05-11-2019 09:29 AM
Sold an item to New Jersey and eBay tells me they collected sales tax on it. Is NJ now requiring sales tax on out of state purchases?
Is eBay collecting and remitting it, or do I have to find where this money is and pay them? Where the money is exactly I'm not sure, the total on eBay is different (higher) from what I got through PayPal, so presumably eBay has the remainder someplace.
I thought these states when requiring this had a dollar threshold for me as seller to have to reach before I was required to collect and remit to them. It's not likely at my sales level I would meet even a $1000 threshold for any one state in a year.
My opinion is it's crazy to expect me to keep track now not only in my state by county of buyer, but also for potentially up to 40, 45 other states and be expected to pay maybe two bucks here, four bucks there, 28 cents to the next one, etc. But that's probably a different topic entirely.
07-02-2019 11:01 AM
@7606dennis wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
I enjoy your posts. I often find them on target and having great information. But I find them hard to read because you consistently use a very small font size. May I request you change your setting so that my tired old eyes can more easily read your posts.
Actually, I increase my font size to 2 with each post I make. Unfortunately, I have the same problem and this post of yours is somewhat hard on my old eyes.
Is this size any better for you? It is set at 3.
I'm glad you enjoy my posts. Often I worry that I get too verbose when trying to explain things so that everyone understands what I'm trying to get across.
That is SO MUCH better for me. THANK YOU!
Well we both do that, which is probably why I understand you so often.
07-02-2019 01:53 PM
@parkersparrow wrote:I live in NJ so have been collecting the sales tax from the sales in my state. Does anyone know if I should still continue or should I now stop since Ebay is doing the collecting? I don't want to end up double taxing someone but now i'm confused since this just went into effect recently.
I would advise checking with your state's taxing authority about how they want NJ sellers to handle it. If you have other sales outside of those you make on eBay you are probably still required to file returns with your state. Again, check with them.
07-02-2019 03:39 PM
07-02-2019 04:17 PM
@lionel_transformers wrote:
Should sales tax be charged on shipping ?
I'm in NJ, bought something from Oregon, sellers invoice charged me tax on the item only, when I went to checkout. Sales tax was more because eBay checkout included shipping, which was more than the item
The amount you are charged for sales tax for NJ is whatever NJ told Ebay to charge.
07-02-2019 07:06 PM
I've seen some people complain. If you don't need it in a big hurry you can still go to Amazon and buy from a marketplace seller and avoid the sales tax.
I know it hurts my sales as those in states who eBay collects tax for will go elsewhere.
In the meanwhile I've just stopped setting aside sales to my own state since eBay is handling it. It makes my life easier. However for other states outside of my own, I would never sell enough in a year to meet the threshold to pay them the tax, so I don't care for that.
07-02-2019 07:33 PM
@postingid7659 wrote:I've seen some people complain. If you don't need it in a big hurry you can still go to Amazon and buy from a marketplace seller and avoid the sales tax.
Sounds like you have never actually bought anything on Amazon. They are complying with the same laws in the same way.
Even if I was in a "big hurry" I would be buying on Amazon for that reason alone, Amazon 3P usually ship very fast because if they don't deliver on time they get kicked off the site PERMANENTLY. eBay on the other hand is a crapshoot, most ship fast but right now I'm waiting on two eBay orders that should have been here two weeks ago (and no it's not the carriers fault).
07-02-2019 09:35 PM
@lionel_transformers wrote:
Should sales tax be charged on shipping ?
I'm in NJ, bought something from Oregon, sellers invoice charged me tax on the item only, when I went to checkout. Sales tax was more because eBay checkout included shipping, which was more than the item
Actually, your seller shouldn't have collected any sales tax from you if eBay is collecting it under NJ market facilitator laws. The seller's listing might be an older one that the seller hasn't edited. However, if the seller was required to collect NJ sales tax because they have a nexus in that state, even though the NJ MF law would mean that the seller no longer had to collect it, they may still be required to if they have other sales to NJ outside of eBay. Of course, if NJ deems shipping as taxable you seller's calculation of the tax on the item price only would be an error.
07-02-2019 11:18 PM
Once eBay takes over collection for a State they immediately cease allowing the seller to collect. Doesn't matter if the seller has it set in their tax table, eBay overrides that.
07-02-2019 11:22 PM
@postingid7659 wrote:I've seen some people complain. If you don't need it in a big hurry you can still go to Amazon and buy from a marketplace seller and avoid the sales tax.
I know it hurts my sales as those in states who eBay collects tax for will go elsewhere.
In the meanwhile I've just stopped setting aside sales to my own state since eBay is handling it. It makes my life easier. However for other states outside of my own, I would never sell enough in a year to meet the threshold to pay them the tax, so I don't care for that.
They would be wrong. Amazon has been charging taxes just like Ebay is required to. So they are overlooking something if they are saying that. This isn't optional. Ebay and Amazon have to do this. If for any reason they decide not to collect the sales tax from the customer, then they become responsible to pay the states.
Well almost half the states are now involved in this or will be shortly. Over a half dozen came on board with sales tax yesterday and more are coming.
Just forget about the various states thresholds for collecting sales tax. You don't need to worry about that at all. It has NOTHING to do with your sales on Ebay, Amazon or Etsy. NOTHING. Any and all sales you make to ANY of the states on the list of states with Facilitator laws Ebay will charge the buyer sales tax and Ebay will remit it to the proper state.
You do NOT have to concern yourself with collecting the money or the thresholds for these other states.
07-03-2019 06:20 AM
@slippinjimmy wrote:Once eBay takes over collection for a State they immediately cease allowing the seller to collect. Doesn't matter if the seller has it set in their tax table, eBay overrides that.
I had thought that to be the case. However, knowing eBay's prowess with glitches I wouldn't rule out anything or to paraphrase Murphy's law, "Anything eBay can mess up, they will."
Of course, the seller, if they sell on their own site could still be required to collect sales tax on those sales.
07-03-2019 10:24 AM
@7606dennis wrote:
@slippinjimmy wrote:Once eBay takes over collection for a State they immediately cease allowing the seller to collect. Doesn't matter if the seller has it set in their tax table, eBay overrides that.
I had thought that to be the case. However, knowing eBay's prowess with glitches I wouldn't rule out anything or to paraphrase Murphy's law, "Anything eBay can mess up, they will."
Of course, the seller, if they sell on their own site could still be required to collect sales tax on those sales.
It is as Jimmy stated.
And yes you are correct, if a seller sells elsewhere and they do not do it through a site that is required to collect the sales taxes for them, they will need to do it on their own.
If there business is big enough, they need to consider ALL SALES [no matter the site] when figuring out if they meet that state's thresholds for collecting taxes. Meaning if you are selling on your own website too. You are in California and shipping to Washington from your website. To calculate if you are responsible for collecting and remitting the sales tax to the State of Washington, you must consider ALL your sales from ALL sources to figure out if you meet the minimum threshold for collecting taxes for Washington. You would NOT only consider the sales that you are shipping from your website.
07-05-2019 03:54 AM
Yeah, I'm skipping ebay and Amazon now to buy or sell on. There's other sites out there, who still don't charge people sales tax. We all know the vast majority will skip the big name websites now and go to smaller, less well known websites... It's inevitable, really. 🙂
07-05-2019 04:59 AM
If the "smaller, less well known web sites" are not charging state sales tax as per the law, they are committing at least a misdemeanor.
07-05-2019 07:05 AM
Most of them are not committing violations. I don’t sell enough into any given state to meet the threshold. Many of them are 100k before you have to start charging.
i have always collected on sales in my own state because I have an economic nexus.
07-05-2019 08:48 AM
@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:Most of them are not committing violations. I don’t sell enough into any given state to meet the threshold. Many of them are 100k before you have to start charging.
i have always collected on sales in my own state because I have an economic nexus.
If the smaller web sites do not sell enough to meet the minimum volume of sales requirements in a state to require them to collect the tax under the state's market facilitator law, I'm not sure I'd really consider that site as being worth my efforts to list on. I believe that under the MF laws of most states it is the total volume of site's sales in that state and not the individual sellers that counts. Of course, if the site doesn't meet the criteria the buyer would have to pay the use tax to their state directly as they are suppose to have been doing all along.
It is good that you are collecting the sales tax for sales within your own state. Of course, you would be required to collect it in other states that you have a nexus in as well.