US Sales Tax Nexus for Online Sellers: A Plain-English Guide

Wayfair changed everything in 2018. If you sell online to US customers, this affects you — even if you’re based in the UK.

What is “nexus”?

Nexus is a legal connection to a state that requires you to collect and remit sales tax there. Two main types:

• Physical nexus — office, employee, inventory (FBA warehouses count!).
• Economic nexus — exceeding revenue or transaction thresholds (commonly $100k or 200 transactions in 12 months).

Marketplace facilitator laws

Most states now require Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Walmart to collect sales tax on your behalf. Your DTC Shopify channel is on you.

Practical steps

1. Run a nexus study — where do you have it today?
2. Register in those states.
3. Set up TaxJar or Avalara to collect at checkout.
4. File on the cadence each state requires (monthly/quarterly).
5. Re-run the study every 6 months.

What we do

AccoTiva runs sales tax compliance for UK-based brands selling into the US. Get a quote.