Taxes on discount postage.. who do i call to remove

[hgitner]

Hi, one of our clients lives in Indiana and purchased discount postage and was charged tax, postage is not a taxable item. who do i call to get them to take it off......Thanks..

[southern*sweet*tea]

Indiana, along with many other states, charges tax on shipping:   https://www.taxjar.com/sales-tax/sales-tax-and-shipping

[ms.rodriguez*]

Who you gonna call?  How about Congress who passed this law 3-4 years ago.  Tell the buyer that if they do not want to pay sales tax on internet sales, they have to stop buying online. Ebay is merely following the law.

[bonjourami]

Taxes are not charged when purchased at the post office, not on Ebay, or any other online site.

[hgitner]

Is there sales tax on USPS postage?

When a person purchases stamps for the purpose of postage, the true object is to obtain the performance of postal service. Gross receipts from the sale of U.S. Postal Service stamps sold for the purpose of postage are not subject to tax.

[hgitner]

Hi, i am not talking about shipping, we sell large amt's of useable postage stamps at a discount... 95% of the time it is not taxed, once in a while they slip thru and are taxed... 

[dentalsales4u]

When our B&M store had a tax audit a few years back, they said if you purchase at the post office, you aren't charged sales tax.

When a business ships something and charges a shipping cost, they are charged sales tax because they look at it as you providing a service for the buyer and service is taxable.

[monica-sells]

STATUS: (1) US postage stamps purchased from the US Postal Service are not subject to sales tax. However, when a retailer recoups its cost of US postage stamps from a customer, that amount is part of the "sales or selling price" and is subject to sales tax.

My only guess is that this sale presented an exception of some sort the algo picked up maybe...or maybe something changed January 1? You could try facebook Customer Service....for ebay business

[monroe67]

"Hi, one of our clients lives in Indiana and purchased discount postage and was charged tax, postage is not a taxable item. who do i call to get them to take it off......Thanks.."

Hmmmmm.  This is very interesting because -- 
the Item that was sold was a collection, a "bunch" of unused US postage stamps with a face value of $1,000 (or more?) that sold for $610.00 with free standard shipping. 

"Free Standard Shipping" -- even to a state such as Indiana that does impose sales tax on cost of postage and/or other shipping costs -- "free standard shipping" would not generate a sales tax by Indiana.  

And the category was Stamps > United States > Postage.  
Which, from my understanding, are not taxable, as the OP says.  

OP, you may need to contact eBay through their Facebook page, eBay for Business.  
But monica_sells may be correct, that postage stamps sold outside a USPS location can be taxed?  
But I often buy postage stamps at the supermarket and have never really paid attention to whether they were taxed or not.  
I for one would be interested to know how this situation turns out for you.  

[hgitner]

We don't charge shipping, the stamps are discount postage not face value stamps.. ebay is not supposed to charge tax on it...

[monica-sells]

Just guessing, but somewhere amongst the dead brain cells in my aging memory.....

The supermarket, kiosk or machine is most likely an "authorized" USPS outlet/client and qualifies for Sales Tax  exemption...much like a licensed distributor of a 'product'

In other words, you are buying from the USPS through their recognized 'agent'

[lacemaker3]

What is the item number that was charged tax?

I looked at your items for sale, and it looks to me as though most of your "postage" listings are for collectible stamps. I saw a lot of covers, and some sheets that were mentioning the book value of the stamps, they appeared to be in taxable categories, so I think that many (or most) states may charge tax on collectible stamps.

[hgitner]

"lacemaker the list # was (404100538208)..

[monroe67]

"What is the item number that was charged tax?"

Look in OP's "sold" listings.  It's one of the items under "Show Only" in the column on the left side of the page, where you see the various categories of his listings, waaaay at the bottom.  Sold yesterday for $610.

[12345jamesstamps]

Physically buying stamps in a post office there is no sales tax. Or in a store. Buying anything with the word stamps depending on the state there is a sales tax in eBay. For me in California there is a sales tax on stamps. Many countries have a sales tax for sellers selling stamps on eBay. Even if they are recent forever stamps just made there is a sales tax on them through eBay.