SUPREME COURT RULES THAT STATES CAN CHARGE TAXES ON INTERNET PURCHASES

[mallontown]

How will this pertain to ebay?

Do sellers have to look up all 50 state tax rates?

Will this cause sellers to leave ebay?

https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/nation-world/supreme-court-allows-states-to-collect-sales-tax...

[ted_200]

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@grayirongolf wrote:

This is gonna be good for your state.  Maybe California can finally payback the $115 Trillion in hand outs they owe. 

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They'll spend it all, long before they collect even the first dime of it. 

[ted_200]

Not all sellers.  My buyers pay for shipping.  However, since I am a Garage Sale kind of seller, all used stuff, I don't know if a sales tax applies to me.  I don't know the tax laws in every state.

I don't have "product", I have "stuff".  I don't buy things to sell, I get rid of things.

Are we going to pay a fee on sales taxes?  Is PayPal going to get more because we collect sales tax?

Can you say complicated?  I think you can.

Yep.  All of that.  And then some. 

Are garage sales subject to sales tax?  I'm guessing that varies by state, even if no one in any state actually pays it.  Are used items subject to sales tax?  Probably the same answer.

I sell mostly coins here. 

In my state, U.S. collectible coins and bullion are not subject to sales tax.  World coins are.  In California, U.S. and World coins and bullion are subject to sales tax - except for bullion purchases that exceed $1,500.00.  There's a patchwork of wildly ridiculous laws on these items across the country, with Minnesota's being so screwed up and complicated that many coin dealers simply refuse to do business with anyone in Minnesota. 

Will eBay be able to manage all this correctly (if they are the ones who end up handling it)?  I'm not holding my breath.  If you and I are are responsible, I expect we'll be exempted in most states due to low dollar volume, and I'll just refuse to pay the others... they still have no means of forcing me to comply.  If Pennsylvania wants to charge me and try to extradite me in order to collect 0.62 in sales tax from me, they can knock themselves out!

Generally, venues (including this one) are not charging fees on taxes paid.  PayPal I think does, but I'm not sure...

[grayirongolf]

Im sure eBay will be collecting FVF's on top of the sales tax as well.   Say you have 7% sales tax, 

your gonna need to charge about 8% to cover that extra FVF expense.

[dr.clockenstien]

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tyler@ebay wrote:

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@mallontown wrote:

How will this pertain to ebay?

Do sellers have to look up all 50 state tax rates?

Will this cause sellers to leave ebay?

https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/nation-world/supreme-court-allows-states-to-collect-sales-tax...

---

Hi @mallontown - we have a statement about today's decision here.

The Court’s decision is focused on large retailers who engage in a significant quantity of business in a state, and the retailers involved in the case are large, national companies. In other words, it remains to be seen what today’s ruling may mean for small businesses. 

As a next step, we are calling on Congress to step in and provide clear tax rules, with a strong small business exemption, to help small businesses take advantage of the Internet to grow and create local jobs. 

We expect to have more information and will provide updates as the legal landscape from this becomes clearer. Thanks! 

---

Copied, Pasted, SCRIPTED answer from ebay exact statement from another post.

How much are they really invested in your concerns?

NEVER trust the employee statements.

RepLies:

same old fluff, no real answers

(thumbs up from another ebay rep on original post)

[grayirongolf]

Calling on Congress is like calling a turtle home from the other side of the universe.  We all will be long gone before they get around to that.

[dr.clockenstien]

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@tiramisu41 wrote:

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@oldwestgold wrote:

eBay will force the sellers to cover the sales tax free for buyers just as they do for shipping charges no doubt.

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@oldwestgold,  I don't think that's likely.

Amazon, Etsy, and Walmart have been collecting the sales tax due *from buyers* at the time of purchase, and remitting it on behalf of their marketplace sellers for sales made to consumers in WA and PA as those two states already enacted Internet Sales Tax laws earlier this year.

If eBay doesn't follow suit, they'd be pretty much handing their seller base over on a silver platter to other sites which would be glad to have them.

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Right,

Just as The*Dog* wrote:

For now there is a $10K threshold that sellers have to reach on Etsy after that they would send me a 1099.

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I sold to a fellow PA resident from there and Etsy collected the tax.

I am FAR from making the $10K in sales.

Once Etsy paid in the tax for 2017 and the state would see an overpayment, Cha-Ching! Refund for etsy at 6% of my sale.

I'm sure that Etsy would not report the sellers income that did not make the qualifiying limit.

How could the state audit a company not located in PA?

[dr.clockenstien]

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@etvideo1ataol wrote:

---

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Not all sellers.  My buyers pay for shipping.  However, since I am a Garage Sale kind of seller, all used stuff, I don't know if a sales tax applies to me.  I don't know the tax laws in every state.

I don't have "product", I have "stuff".  I don't buy things to sell, I get rid of things.

Are we going to pay a fee on sales taxes?  Is PayPal going to get more because we collect sales tax?

Can you say complicated?  I think you can.

---

This made me think of another scenario.

For you @etvideo1ataol:

Your buyers will in fact have to pay the required tax if they buy online.

The scenario is this:

If ebay for example were to collect the tax, this would increase the sale price which would increase the FVF.

I would not put it past them based on the FVF for shipping overcharge.

[thevintagesilvershop]

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@dr.clockenstien wrote:

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@tiramisu41 wrote:

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@oldwestgold wrote:

eBay will force the sellers to cover the sales tax free for buyers just as they do for shipping charges no doubt.

---

@oldwestgold,  I don't think that's likely.

Amazon, Etsy, and Walmart have been collecting the sales tax due *from buyers* at the time of purchase, and remitting it on behalf of their marketplace sellers for sales made to consumers in WA and PA as those two states already enacted Internet Sales Tax laws earlier this year.

If eBay doesn't follow suit, they'd be pretty much handing their seller base over on a silver platter to other sites which would be glad to have them.

---

Right,

Just as The*Dog* wrote:

For now there is a $10K threshold that sellers have to reach on Etsy after that they would send me a 1099.

----

I sold to a fellow PA resident from there and Etsy collected the tax.

I am FAR from making the $10K in sales.

Once Etsy paid in the tax for 2017 and the state would see an overpayment, Cha-Ching! Refund for etsy at 6% of my sale.

I'm sure that Etsy would not report the sellers income that did not make the qualifiying limit.

How could the state audit a company not located in PA?

---

You need to read up on “marketplace facilitator” and PA sales tax collection. Etsy is considered a “marketplace facilitator” and the 10k number applies to ALL sales Etsy facilitates to Pennsylvania and not just from YOU. That’s why etsy collects and submits PA taxes on your behalf. It’s what I hope ebay does as well, though they seem to be avoiding that. Not impressed as to how Ebay is looking at this, so far. They are usually so behind. 

[dr.clockenstien]

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@thevintagesilvershop wrote:

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@dr.clockenstien wrote:

---

@tiramisu41 wrote:

---

@oldwestgold wrote:

eBay will force the sellers to cover the sales tax free for buyers just as they do for shipping charges no doubt.

---

@oldwestgold,  I don't think that's likely.

Amazon, Etsy, and Walmart have been collecting the sales tax due *from buyers* at the time of purchase, and remitting it on behalf of their marketplace sellers for sales made to consumers in WA and PA as those two states already enacted Internet Sales Tax laws earlier this year.

If eBay doesn't follow suit, they'd be pretty much handing their seller base over on a silver platter to other sites which would be glad to have them.

---

Right,

Just as The*Dog* wrote:

For now there is a $10K threshold that sellers have to reach on Etsy after that they would send me a 1099.

----

I sold to a fellow PA resident from there and Etsy collected the tax.

I am FAR from making the $10K in sales.

Once Etsy paid in the tax for 2017 and the state would see an overpayment, Cha-Ching! Refund for etsy at 6% of my sale.

I'm sure that Etsy would not report the sellers income that did not make the qualifiying limit.

How could the state audit a company not located in PA?

---

You need to read up on “marketplace facilitator” and PA sales tax collection. Etsy is considered a “marketplace facilitator” and the 10k number applies to ALL sales Etsy facilitates to Pennsylvania and not just from YOU. That’s why etsy collects and submits PA taxes on your behalf. It’s what I hope ebay does as well, though they seem to be avoiding that. Not impressed as to how Ebay is looking at this, so far. They are usually so behind. 

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Then why would they send me a 1099 if I reached their limit?

Wouldn't that mean that I have to report it?

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

I was not aware that states could issue 1099s

[dr.clockenstien]

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@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

I was not aware that states could issue 1099s

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Etsy sends them, it's in their tax policy.

[dr.clockenstien]

And the limit is actually $20K.  Sorry.

[mr_lincoln]

tyler@ebay

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tyler@ebay wrote:

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@mallontown wrote:

How will this pertain to ebay?

Do sellers have to look up all 50 state tax rates?

Will this cause sellers to leave ebay?

https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/nation-world/supreme-court-allows-states-to-collect-sales-tax...

---

Hi @mallontown - we have a statement about today's decision here.

The Court’s decision is focused on large retailers who engage in a significant quantity of business in a state, and the retailers involved in the case are large, national companies. In other words, it remains to be seen what today’s ruling may mean for small businesses. 

As a next step, we are calling on Congress to step in and provide clear tax rules, with a strong small business exemption, to help small businesses take advantage of the Internet to grow and create local jobs. 

We expect to have more information and will provide updates as the legal landscape from this becomes clearer. Thanks! 

---

Tyler, thanks for the reply, it deserves a repeat so folks don't freak out (yet) about this.  Didn't we just sign a petition about this?  Perhaps this might keep small sellers in vogue, make them very desireable to have selling online ...

I guess one thing I am curious about is whether or not that tax law is writing in such a way that eBay is acually the Seller of record since it is their venue all the Sellers use and the company is based in California ... just a thought.  Additionally, what about all the international packages that go out of eBay's GSP hub in Kentucky? 

[ted_200]

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@dr.clockenstien wrote:

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tyler@ebay wrote:

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@mallontown wrote:

How will this pertain to ebay?

Do sellers have to look up all 50 state tax rates?

Will this cause sellers to leave ebay?

https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/nation-world/supreme-court-allows-states-to-collect-sales-tax...

---

Hi @mallontown - we have a statement about today's decision here.

The Court’s decision is focused on large retailers who engage in a significant quantity of business in a state, and the retailers involved in the case are large, national companies. In other words, it remains to be seen what today’s ruling may mean for small businesses. 

As a next step, we are calling on Congress to step in and provide clear tax rules, with a strong small business exemption, to help small businesses take advantage of the Internet to grow and create local jobs. 

We expect to have more information and will provide updates as the legal landscape from this becomes clearer. Thanks! 

---

Copied, Pasted, SCRIPTED answer from ebay exact statement from another post.

How much are they really invested in your concerns?

NEVER trust the employee statements.

RepLies:

same old fluff, no real answers

(thumbs up from another ebay rep on original post)

---

I'll second that last bit, but they're plenty invested on our concerns.  It's the one real advantage they actually have over their (perceived) primary competition - Amazon. 

In this case, their copied, pasted, and scripted answer is pretty good.   The SC decision doesn't affect much of anything by itself - I wasn't sending sales tax to SD before, and I'm not sending it to them now.  To eBay's credit, they did not just knuckle under at the drop of a hat to tax schemes from WA and PA either (like another venue did), and I do expect them to fight this.

What the SC decision does do is open up the door to other states to attempt this sort of thing, and also opens the door to a nationalized state sales tax clearing house scheme from Congress (which they've been looking at already, for quite some time now).  Congress has not acted yet, and I doubt they will act very quickly now - the place is a mess, it takes them forever to do anything.  So the battle is not lost already, nor is it over, it is only starting. 

[ted_200]

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@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

I was not aware that states could issue 1099s

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States don't issue them, but some states have required venues to issue them for their states - at values way below the federal $20,000 requirement - to facilitate state income tax reporting laws.