eBay

postercowboy66 · ‎12-02-2022

I have been using an international mail forwarding service in the US for many years. They have their own ZIP code, which is tax exempt, so never any sales tax for me.

This has been working flawlessly for years. Today I wanted to pay for two purchases, a total of app. $2,200 and they want to cash in almost $150 in taxes.

I called ebay Customer Service, but they were of no immediate help.

Does anyone here have an idea where this is coming from and how I can get the sales tax removed from my invoice?

I am in no mood to make a donation to the US Tax Authorities, but I don‘t want to lose my auction wins either.

alcoforever · ‎12-02-2022

Just guessing here but maybe the employees of the forwarding service were abusing the tax free status so the state took it away?

kathiec · ‎12-02-2022

It's not the US tax authorities, it's the state. Without knowing where your forwarding service is its impossible to know exactly what's happened. But eBay collects sales tax where required by state taxing authorities. I've never heard of a zip code being tax exempt. But apparently the state is now collecting tax for items delivered to the service. If that's the case, there's nothing eBay can do about it.

stainlessenginecovers · ‎12-02-2022

Is this forwarder in Delaware?

donsdetour · ‎12-02-2022

It is the state that forces eBay to collect to the zip code it is shipped to: no special zip codes to get around it.

Contact your freight forward company about this.

nobody*s_perfect · ‎12-02-2022

@stainlessenginecovers wrote:
Is this forwarder in Delaware?

That's one state that's extremely unlikely, since Delaware has no sales tax for anybody. (That's why it's so popular as a forwarding service locale.)

More likely, this forwarder is in Florida, which recently had major changes to the way it exempts specific ZIP Codes that were being used by the huge forwarding companies.

https://www.floridasalestax.com/florida-tax-law-blog/2021/june/fl-0-sales-tax-zip-code-certificate-o...

donsdetour · ‎12-02-2022

@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
@stainlessenginecovers wrote:
Is this forwarder in Delaware?
That's one state that's extremely unlikely, since Delaware has no sales tax for anybody. (That's why it's so popular as a forwarding service locale.)

More likely, this forwarder is in Florida, which recently had major changes to the way it exempts specific ZIP Codes that were being used by the huge forwarding companies.

https://www.floridasalestax.com/florida-tax-law-blog/2021/june/fl-0-sales-tax-zip-code-certificate-o...

Now that is a worth wile read of how some gain advantage over others at the discretion of a few....

nobody*s_perfect · ‎12-02-2022

Hey, it's Florida.

postercowboy66 · ‎12-02-2022

Nope. I had the same idea, but I have the current certificate and it is still valid.

postercowboy66 · ‎12-02-2022

We are talking about MyUs.com in Sarasota, FL here. Tax exemption has been granted by the State of Florida.

postercowboy66 · ‎12-02-2022

No advantage is being gained here. I pay full German VAT of 19% plus applicable import duties on anything I import from the US.

donsdetour · ‎12-02-2022

@postercowboy66 wrote:
We are talking about MyUs.com in Sarasota, FL here. Tax exemption has been granted by the State of Florida.

Contact the company. EBay can only do what Florida says.

house*of*paws · ‎12-02-2022

Hi @postercowboy66

Florida was one of the last states to start charging tax on internet purchases ... so I am thinking that that might be the reason you were not charged taxes previously.

eBay is required to do what the individual states tell them to do. So if you think you are correct ... you'll have to get the State of Florida to convey that information to eBay.

monroe67 · ‎12-02-2022

"Tax exemption has been granted by the State of Florida."

Florida may grant tax exemptions, and
Florida may also take away tax exemptions.
Florida is a place like no other . . . . .

snapbackdxb · ‎12-06-2022

I'm having the same issue right and just so I don't lose the auction winnings, I have to pay the tax. I don't know how to get a refund for those purchases.

Do you have to find any solution? I'm using the same address as myUS.com in Florida which is supposed to be a tax-free zip code.