Relevance of E-Commerce for Taxation: an Overview

Subhajit Basu, Queen's University Belfast

Abstract

Taxation has provided the backdrop to many historical, social, and administrative developments throughout the existence of organized society. To collect taxes presumes the existence of authority to impose and collect it. In most cases, this authority is wielded by the State. Consequently, taxation is clearly part of a political economy. This paper is not meant to be a comprehensive history of the taxation of e-commerce, nor a detailed analysis of the legal arguments involved. Instead, it takes a brief and necessarily simplified look at current practices and principles surrounding the taxation and how they are likely to be applied to e-commerce and will specifically focus on the issue of jurisdiction, sovereignty and taxation.