The Main Street Fairness Act that is now pending before Congress and would require all Internet merchants to collect sales tax, has a staunch advocate and a strong tech support department here in the Puget Sound —Seattle-based FedTax.net.
The TaxCloud™ sales tax calculation and remittance service calculates the sales tax due on any purchase in any tax jurisdiction in the nation and stands ready to assist merchants with meeting the requirements of HR 5660, the Main Street Fairness Act.
Merchants who sign up with TaxCloud can instantly calculate the local sales tax due on any transaction for over 13,000 tax jurisdictions. Each member state has certified the accuracy of the TaxCloud service which automatically monitors tax codes and incorporates any changes — so all TaxCloud merchants maintain compliance with all local sales tax laws with zero effort.
TaxCloud also generates reports and automatically files state-by-state Simplified Electronic Returns for the merchant. In addition, merchants who use TaxCloud will qualify for amnesty from the SSUTA member states for failing to collect sales tax in the past.
“Achieving [authorized] Certified Service Provider (CSP) status is a great accomplishment for FedTax.net,” said R. David L. Campbell, Chief Executive Officer. “Our company was founded specifically to offer online merchants a free and easy way to accurately calculate and remit voter-approved state and local sales tax. The introduction of this legislation by Congressman Delahunt is an important step towards the equitable collection of sales taxes and will simultaneously provide local municipalities with much-needed revenue.”
TaxCloud takes advantage of an extensive cloud computing infrastructure. “By using cloud computing, we were able to build a massively scalable, highly available, and secure service at a much lower cost, which allows us to offer our service free to our customers. We designed our system from the ground up to be easy to use for businesses of any size, even those with no dedicated IT departments,” noted Paul Onnen, Chief Technical Officer and Chief Information Security Officer. [24×7]
Free, One-Click Wi-Fi Goes Live at all Company-Operated Starbucks in the U.S. and Canada
Now you can get connected to the latest version of the Google’s search engine, which goes by the code name “Caffeine,” at the same place you pony up four dollars to buy the good stuff, and do it with free, one-click access.
Starbucks has turned on free Wi-Fi with no username or password required at its U.S. and Canadian company-operated stores. Customers with Wi-Fi-enabled laptops, tablets and mobile phones will have unlimited Internet access. Most recently, the free Wi-Fi benefit was limited to two hours a day and only available to members of the My Starbucks Rewards program.
“Our customers were asking for a simplified Wi-Fi offering, and free Wi-Fi has been a top request on MyStarbucksIdea.com. We’re excited to turn this feedback into action and believe our customers will be delighted with the enhanced experience they’ll find in Starbucks stores,” said Howard Schultz, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Starbucks.
Starbucks will continue to work with AT&T in the U.S. as its Wi-Fi provider, a relationship that’s been in place since 2008. Close to 6800 Starbucks locations are part of AT&T’s U.S. Wi-Fi network. In Canada, more than 750 company-operated stores will now have free Wi-Fi. Bell is the Wi-Fi provider in Canada and has worked with Starbucks since 2005.
As Schultz noted at the WIRED Business Conference on June 14th, the addition of one click, free Wi-Fi to the Starbucks customer experience is just the beginning. Later this fall, Starbucks plans to introduce the Starbucks Digital Network, in partnership with Yahoo!. This new online experience, currently planned for U.S. company-operated stores, will offer customers free, unrestricted access to a collection of paid sites and services, exclusive content and previews, free downloads and local community news. [24×7]
Get more info in the Seattle24x7 blog
