What the heck is a "tax invoice"?

[revenue-collector]

Starting today I'm seeing a blue popup in the EMP Invoices page that says "Now includes tax invoices"... which apparently is something different from normal invoices.

Per Google it appears to be an EU/UK VAT thing, so why am I seeing it on US eBay as a seller based in the US? Am I supposed to be doing overseas tax reporting now???

If that's the case, I'm just going to disable international sales. Between the high shipping rates, 2-month shipping times and increased number of unhappy international buyers due to times in transit, it just not worth it to take on yet another administrative burden. It's too bad, because about 15-20% of my sales are international, but enough is enough.

[buylegosonline]

Maybe this is for reporting of taxes on sales? Though I would think ebay would issue a 1099...

[rhondas8962]

 A REPORT is completely different than an INVOICE. Geez, thanks for info

[andrewgokart1]

I agree that this is SUPER confusing and I had chills when I saw how much I owed, considering it is already taken out of our revenue dollars. However, I do remember submitted a request to have a detailed report sent to have tax amounts reported for those of us who keep detailed records of what we sell... It appears this is it. I don't think we have to pay, as there is a line on the document saying it has already been removed from available funds. Also to note, I did a little study of my own sales when I was using paypal for payments vs ebay payments. eBay did increase their fees, but overall when paypal was managing payments, we were paying out roughly 13.2% of the sale price to paypal/ebay combined and now it averages 13.4%. Lower priced items hurt that number more (they take a higher percentage for low-dollar sales because of flat-fees like the $0.30 credit card processing fee.) So, the higher the price of your item, the less burden you incur from fees. Also, tax rates in different jurisdictions change this percentage slightly. I'm not in any way saying that I am a fan of how any of this works, (because I think ebay has become horrible and now has much of a "monopoly" in its industry).

[jdab1148]

I started using Etsy. I link the listings in collector sites to which I belong, and more people are getting on board with it. Great platform, straightforward and Ebay can go scratch. Ebay feels more and more like a consignment shop now instead of the old friendly auction / sales site. 

[aquaschwa]

I just received this "tax invoice" today in my email. I don't sell for a profit, I sell to recoup costs of things I no longer need, i.e. bought and decided against. I always pretty much take a loss on everything I sell. I am supposed to pay tax on losses? Who am I supposed to send this money to? Ebay? The government? Seriously?

[mcoo1960]

From what I understand is that they are taxing each individual thing you sell on Ebay and keeping a percentage of the sale. Then they are not sending monthly invoices anymore. This is will be the new way they do things. 

[donorcyclist]

From the government's standpoint, every sale requires that we pay taxes.  An item can get sold 100 times, and each time it will incur a tax.

Not saying I agree with it, but that's how government (in the USA, anyway) works.  They don't care that you're losing money, only that you're losing money to the IRS...

[valueaddedresource]

This report is about tax that may be assessed on seller fees - some countries/locations consider digital services taxable and may require marketplaces to collect sales tax on the fees you pay.

More info here:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Payments/Tax-Invoice-Sales-Tax-On-Fees-Where-Applicable/td-p/31795457 

[mam98031]

Did you take a moment of your time to view the report?  You spent more time creating this thread and Googling it than it would have taken you to just look at the report.  The report is easy to follow and self explanatory.  

It shows the sales tax that was collected and remitted on your behalf by Ebay on your sales.  Some states require that sellers have this information.

[downunder-61]

@ mam

Exactly, as stated on the invoice it is a non taxable amount, which over here means 'not reportable' as it is not income, but is a claim you can make against your business earnings as an operating fee at tax time - does that sound right ?

[valueaddedresource]

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@mam98031 wrote:

Did you take a moment of your time to view the report?  You spent more time creating this thread and Googling it than it would have taken you to just look at the report.  The report is easy to follow and self explanatory.  

It shows the sales tax that was collected and remitted on your behalf by Ebay on your sales.  Some states require that sellers have this information.

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@mam98031  - the tax invoice does not show sales tax collected and remitted on your behalf to the states, as far as I can tell.

Both the summary pdf and the downloaded csv report show $0.00/$0% for tax and I can assure you there was tax collected and remitted to multiple states in this example.

eBay's own help page is quite clear that this report is for showing the fees you paid to eBay and any applicable taxes you may have paid on those fees if you live somewhere that considers services taxable.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/reconciling-ebay-sales-transactions-managed-... 

[discofriend]

I thought sales tax did not apply to services...

[haydenshobby]

So do I owe this money or not? 

[discofriend]

This happens with all the corporate greed of tech services, as they have to answer to shareholders demand for profit... Look at what happened to Uber drivers... This will happen to eBay... As the casual seller leaves, eBay will then be forced to up the fees to make up for the exodus, and collect more from the remaining full-timers... 

[discofriend]

I learned a new word today: hodgepodge.