Question about tax charged - where does it go?

[ibsandy2u_2000]

I purchased an item with "buy it now" and was charged tax on it. I didn't expect it but went ahead and paid since I used the buy it now and wasn't clear about the various aspects of the new online tax law. After purchasing I tried to educate myself a bit more on it but still have some confusion.

I live in Missouri which is not currently on the list of states that ebay collects for; the seller is located in Kansas. The seller does not mention anything about taxes in the listing nor is there a tax rate posted. In the shipping section under taxes it only has "Taxes may be applicable at checkout. Learn more". 

So does this mean that it's the seller collecting the tax and not ebay? If so, is the seller allowed to charge a tax that my state doesn't yet require? How would I know if seller is forwarding the money to my state or just using it to cover his ebay fees, is there any oversight on it?  

[house*of*paws]

Hi @ibsandy2u_2000 

You're correct that Missouri is not on the list of states for which eBay is collecting tax.  I don't know what that is about, but it's clearly odd ... UNLESS you were having the item shipped to a different state.

[I Googled the question and noticed that Amazon has been collecting tax on MO residents' purchases for  a couple of years now, but that was BEFORE the SCOTUS decision that preceded these new state laws.]

Sellers have nothing to do with the tax collection.  The newly-enacted laws require eBay to collect it and remit it back to the state.  [Same with Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy.]

The difficulty in showing the tax in the listing is that it isn't related to either the seller's or buyer's residence.  It is based on where the item will be delivered to ... which eBay doesn't know until the item is paid for, and the 'ship to' address is filled in.

BTW, when the seller is collecting the tax ... the listing clearly lists BOTH the relevant states and tax percentage in the Statements and payments section.  So if the listing says "Taxes may be applicable at checkout" ... you can be sure it is NOT being collected by the seller.