Amazon will collect N.J. sales tax, build two warehouses

When online retailers touch down in a state with a sales tax, they must start collecting it. Amazon.com is scouting New Jersey locations for two warehouses.  The company has agreed to start collecting sales tax from New Jersey residents starting in July of 2013.

In the past, Amazon has held out for long-term sales-tax exemptions before company officials would agree to locate a new facility. “I think that was basically the trade-off — I mean, ‘We’re bringing jobs, so kind of give us this benefit in exchange,'” says Sucharita Mulpuru, a retail analyst at Forrester Research. Mulpuru says that Amazon decided to stop all fighting over sales taxes in November. She predicts the company plans to open retail stores.

“They did not roll over willingly and easily on this one. It came after a long hard fight,” she said. “And it came at a time where they have this physical product, the Kindle, that they have to get into people’s hands.”The two warehouses planned in New Jersey would employ 1,500 people. A final decision to build depends on state tax incentives.