretations with other states, they haven't gone after paid ads on magazine websites because a sales person lives there. That's not to say they couldn't, just others haven't yet.

For Kansas, based on the language (and I am NOT an attorney - official disclaimer!), it will probably be the 12 months preceeding the official start date of the legislation. The language does not appear to specify whether that will be a rolling time period (something Medicare sometimes uses), or a fixed time period (always July 15 to July 14).

As Convergence says, the language is vague enough to be all encompassing. They will use that to their complete advantage!