October 28, 2025
Added Compliance Challenges to Retailers of Consumer Electronics
If you sell small electronics in California, there is a deadline approaching that you need to be aware of. Effective January 1, 2026, all retailers who sell covered electronic devices in California or delivered to a California address must collect an e-waste recycling fee at the point of sale.
The fee, set by the California Department of Resources, Recycling, and Recovery (CalRecycle), is
1.5% of the retail sales price of the product, up to a total fee of $15 per product. The cap in effect
means that any covered product with a sales price that exceeds $1,000 will not be subject to ever
increasing battery-embedded product fees. The operative sales price on which the fee is based
is the same “sales price” on which California sales and use taxes are calculated. That said, the
battery-embedded product fee is not included in the purchase price of the underlying product
that triggered the fee for the purpose of calculating the taxable sales price, and as such is not
itself taxable.
If you would like to discuss this upcoming deadline and compliance, please feel free to reach out to:
David Bertoni, dbertoni@brannlaw.com
Jamie Szal, jszal@brannlaw.com
Adam Mooney, amooney@brannlaw.com