#multi-state-tax
Multi-state tax compliance, nexus rules, and withholding requirements for businesses operating across state lines
Nineteen states raised their minimum wage on January 1, 2026 — Washington now leads at $17.13 an hour — and roughly 68 cities and counties set higher local rates. This guide lists every 2026 state rate, the mid-year changes in Florida and Oregon, new PFML payroll taxes in Maryland, Minnesota, and Delaware, and a seven-step checklist for keeping multi-state payroll compliant.
Colorado's retail delivery fee rose to $0.31 per order on July 1, 2026, while Minnesota charges $0.50 on qualifying orders of $100 or more. Here are the exemption thresholds, marketplace carve-outs, the ten-plus states drafting similar fees, and how to record the fee so it doesn't tangle your books.
How carnival and fair concessionaires should keep books for a route business — recording 25–50% gross-revenue splits and guarantee floors per stop, registering for sales tax permits that differ by state (Ohio's statewide license vs. California's per-location permits vs. Illinois's changing-location filer status), reconciling cash daily against ticket counts, and tracking day-labor payroll and 1099 thresholds across state lines.
The U.S. minted its last penny on November 12, 2025, and 19 states have enacted cash-rounding laws in 2026 with no federal standard yet in force. Most states let retailers round cash totals to the nearest nickel at their discretion, Arizona mandates Canadian-style rounding, and Indiana treats rounding gains and losses as income adjustments. Here is how the rules differ, why sales tax is always calculated on the pre-rounding price, and how to book rounding variances so they stay auditable.
Washington, D.C.'s general sales tax rate rises from 6% to 7% on October 1, 2026, and the District taxes digital goods and SaaS at the full rate with no B2B exemption. This guide covers the delayed Budget Support Act increase, D.C.'s $100,000/200-transaction economic nexus thresholds, and a five-step compliance checklist for invoices that straddle the rate change.
Starting with tax years beginning January 1, 2027, Colorado's HB26-1289 makes worldwide combined reporting the default for unitary C corporation groups — foreign subsidiaries included. The water's-edge election that avoids it binds for ten consecutive years, and a tax-haven blacklist (Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, Singapore) pulls listed entities back in regardless. Here's who is affected and what records you need.
The Multistate Tax Commission's January 2026 white paper proposes a "blended" apportionment method that folds a partnership's sales, property, and payroll factors into each partner's own state tax calculation. Because states currently split between aggregate and entity sourcing theories, the same partnership dollar can be taxed twice — or not at all. Here's what multistate partnerships and multi-member LLCs should track now.
New Jersey's A5324, effective July 1, 2026, bills employers $325–$725 per year for each Medicaid-enrolled employee or dependent once 50 or more are enrolled — matched by the state, not self-reported. Here is how the tiered fees work, which workers are exempt now and in 2027, and how to prepare your books for a bill you didn't calculate.
Gusto's Simple tier runs $49/month + $6 per employee but gates multi-state payroll behind an $80 Plus tier; OnPay's single ~$40–59 + $6 plan includes it standard. A feature-by-feature cost comparison for businesses with 2–9 employees, covering PTO, direct deposit, benefits availability, support, and integrations.
Kentucky HB 757 eliminates the state's 200-transaction economic nexus threshold effective August 1, 2026, leaving a $100,000 revenue-only test — joining Alaska, Utah, and Illinois in a broader multi-state shift away from transaction-count triggers.
Maine now applies its 5.5% sales tax to streaming video, music, audiobook, and podcast subscriptions as of January 1, 2026, with economic nexus triggered at $100,000 in revenue from Maine customers.
Washington employers must withhold 0.58% of gross wages with no cap for the WA Cares Fund, the state's employee-funded long-term care program that began paying benefits up to $36,500 per worker in July 2026, and file combined quarterly reports with the Employment Security Department.
