Quill Corp. v. North Dakota

In Quill Corp. v. North Dakota (1992) 504 U.S. 298, North Dakota attempted to require a Delaware corporation with no outlets or sales representatives in the state to collect and pay a use tax on all goods sold for use in the state. The corporation solicited business in the state through catalogs and flyers, advertisements in periodicals, and telephone calls. (Id. at p. 302.) In concluding federal due process did not preclude the exercise of such taxing authority, the high court relied on the minimum contacts test as articulated in Burger King. According to the court: "Comparable reasoning justifies the imposition of the collection duty on a mail-order house that is engaged in continuous and widespread solicitation of business within a State. Such a corporation clearly has 'fair warning that its activity may subject it to the jurisdiction of a foreign sovereign.' In 'modern commercial life' it matters little that such solicitation is accomplished by a deluge of catalogs rather than a phalanx of drummers: The requirements of due process are met irrespective of a corporation's lack of physical presence in the taxing State." (Quill, at p. 308 119 L.Ed.2d at p. 104.) The Supreme Court outlined the history of its interpretation of the dormant Commerce Clause's limitations on the states' power to tax. The court noted that its jurisprudence had evolved to a four pronged test, such that it would sustain a state tax against a Commerce Clause challenge if the tax: (1) is applied to an activity with a substantial nexus with the taxing state; (2) is fairly apportioned; (3) does not discriminate against interstate commerce; (4) is fairly related to services provided by the state. 504 U.S. at 311.