Details of the IRS effort were revealed in a request to a federal judge in California for a John Doe summons for data that the agency wanted to serve on that state's StateBoardofEqualization, a taxing body.
Amazingly, the California BoardofEqualization and the state Franchise Tax Board have had the authority to create tax whistleblower programs since 1984, but neither has had the vision to do so.
Now, Howard and his son understand that even though they have no presence in California, the State expects his firm (or the online host) to charge California sales tax and submit it to its BoardofEqualization.