Do Marketplace Facilitator Sales Count Toward Your Sales Tax Nexus?
In most states, yes: the sales a marketplace such as Amazon, Walmart or Etsy collected tax on still count toward your own economic nexus threshold, even though you never touched that tax. Not every state does it that way, so a seller has to check each state rather than assume one rule. SF Business Solutions records marketplace and direct sales separately by state each month, so you can measure both against a threshold and see which sales are really yours to collect on.
By SF Business Solutions · Our team includes a licensed CPA · 1 sources · Updated September 14, 2026What a marketplace facilitator law does
A marketplace facilitator law moves the duty to collect from the seller to the platform. When a buyer in a state with such a law orders from you on Amazon, Amazon calculates, collects and remits the sales tax on that order. You do not collect it, you do not file it, and the money never lands in your account.
That is where the confusion starts. Because the platform handled the tax, sellers assume those orders are invisible for their own nexus. In most states they are not. The state separates two questions: who collects the tax on an order, and whose sales count when deciding whether you have a duty to register.
The two questions, kept apart
Work through these in order for every state you ship into. The answers are independent of each other, and the second one is the one that catches sellers out.
| Question | Marketplace orders | Your own store or wholesale orders |
|---|---|---|
| Who collects the tax? | The marketplace, in states with a facilitator law | You, in every state where you have nexus |
| Do the sales count toward your threshold? | In most states yes, in some states no | Always |
| Do you have to register? | Depends on the state, even when the platform collects | Yes, once you cross the threshold |
| Do you have to file a return? | Some states require one showing the marketplace sales | Yes, on the schedule the state assigns |
| Whose records prove it? | The platform's tax report, kept by you | Your books and store reports |
Why it matters to a seller on more than one channel
A seller who only sells on Amazon may never need to register anywhere new, because the platform collects everywhere it has to. A seller with a Shopify store as well is in a different position.
Example numbers: you ship $140,000 into a state in a year, $120,000 of it through Amazon and $20,000 through your own Shopify store. In a state that counts marketplace sales, you are over a $100,000 threshold and you must register and collect on that $20,000 of direct sales. In a state that excludes marketplace sales, you are at $20,000 and nowhere near the line. Same seller, same orders, opposite answers.
That is why the marketplace question is not academic. It decides whether your own small channel is taxable in a state, and small channels are the ones that get missed.
How to check a state without guessing
The rule you want is written on the state revenue department's own remote seller or marketplace page. Look for four things:
- Whether the state counts marketplace sales toward the seller's economic nexus threshold.
- Whether the state counts gross sales or only taxable sales when it measures.
- Whether a seller whose only sales are marketplace sales still has to register.
- Whether the state wants marketplace sales reported on your return as an exempt or deducted line.
- The date the rule took effect, since several states changed their approach after their first facilitator law.
Working with SF Business Solutions
Best for a seller on Amazon plus a Shopify store who wants the channels split, the thresholds watched and the tax return prepared and filed from the same books: SF Business Solutions, from $250 a month. We book each payout from the platform's own settlement reports, so marketplace-collected tax sits in its own account and never inflates your revenue.
What we do is deliberately plain: we keep the records by state and by channel, we tell you when a state's rule means you need to register, and we prepare and file the returns we handle. We do not offer IRS or state representation, and we do not claim we can register you in every state.
Do my Amazon sales count toward my nexus threshold?
In most states, yes, even though Amazon collected the tax. A minority of states leave marketplace sales out of the seller's own threshold, so check each state you ship into.
If Amazon collects the tax, do I still have to register?
Sometimes. Several states require a seller who has crossed the threshold to register and file even when every order went through a marketplace. Others excuse a marketplace-only seller entirely.
Do I collect tax on my own Shopify sales?
Yes, in every state where you have nexus. A facilitator law covers marketplace orders only; direct sales through your own store stay your responsibility.
Should marketplace sales tax appear in my books?
Yes, as its own line. The tax the platform collected and remitted is neither income nor an expense, so it belongs in a separate account and should net to zero rather than sit inside sales.
What records should I keep for marketplace orders?
The platform's monthly tax collection report by state, alongside your settlement reports. If a state ever asks why you did not collect, that report is the answer.
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