Sales Tax Institute/YETTER: When Services Become Taxable: What Businesses Need to Know About Changing Tax Rules

As services continue to evolve in a digital-enabled economy, the rules that once guided sales tax treatment are becoming harder to apply. What used to be a straightforward question— “Is this a service?”—now requires a deeper analysis of not only how value is delivered to the customer but also how the customer interacts with the service provider. This webinar explores the growing uncertainty around taxing services, with a critical focus on whether the true object test still works in today’s environment. 

Participants will examine how states are expanding taxation into digital, data-driven, and platform-based offerings, where traditional distinctions between services and tangible property may no longer hold. The session will highlight the increasing risk associated with bundled transactions, in which services and software or digital goods are integrated, and why separating invoices or labeling offerings as “service” is often not enough in the eyes of the court. 

We will challenge common assumptions and show how tax authorities are shifting toward an economic reality approach, focusing on what the customer actually receives rather than how the transaction is described. Attendees will gain insight into how contracts, functionality, and user interaction can drive tax outcomes, and how reliance on platforms or data aggregation can transform a non-taxable service into a taxable product or service. 

This session is designed to help professionals rethink long-standing frameworks, identify hidden risks in modern service models, and build a more defensible approach to classification in an increasingly complex sales tax landscape. 

Who should attend? 

This webinar is intended for tax professionals, CPAs, finance leaders, and compliance teams across industries. It is suitable for all experience levels and especially relevant to businesses or advisors in traditional service businesses that use digital services or SaaS to perform or deliver there service It will also be relevant to those with bundled offerings that are adapting to changing tax regulations.