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.

[jnjtra]

Truly a pointless report. Full of useless 0 cent insertion fee lines and only keeps track of FedEx shipping charges, not USPS, which I assume most people use. Anyone selling on eBay should be keeping their own, better records for tax purposes. Nice waste of energy though. This is a prime example of why people say the site is confusing and not user friendly.

[wheredidiputthatremote]

Ineptly named.  Should be titled, seller fee breakdown or something similar. 

[unusualgoods]

Regarding 

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@revenue-collector wrote:

because about 15-20% of my sales are international, but enough is enough.

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All of our international sales lately have all been shipped to that drop ship location in Kentucky. We haven't personally shipped out of the country in a long time. Once our package is checked in to that Kentucky site, there's nothing else we can really do about it, meaning the length of time of delivery isn't much of our concern anymore (once it gets to that Kentucky site).

[99_deals_for_you]

EMP = Ebay Managed Payments

[vintagetreasure86]

Hi everyone... I hope you are having a good evening... smile...

I found myself googling this evening as I had something new called a Tax Invoice... I opened one up... looks like it is a breakdown of the final value fee and insertion fees that we have always had... I do not know though why they have decided to have them and called them a tax invoice... I am not aware there was ever an actual breakdown of their value fees before.... thought it was an amount they just deducted... one would not think there would  be a tax for a fee we pay them though... although looks like there may be a tax in other countries than the US... 

Other insights?? Appreciate any comments... thank you... smile... Rhonda

[valueaddedresource]

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@vintagetreasure86 wrote:

Hi everyone... I hope you are having a good evening... smile...

I found myself googling this evening as I had something new called a Tax Invoice... I opened one up... looks like it is a breakdown of the final value fee and insertion fees that we have always had... I do not know though why they have decided to have them and called them a tax invoice... I am not aware there was ever an actual breakdown of their value fees before.... thought it was an amount they just deducted... one would not think there would  be a tax for a fee we pay them though... although looks like there may be a tax in other countries than the US... 

Other insights?? Appreciate any comments... thank you... smile... Rhonda

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@vintagetreasure86  

Some places do consider digital services taxable. eBay UK currently charges VAT on seller fees and Amazon announced back in 2019 they would start to charge tax on seller fees in some US states where they were required to do so.

This report lists the fees you paid to eBay for certain services and any taxes assessed on those fees, if applicable.

More info here:

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

[martin2001]

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@faerieguts123 wrote:

I freaked out when I saw this too, but I think it's more of a statement than an invoice. It seems to me that it's actually a summy of taxes and fees that eBay has collected for us. So these are totals we'd need to deduct expenses and levy again tax that we have collected and therefor need to remit.... I think?? It seems pretty clear that these are charges that eBay has already deducted.

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I looked at my data, transaction reports etc and this is what I am sure is happening:

1. This is no invoice

2. There is nothing that needs to be paid.

3. In the transaction report there is a column that showed the tax that ebay charged the buyer and remitted that tax  to the individual states. In ebay's words:

"We collect sales tax in accordance with applicable state law. We will remit the tax directly to the tax authority."

4. These taxes were not included in gross totals from which the FVF were calculated.

5. If you do a profit & loss schedule on your taxes, these taxes are not to be deducted from anything, because they are NOT included in gross totals.

6. Ebay takes the price of the sold item + postage = gross amount. There is one FVF that ebay deducts from the gross amount. This FVF also included the MP fee. The only additional fee (on top of FVF)  that is deducted from your available funds is the fee for the promotions/ads/shipping labels etc (if you use them).

[sugarnspice777]

We cannot forget when we do our taxes that ebay charges us 13% on those taxes they collect for us.

We can deduct this fee on our taxes.  So these statements are handy for that.

[pbrecl]

It depends. See the explanation by Intuit:

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/self-employment-taxes/a-tax-filing-factsheet-for-ebay-sellers/L...

[novaehobbies]

Looking at what I sold in April compare to what is showing up on the regular invoice from Seller account, everything I sold prior to April 7th (the date I switch to the new system) shows on the regular invoice and everything I sold after April 7th shows on that new Tax Invoice.

So in a way it is really an invoice and will have to be paid but that's nothing new, I pay an Ebay's invoice each month since I'm on Ebay, but it's not ON TOP of the regular invoice, it's INSTEAD of the regular invoice.

Looking at number it's similar to what it was when we had to pay Paypal's fee (for me it's around 15%, before it was about 10% for ebay and 5% for Paypal, now it's 15% for Ebay 0% for Paypal).

What I missed is the pie chart that showed the portion of sales that fees represent. That new report/invoice doesn't show you total sales amount so there is no way to keep track of the portion fee cost does represent.

Going from there nothing will stop Ebay to raise their fee almost unknowingly.

[mam98031]

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@sugarnspice777 wrote:

We cannot forget when we do our taxes that ebay charges us 13% on those taxes they collect for us.

We can deduct this fee on our taxes.  So these statements are handy for that.

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Why would anyone forget that.  All our fees and costs associated with our sales are expenses to be deducted from our Gross Sales.  Ebay fees are just like any other cost of business.  

[mam98031]

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@novaehobbies wrote:

Looking at what I sold in April compare to what is showing up on the regular invoice from Seller account, everything I sold prior to April 7th (the date I switch to the new system) shows on the regular invoice and everything I sold after April 7th shows on that new Tax Invoice.

So in a way it is really an invoice and will have to be paid but that's nothing new, I pay an Ebay's invoice each month since I'm on Ebay, but it's not ON TOP of the regular invoice, it's INSTEAD of the regular invoice.

Looking at number it's similar to what it was when we had to pay Paypal's fee (for me it's around 15%, before it was about 10% for ebay and 5% for Paypal, now it's 15% for Ebay 0% for Paypal).

What I missed is the pie chart that showed the portion of sales that fees represent. That new report/invoice doesn't show you total sales amount so there is no way to keep track of the portion fee cost does represent.

Going from there nothing will stop Ebay to raise their fee almost unknowingly.

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@vintagetreasure86 

"Invoice" is a very bad name for this report.  It is actually NOT an invoice.  It is simply a report that is telling us how much sales tax applied to those transactions.  Sales tax paid by the buyer.  

Yes you are correct.  Reports in MP will ONLY show you transactions that have happened since you began in MP.  NONE of your transactions handled by PP being your money processor will appear in MP.

Your fees in MP are now 12.55%, not 15%.

PP charges 2.9%, not 5%.

The pie chart is misleading as it shows shipping charges too as part of fees which it is not.  And it only shows the costs for sellers that do their labels in Ebay.

Ebay has NEVER raised fees "unknowingly".  Certainly some sellers don't read email notifications from Ebay, Announcements from Ebay and/or Seller Updates from Ebay.  That doesn't translate into SURPRISE here is a new fee.  It simply means that some sellers missed the notification of an increase.

[valueaddedresource]

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@mam98031 wrote:

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@novaehobbies wrote:

Looking at what I sold in April compare to what is showing up on the regular invoice from Seller account, everything I sold prior to April 7th (the date I switch to the new system) shows on the regular invoice and everything I sold after April 7th shows on that new Tax Invoice.

So in a way it is really an invoice and will have to be paid but that's nothing new, I pay an Ebay's invoice each month since I'm on Ebay, but it's not ON TOP of the regular invoice, it's INSTEAD of the regular invoice.

Looking at number it's similar to what it was when we had to pay Paypal's fee (for me it's around 15%, before it was about 10% for ebay and 5% for Paypal, now it's 15% for Ebay 0% for Paypal).

What I missed is the pie chart that showed the portion of sales that fees represent. That new report/invoice doesn't show you total sales amount so there is no way to keep track of the portion fee cost does represent.

Going from there nothing will stop Ebay to raise their fee almost unknowingly.

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@vintagetreasure86 

"Invoice" is a very bad name for this report.  It is actually NOT an invoice.  It is simply a report that is telling us how much sales tax applied to those transactions.  Sales tax paid by the buyer.  

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@mam98031  - This is not correct.  Sales tax paid by the buyer is *not* shown on the Tax Invoice, either in the summary or the detailed report. 

We cleared that up back on page 4 of this thread:

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Payments/What-the-heck-is-a-quot-tax-invoice-quot/m-p/31801482/highlig... 

The Tax Invoice is specifically a report of certain fees paid to eBay and any tax the seller may have paid on those fees, if they live somewhere that considers digital services taxable.

[mam98031]

@valueaddedresource 

You are correct, I misspoke.  Still the title of this report is poorly thought out.

[kennybrooks]

It is user friendly for buyers that rip you off constantly.