Sales Tax Collection Now Applies Across the Nation

[rustyrail]

Now that the Unites States Supreme Court allows all states to collect sales tax on all online sales by a 5 to 4 vote, how are we as small businesses going to be able to stay in business. It will be impossible for me as a small business to process sales tax payment for every entity in every state in the United States.

Only large corporations with huge resources will be able to comply with this ruling.

Question -

Would it be possible for eBay to collect and process the sales tax from all of our sales?

Any thoughts or Suggestions ????

[backyard_finds]

The Webinar from Tax Jar is now available on YouTube - here is a link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW4nxCTbClY

[somanypostcards]

Here's an interesting tidbit I picked up watching this TaxJar presentation.  Amazon collects and remits sales tax to WA and PA for its sellers.  Rhode Island also passed a marketplace facilitator act and gave Amazon the choice of collecting the sales tax for its sellers or reporting all of their sellers.  Amazon gave Rhode Island all their seller information in February and does not collect the RI sales tax for its sellers.

[satisfaction_1_2017]

than would be great if Ebay handled it but they dont now and have not committed to doing this. I dont mind the fee from ebay if they do

[satisfaction_1_2017]

How do you sell in only specific states? How do you set that up in Ebay? I

[piedmontvarietystore]

I would encourage all small eBay sellers to continue on without fear until there is clarification about online sales tax laws.  From the research that I have been doing, in the current states that have remote seller laws, the thesholds for compliance range from $10,000-$100,000.  I suspect that as this evolves in other states, the same will hold true.  If a few of the states develop blanket laws (no thresholds) small sellers will just have to find a reasonable means to comply.

[satisfaction_1_2017]

I am not sure if you sell internationally you will not be liable for international taxes.  Needs research

[satisfaction_1_2017]

How do you keep up with the rules to comply even if you are a small seller   -- what means are you going to use to know what to do for each state?  

[mstcwrld7]

There already is a law rquiring abusiness with a warehouseor office in a state to collect sales tax.

This new law must be different...

[piedmontvarietystore]

The way that I understand it is if you have a physical presence in a state, you have to collect and remit sales tax to that state regardless of thresholds.  This would be comparable to if you owned a small brick and mortar store.

As far as keeping up with the changing requirements, I will keep an eye on the posts from sites like Taxjar.  Hopefully eBay will address this in future seller updates as they get more information.

Not too worried for now though;  just planning on continuing to sell.

[rixstuff]

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@somanypostcards wrote:

This decision is NOT just for large businesses.  I took the time to read the entire 41-page US Supreme Court South Dakota v. Wayfair, No. 17-494.  In it they say "South Dakota affords small merchants a reasonable degree of protection."  That protection is South Dakota sales of $100,000 or 200 transactions.  I am a high volume, low cost seller.  It's entirely possible that I could have 200 SD transactions sell for a quarter each, so that the $48.00 from these sales would mean I would have to collect and pay taxes to South Dakota.  Pennsylvania and Washington have laws (beginning in 2018, I believe) requiring collection of sales tax.  These laws are now valid, since the Supreme Court, as of today, says that even if you do not have a physical presence in a state you can be required to collect sales/use tax.  Amazon and Etsy collect the sales tax for PA and WA and send it to these 2 states, so their sellers don't have to worry.  eBay does not provide this service at present.

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So I called my mom's tax lady who we have gone to forever and she looked into it and ME - as an Ebay seller in the state of Virginia - will not have to pay state sales tax to ANY OTHER STATE.  Im small and I dont live there or have a store there.  Just as I thought.  The Fed threshold will remain the same - $20K.

[rixstuff]

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@rustyrail wrote:

According to Stuart Varney on Fox News and Fox Business New this morning small etailers will have to collect and remit sales tax for over 12,000 entities across the United States. He also indicated that there is no remedy in sight for this situation.

His guest also indicated that almost every state will implement requirements that online sellers to
collect and remit sales taxes very shortly.

Basically it seems that the SCOTUS ruling is a DEATH NAIL to small retailers!!
Advantage Brick and Mortar and large online sellers.

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Not that Im surprised but Fox News is WRONG about this. (And it is "death KNELL").  This isnt a fight of me against Amazon, it is a fight of WALMART against Amazon - big B&M company against big ONLINE company.  I have no (tiny) dog in this fight and most of you dont either.

[rixstuff]

I SEE ANOHTER MONEY GRAB FOR EBAY and lots of problems to go with it.

Uh, you know that Ebay doesnt get to keep the tax money right?  That money goes to different states and only when it is required.  Did you also think that sellers are greedy when they charge shipping? Because they get to keep the money instead of passing it to the post office?

[cka197818]

Finally someone has it right. I am in CA and I could be forced to collect sales tax from any customer who has a CA shipping address and I would pay that sales tax to CA. I do not have a business license but CA could force that upon me.

[somanypostcards]

So I called my mom's tax lady who we have gone to forever and she looked into it and ME - as an Ebay seller in the state of Virginia - will not have to pay state sales tax to ANY OTHER STATE.  Im small and I dont live there or have a store there.  Just as I thought.  The Fed threshold will remain the same - $20K.

rixstuff, the physical nexus rule ( living in a state or having a store there) was overturned by the Supreme Court ruling in SD v. Wayfair on 6/21/2018, so you might have to pay taxes in other states.  The South Dakota threshold requiring you to collect sales taxes on sales to South Dakota is either $100,000 or 200 transactions.  If you trip either of these thresholds you will have to collect and remit sales tax to South Dakota.  Each state can set their own thresholds for economic nexus.  If the set a standard lower than South Dakota, it is legal until it is litigated and found invalid due to interfering with interstate commerce.  I think you got incorrect advice from your mother's accountant, as many things changed a week ago.  Many questions are still unanswered, but take due caution to become informed.

[somanypostcards]

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@satisfaction_1_2017 wrote:

How do you sell in only specific states? How do you set that up in Ebay? I

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At present you can't set this up in eBay.  You can sell only to specific countries at present, but you cannot sell only to specific states.  Another thing you cannot set up on eBay is the correct tax rate for a sale.  eBay's Tax Table allows you to select a single rate for each state.  Now if you must collect out-of-state sales tax many sales might have multiple sales taxes, i.e. state, county, city, and/or district taxes.  Amazon lets its sellers specify these rates as well as product tax codes so that a customer is billed the correct tax amount.  On eBay if a seller pays immediately, you might have to bill them for any sales tax not paid or you might have to pay them out of your own pocket.  It's a mess.