So the new SCOTUS ruling is being held up as "leveling the playing field" by B&M organizations.. Hmm

[chipper01work]

So sellers, who have no physical presence in a State, are now possibly subject to about 10,000 different local taxing regulations and associations that represent B&M stores are hailing it as a victory and claiming it finally levels the playing field and creates "fairness" for B&M stores. 

So my question is this: Since this ruling basically says that a seller may be required to remit taxes on the buyers behalf, to the State where the buyer lives, in all fairness then, when I go on vacation in another State and buy anything that is taxed in my State, shouldn't the B&M store then have to ask for ID and then remit the tax to my State? Fairness should always be fair. If the whiney B&M stores have cried that they have to charge sales tax to all customers and remit that tax thereby putting them at a disadvantage, it seems to me that if online sellers are going to be subject to 10,000 different taxing bodies the B&M stores should be too. There is no difference in my case. It matters not where the item is purchased, the ruling is based solely upon where the buyer lives, so the same thing should be applied to all B&M purchases.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

Online sellers will likely not be required to collect and remit sales taxes unless they have a lot of sales in the state. The burden will likely fall to facilitators or marketplaces like a EBay and Etsy. It’s the future.

[antennastore]

I don't mind charging sales tax a bit, especially if everyone is doing it, the problem I have is how in the heck am I and thosands of small ecommerce businesses going to manages hundreds of tax codes and file all the taxes with every state..  Also, at least half the sellers on Amazon and eBay are CHinese now (perhaps even moreso on Amazon), and I seriously doubt they'll be submitting any sales tax whatsoever, so this will be another way for them to have a competitive advantage.   What congress seriously needs to do, is just make it a "flat" tax and / or require the marketplaces to handle this mess..  They're already profitinging from sellers and have the resources to handle all this..  It's very unreasonable for every little mom and pop shop in one state have to file sales tax in every state and keep track of hundreds of different tax rates and jurisdictions.   This would have to be much more streamlined, automated, and/or handled by Amazon and eBay directly.   This would double the tax revenue, as it would also force all of the overseas sellers the flood the US marketplaces with millsions of products from overseas, to pay sales tax too, so there's no unfair level playing field created.   

I would seriously love it if congress required a flat sales tax (say 6% or whatever) and eBay and Amazon, and Walmart marketplaces handled all the complex sales tax burden for each state..  It's really crazy for a mom and pop shop to keep track of and file in states sales tax.  Although there is only a few dozen that will be collecting now, you know since this was just passed, more states will follow suit to get their money too..   Just streamline it and take the burden off each individual seller..  It's truly a bit too much for a small business to handle.

[grasshopperx]

That's a good POINT. No one else has thought of that!

[oceanviewengineer2015]

200 sales is not a lot of sales.

[castlemagicmemories]

Interesting points.

[buyselljack2016]

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@oceanviewengineer2015 wrote:

200 sales is not a lot of sales.

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And this # came from ......................?

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@oceanviewengineer2015 wrote:

200 sales is not a lot of sales.

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The 200 sales applies only to the state of South Dakota. SD has less than 800k people. I highly doubt an Ebay seller is going to have 200 sales annually to the state of SD unless they are a megaseller.

Each state has it's own requirements. SD is 200 sales or $100k. In my state, MS, it's $250k with no mention of transaction count.

[alcoforever]

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@chipper01work wrote:

So sellers, who have no physical presence in a State, are now possibly subject to about 10,000 different local taxing regulations and associations that represent B&M stores are hailing it as a victory and claiming it finally levels the playing field and creates "fairness" for B&M stores. 

So my question is this: Since this ruling basically says that a seller may be required to remit taxes on the buyers behalf, to the State where the buyer lives, in all fairness then, when I go on vacation in another State and buy anything that is taxed in my State, shouldn't the B&M store then have to ask for ID and then remit the tax to my State? Fairness should always be fair. If the whiney B&M stores have cried that they have to charge sales tax to all customers and remit that tax thereby putting them at a disadvantage, it seems to me that if online sellers are going to be subject to 10,000 different taxing bodies the B&M stores should be too. There is no difference in my case. It matters not where the item is purchased, the ruling is based solely upon where the buyer lives, so the same thing should be applied to all B&M purchases.

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The ruling is not based on where the buyer lives.   It is based on where the goods are delivered.  Ergo, a B&M store would only charge tax based on the B&M store's location, just as they have always done.

[dirk12955]

I bought a printer cartridge from an ebay seller, I paid the same price to him as if I had gone to my local Walmart or Target.

I did not pay extra for shipping.

I also did not pay the 7% sales tax that I would have had to pay at Walmart

And that Is what the states and cities and other agencies that collect sales tax are going after.

[dirk12955]

Every Mom and Pop B & M business in the good ole USA is already collecting sales tax as required.

If a Burrito from the corner food cart is taxable, Then the BUrrito seller is supposed to collect the tax and forward it to whoever is supposed to get it.

We come to ebay to be in business for ourselves. And the states and other agencies are going to treat some of us as businesses.

They're not taxing us. They are taxing (Some) of our buyers.

[chipper01work]

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@alcoforever wrote:

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@chipper01work wrote:

So sellers, who have no physical presence in a State, are now possibly subject to about 10,000 different local taxing regulations and associations that represent B&M stores are hailing it as a victory and claiming it finally levels the playing field and creates "fairness" for B&M stores. 

So my question is this: Since this ruling basically says that a seller may be required to remit taxes on the buyers behalf, to the State where the buyer lives, in all fairness then, when I go on vacation in another State and buy anything that is taxed in my State, shouldn't the B&M store then have to ask for ID and then remit the tax to my State? Fairness should always be fair. If the whiney B&M stores have cried that they have to charge sales tax to all customers and remit that tax thereby putting them at a disadvantage, it seems to me that if online sellers are going to be subject to 10,000 different taxing bodies the B&M stores should be too. There is no difference in my case. It matters not where the item is purchased, the ruling is based solely upon where the buyer lives, so the same thing should be applied to all B&M purchases.

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The ruling is not based on where the buyer lives.   It is based on where the goods are delivered.  Ergo, a B&M store would only charge tax based on the B&M store's location, just as they have always done.

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You are incorrect,It is based upon where the buyer lives. If aunt Millie, who lives in SD, buys a Lego set and asks for the seller to deliver it to her nephew in ND, where do you think the tax is going to go? I'll give you a hint: it's the address of where the buyer lives. The entire point of my OP was to illustrate that this ruling is touted as "leveling the playing field" by the organizations that represent B&M retail. Any idiot can see that subjecting online sellers to a potential of 10,000 taxing jurisdictions while B&M are suject to 1 is hardly a "level playing field"

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

It’s not about doing the work it’s about the end result for the buyer. Regardless if the PA and WA models catch on it will be eBay doing all the work. Sellers will only have to report to their own state. They will no longer even have to collect in state taxes.

[gracieallen01]

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@antennastore wrote:

I don't mind charging sales tax a bit, especially if everyone is doing it, the problem I have is how in the heck am I and thosands of small ecommerce businesses going to manages hundreds of tax codes and file all the taxes with every state..  Also, at least half the sellers on Amazon and eBay are CHinese now (perhaps even moreso on Amazon), and I seriously doubt they'll be submitting any sales tax whatsoever, ....

.... and eBay and Amazon, and Walmart marketplaces handled all the complex sales tax burden for each state..  It's really crazy for a mom and pop shop to keep track of and file in states sales tax.  Although there is only a few dozen that will be collecting now, you know since this was just passed, more states will follow suit to get their money too..   Just streamline it and take the burden off each individual seller..  It's truly a bit too much for a small business to handle.

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With ebay going to intermediation, the small seller may not have to do much in regards to the collection of taxes.  By the time all the States have things up and going, ebay and Adyen should be well attached at the hip and, being merchant of record, ebay may see it to their advantage to take care of the 'light-weight work', especially since they will have all of the pertinent data and financial information.

(personal opinion - your mileage may vary)

[chipper01work]

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@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:

It’s not about doing the work it’s about the end result for the buyer. Regardless if the PA and WA models catch on it will be eBay doing all the work. Sellers will only have to report to their own state. They will no longer even have to collect in state taxes.

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We all HOPE it will work that way but nothing is certain. The previous poster was also incorrect about how B&M sales taxes work. It has currently has NOTHING to do with where the item is delivered in any of the cases. You or I can currently go into any B&M store that operates in the 21st century and potentially spend millions of dollars and request the items to be delivered to our homes and that will happen. Sales taxes are collected in B&M stores based upon where the money changes hands, not where the items will be delivered. You can walk into any watch retailer in Manhattan and plop down 100K on a Rolex and have it delivered to your home anywhere in the USA and you will pay tax to NY so even in B&M retail, delivery location means nothing, nada, squat. You may not even handle or see the actual watch you bought until you are back home.  Currently in online sales, how many blurbs have you seen that said "items delivered to CA, PA, MS or the other 40 States that charge sales tax will be subject to that tax? The answer is NONE, it is based upon where the buyer lives, not where the item is delivered. It always says "CA residents must pay XX% tax. It is determined by the State you live in, not where the item is delivered, as has been stated.