Case No. 20 CVS 7449, N.C. Super. Ct., Wake County (6/23/21). In a case involving an out-of-state commercial printer that sold printed materials to customers in North Carolina via common carrier, as well as to customers who had the printed materials delivered to third-party recipients with North Carolina addresses using a common carrier, a North Carolina superior court (Court) held that North Carolina does not have a sufficient transactional nexus with the sales at issue under the Commerce Clause to impose sales tax on such transactions under principles set forth in Dilworth, because title to the purchases passed to the customers and third-party recipients outside of North Carolina. While the opposing parties both made “compelling arguments regarding the impact of Dilworth, Complete Auto, and Wayfair on this case,” the Court concluded the following:
- Complete Auto did not overrule “Dilworth formalism;”
- Wayfair did not overrule the “Dilworth formalism;” and
- Therefore, the Dilworth formalism “remains the law of the land.”
Source Deloitte
