Rebecca Madigan of the Performance Marketing Association (PMA) wrote an update on the Colorado Affiliate Tax (HB 1193) today. The tax measure, which at last word was being discussed by the state senate finance committee, has been passed on to the state senate with a critical and potentially beneficial amendment.

In her post, Ms. Madigan states,

We were given an opportunity for an amendment that would exempt online affiliates from establishing nexus for out of state retailers. It would give the retailers safe harbor of 30 days to terminate any affiliates who did personal marketing or selling, which would establish nexus, thereby requiring out of state retailers to collect sales tax for online purchases.

The PMA fought the introduction of this bill with a lobby effort led by seven professional lobbyists. They were joined in the fight by over 150 affiliates from Colorado, an organized turn out that obviously surprised state legislators.

That level of organized opposition to the bill won the affiliate marketing community nearly 15 hours of negotiating time with legislators in a bid to water down or kill the bill. At this time, a draft of the amendment is not available but the senate committee promised modifications to the bill would be completed by Monday before the bill is presented to the senate for vote.

Ms. Madigan suggests advertisers seek legal counsel when the amended bill is passed saying,

This amendment, if completed as promised, may make some merchants comfortable enough to continue working with Colorado affiliates. For others, it may not. The amendment needs to be completed and available for review, and advertisers should immediately consult legal and tax experts.

Congratulations to everyone who worked together to fight the Colorado Affiliate Tax. Though a tax measure is virtually certain to pass sometime next week, the amended version should be enough to keep most advertisers available to affiliates in Colorado.

For more information, please visit the Performance Marketing Association website.

Related Articles

• February 22, 2010 -- California Studies New Affiliate Tax
• February 5, 2010 -- Colorado Affiliate Tax Update
• February 2, 2010 -- Breaking Teeth on Golden Eggs – Affiliate Marketing Taxation
• December 19, 2011 -- Navigating the Tricky Terrain of Affiliate Marketing in Social Media
• March 4, 2010 -- AffCon2010 – Denver, Conference Update