Commercial Integrator September 2021 - 16

AV AS A BUSINESS
How Amazon, Google, Uber,
& Wayfair Mess with Your Business
Sneak Attack: Here's how these high-profi le companies are stealthily impacting your integration
company. by Chuck Wilson
IT MAY SEEM ODD to write about Wayfair,
Amazon, Google, and Uber infl uencing
systems integrators, but major legislative
changes are happening because of their
impact on the current business climate.
Heading into the post-COVID-19 recovery
phase, here are four factors to watch
and consider:
1. Physical presence and proper collection
and remittance of sales/usage
tax. The 2018 South Dakota vs. Wayfair U.S.
Supreme Court ruling didn't seem like it
would have anything to do with integrators
... but it might. There's always been confusion
about how an out-of-state company
providing equipment and materials should
handle sales tax ... and now we add remote
manage services to the mix. Many states
picked up on this ruling and began " revenue
enhancement " measures to collect tax
dollars. Clarity is the important thing here:
No one wants to go through a sales tax audit.
Worse yet is losing a tax audit and being
fi ned. Will sales tax become an even bigger
challenge for NSCA members with more
regulation and government intervention?
2. Exempt vs. non-exempt status and
the correct determination of employees
vs. contractors. This has always been
a little confusing. The NSCA community
uses subcontractors, temporary workers,
and labor providers as a normal course
of business. Now, layer on the ruling in
California about Uber drivers being considered
employees. California Proposition
22 and California Assembly Bill 5 (known
as the " gig worker bill " ) have reopened the
debate about who is - and isn't - an employee.
Relief is temporary, as US HR 6988
momentarily permits digital marketplace
companies (Uber, Lyſt , DoorDash, Airbnb,
etc.) to provide benefi ts to workers during
COVID-19 without actions establishing
them as employees or independent contractors
or establishing the company as a
joint employer under federal, state, or local
16
Pivot to Profi t 2021: Discuss these challenges with the integration community
live in Atlanta, September 21-22. Register at NSCA.org/p2p.
laws. This bill applies to digital marketplace
companies that provide fi nancial assistance,
health benefi ts, training, health checks, and
personal protective equipment to individuals
working in such marketplaces from
March 15, 2020, through June 30, 2021
- or through expiration of the COVID-19
public health emergency. Will the gig economy
grow or shrink due to government
intervention?
3. Is Amazon a friend or foe to small
businesses? This global debate started
in Europe and made its way into U.S.
political and legislative agendas. Amazon
captures and monetizes user data to drive
future sales; arguably, small businesses
can't compete with that. Amazon has been
challenged with fair taxation payments;
it has leveraged the digital marketplace
to have many advantages over traditional
brick-and-mortar retail businesses. The FTC
is launching several investigations on the
M&A activity of Amazon and companies
like Facebook and others for using their
perceived monopoly to essentially acquire
competitors. Will the government's intervention
place additional scrutiny on smaller
businesses acquiring competitors? Could
Commercial Integrator SEPTEMBER 2021
this impact our industry?
4. How does anyone compete with
Google? Is this something legislators
should be concerned about? And why does
nearly every state have a lawsuit against
Google? The app store, the ads, the analytics,
the monetized accounts: The Sherman
Antitrust Act has been on the books for
over a century, preventing unfair business
practices. Until this past year, people seemingly
forgot it existed. Now, several states
say that Google is using unfair leverage to
convince other online companies to stop
selling ad placements or be downgraded
in search results. Is that a punishment for
being too big ... or is that an antitrust violation?
Lawmakers have jumped all over this,
causing some manufacturers in the channel
to re-evaluate how pricing models are
structured and how one-off discounts could
be scrutinized with heightened awareness
of longstanding regulations.
Chuck Wilson CEO of NSCA.
Contact him at cwilson@nsca.
org. You can also talk to him
further about all these industry
issues by attending NSCA's Pivot to Profi t.
commercialintegrator.com

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Commercial Integrator September 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator September 2021