Ebay Sales Tax on Everything Now?

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by ramram

I haven't read every post on this thread so my apologies if already covered but -

Is ebay letting these sellers opt in to the sales tax collecting (by ebay) or is ebay just applying it to all of them in these particular states? It sounds like not all sellers from these states are having the tax collected by ebay so this could explain why.

Rob M

Nope... it is the latter. Ebay is automatically applying the sales tax to all transactions in the states listed earlier in this thread. WA and MN for now, and various others to follow shortly.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Can anyone from Iowa confirm if ebay is now adding sales tax to their out of state ebay purchases?

I had a recent buyer from IA that appears to have had a 6% sales tax added to their order. Ebay appears to now be collecting and remitting sales tax the same way as they do with orders from WA state. On my end, nothing shows in PP, however, when viewing my ebay orders on the ebay Manage Orders screen, the "total" sale amount is 6% more than what shows up on the order in PP.

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by savedfrommyspokes

Can anyone from Iowa confirm if ebay is now adding sales tax to their out of state ebay purchases?

I had a recent buyer from IA that appears to have had a 6% sales tax added to their order. Ebay appears to now be collecting and remitting sales tax the same way as they do with orders from WA state. On my end, nothing shows in PP, however, when viewing my ebay orders on the ebay Manage Orders screen, the "total" sale amount is 6% more than what shows up on the order in PP.

Yes ebay is now withholding for IA, MN, WA and it appears that tax is imposed on shipping and handling as well.

As Leon stated, soon it will be all states.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by Lorewalker

Yes ebay is now withholding for IA, MN, WA and it appears that tax is imposed on shipping and handling as well.

As Leon stated, soon it will be all states.

I had an order two days ago to MN and there appears to be no sales tax yet on that order. This MN order did not show any extra funds collected as the IA and WA state orders do.


Oregon does not charge sales tax....PWCC's vault service may become a work around for paying sales tax on higher dollar items for those buyers located in the growing number of states collecting sales tax on ebay purchases.

[joed25]

I have a New Jersey State resale Certificate. Does that exempt me from paying sales tax on all ebay purchases (even out of state)? Thank you. Joe

[glchen]

Originally Posted by joed25

I have a New Jersey State resale Certificate. Does that exempt me from paying sales tax on all ebay purchases (even out of state)? Thank you. Joe

Yes, but you need to submit your reseller info to ebay. Details are here: Link. (I have not tried this.)

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by glchen

Yes, but you need to submit your reseller info to ebay. Details are here: Link. (I have not tried this.)

I don't buy much on Ebay anymore, but I submitted for it, and it went through pretty quickly. It says 7-10 days but it was more like 1 or 2. I made the mistake of first sending them my Sales & Use tax permit, but what they needed was the Sales & Use Tax Resale Certificate exemption form that is filled out for each individual seller you are doing business with (in this case "Ebay").

Supposedly once you submit this, it should be good for 3 years before they request it again.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by joed25

I have a New Jersey State resale Certificate. Does that exempt me from paying sales tax on all ebay purchases (even out of state)? Thank you. Joe

It depends! If you buy something on Ebay that is actually going to be re-sold by you/your business then, YES, that purchase is generally sales tax exempt to you/your business. But if you buy something that is for you personally and/or used in your business and not necessarily going to be re-sold by you/your business then, NO, that purchase would generally not be sales tax exempt to you/your business.

Just having a resale certificate doesn't automatically exempt you from sales tax on all purchases. And as mentioned by an earlier poster, you would also have to prepare and supply to Ebay, or whomever would otherwise be charging and collecting sales tax from you, a signed copy of any sales tax exemption certificate or form you have that is applicable.

And here's where it can start to get sticky. What if over time you/your business make some Ebay purchases that are sales tax exempt and some that are not. I'm not exactly sure how Ebay will be able to discern between which purchases are or aren't subject to sales tax then. And if a state ever goes back to Ebay to review and audit the sales taxes they are and are not collecting, Ebay will likely turn over their file of any and all sales tax exemption forms they've received for people/businesses. And that helps to show Ebay has no liability for having not collected sales tax from those people/businesses that gave them sales tax exemption certificates. But it also then gives the state a listing of people/businesses to possibly further investigate to see if they are truly sales tax exempt or merely trying to get out of paying sales tax.

[joed25]

Thanks guys for the replies

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by BobC

And here's where it can start to get sticky. What if over time you/your business make some Ebay purchases that are sales tax exempt and some that are not. I'm not exactly sure how Ebay will be able to discern between which purchases are or aren't subject to sales tax then. And if a state ever goes back to Ebay to review and audit the sales taxes they are and are not collecting, Ebay will likely turn over their file of any and all sales tax exemption forms they've received for people/businesses. And that helps to show Ebay has no liability for having not collected sales tax from those people/businesses that gave them sales tax exemption certificates. But it also then gives the state a listing of people/businesses to possibly further investigate to see if they are truly sales tax exempt or merely trying to get out of paying sales tax.

You're right that I don't see a way for a buyer to convey to eBay which purchases fall into which category. In these cases, one would presumably still have to remit the applicable tax to their state as before. Or would have to establish a separate eBay account for such non-for-resale purchases (probably not a bad idea anyway). This would still be preferable to the previous situation though of eBay not having any way for resellers to avoid eating the sales tax on ALL purchases, regardless of whether intended for resale or personal use.

[Leon]

I think eventually taxes will be all of the states. The tax issue is one of many to be the downfall of brick and mortar retail, imo.

Originally Posted by perezfan

Nope... it is the latter. Ebay is automatically applying the sales tax to all transactions in the states listed earlier in this thread. WA and MN for now, and various others to follow shortly.