Amazon to tax items sold in Hawaii

Amazon said Wednesday it will begin collecting general excise tax on items sold in Hawaii. That leaves two states with statewide sales taxes — Idaho and Maine — in which the e-retail behemoth doesn’t have agreements to collect.

“Amazon will begin collecting sales tax in the state of Hawaii beginning April 1, 2017,” the company wrote in a statement provided to Bloomberg BNA.

The details behind Amazon’s decision to collect taxes in Hawaii are still unclear, but it comes as the Legislature is mulling several online retail tax-related bills. On March 7, the Hawaii Senate passed SB 620, which would expand the scope of “engaging in business” to include retailers with in-state gross receipts of $100,000 or more for the purposes of a general excise tax.

The Hawaii governor’s office said it didn’t have any additional comment.

ON THE MOVE

The Arcadia Family of Companies has announced the following new appointments:

>> Suzie Schulberg to chief operating officer at Arcadia from chief operating officer at 15 Craigside. Schulberg has served the company since 2001.

>> Bree Komagome fills Schulberg’s previous position as chief operating officer at 15 Craigside. Her experience includes serving as a director of education and consumer affairs for Hawaiian Electric Co., land agent with the Board of Water Supply and as an attorney with the Law Offices of Imanaka Kudo and Fujimoto.

Send items to business@staradvertiser.com.