mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
In an effort to assist Ebay in seeing and knowing the issues we see with Ebay collecting sales tax for certain states I thought we could have a discussion about it so that Ebay knows our thoughts and concerns.
This is something Ebay has to do, so that isn’t the issue. We may not like it, but they still have to adhere to the new laws. Sellers and some buyers have specific needs that aren’t being met. These needs have to be addressed as they are important factors.
Ebay is very much aware that there is room for improvement and I believe they are actively working on improving the process. But just in case they haven’t thought of some issues, this discussion may help.
Here are some of the things I see in no specific order.
- We need a way to submit our Resale Certificates so that Ebay has them on file.
- We need a way to flag a purchase on Ebay to be for Resale so that we are not charged Sales Tax.
- We need a report that shows by state what taxes were collected on our behalf. Some states require us to report this information. Some of us have to report the full sale amount as a retail sale and then we can take a deduction for that sale because Ebay has taken the sales tax from the customer and remitted it to the appropriate state. This report needs to give us the ability to get it by date range. Some of us report to our states monthly, some quarterly and some yearly. So we need flexibility in the report.
What do you see as an improvement or enhancement specific to Ebay collecting sales tax in various states?
@alcoforever wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:
@alcoforever wrote:
@mam98031 wrote:I'm in the state of Washington and we are suppose to report our gross sales both subject to sales tax and sales that are not. Normal stuff. But if we do not have a report we can generate from Ebay regarding which sales inside the state I do business in, then it just makes my job harder. They have the data, we just need a report. It shouldn't be a big deal. My opinion is it is a normal business request.
Why can't you just report gross sales as non-taxable since ebay has already taxed your WA sales?
Because it is a different category of sales on the reporting form. And it is what the state is instructing us to do. It isn't a matter of paying the taxes again or anything like that. Just proper reporting.
I suppose you could do as you have stated, but it isn't what the state is asking us to do.
I think you are over thinking it. There are only 2 categories, right? Taxable and non-taxable. All your sales are non-taxable.
Not on the forms for reporting in the State of Washington. Retailing is one of 5 categories.
In a simple world and if I was only selling on Ebay, it might be easier. But I don't and it isn't. You may not agree, but that doesn't mean it isn't true.
I'm not over thinking it at all. But I am being proactive instead of reactive.
@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:Interesting question. If they’re selling outside mfs like EBay, Etsy and Amazon they may have to collect and remit for those sales, but only if they meet the minimum sales requirement for sales to that State. Of course if its their own State they have to collect.
I haven’t heard anything about my website company collecting as mf, although on my own I’m nowhere near the reporting minimums for any State.
I’m going to continue to collect for my instate sales and ignore the rest. This is far more complicated than I bet the states expected.
I'm thinking that if they sell through their own site or maybe a their own B&M store they would have to collect and remit sales tax on all their sales within their state regardless of thresholds. Of course, I'm not familiar with those state's tax laws. While I don't think it would be much of an issue with a B&M store, sales through their own site might be an issue with states outside of their own. Then thresholds for those states could easily come into play.
Me thinks that this sales tax business could become a bit of a sticky wicket. 
@7606dennis wrote:
@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:Interesting question. If they’re selling outside mfs like EBay, Etsy and Amazon they may have to collect and remit for those sales, but only if they meet the minimum sales requirement for sales to that State. Of course if its their own State they have to collect.
I haven’t heard anything about my website company collecting as mf, although on my own I’m nowhere near the reporting minimums for any State.
I’m going to continue to collect for my instate sales and ignore the rest. This is far more complicated than I bet the states expected.
I'm thinking that if they sell through their own site or maybe a their own B&M store they would have to collect and remit sales tax on all their sales within their state regardless of thresholds. Of course, I'm not familiar with those state's tax laws. While I don't think it would be much of an issue with a B&M store, sales through their own site might be an issue with states outside of their own. Then thresholds for those states could easily come into play.
Me thinks that this sales tax business could become a bit of a sticky wicket.
You are correct for the state of Washington.
@the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth wrote:Don’t you have somewhere to select whether an item is taxable or not? CA is not a marketplace facilitator State yet so you should have control over sales tax collection and it should be collected through your payment method.
On Ebay, no.
@slippinjimmy wrote:People really are making this into a big issue when it's actually very simple ESPECIALLY if it concerns sellers located in one of the States where Marketplace Facilitator laws exist (as far as eBay is concerned) which at the moment is WA, MN & IA.
The requirements for in-State Merchants in Washington is posted on the DOR website. The requirements are extremely simple. If you know your total sales on eBay you are finished your reporting , you don't actually have to do ANYTHING else except fill in the box along with any sales where you were responsible for collecting taxes.
I'm not going to look it up for the other States but I'm sure they will be essentially the same as for Washington which can be found here:
I'm not sold any of us are trying to make this more complicated than it has to be. While in certain states Ebay is collecting the sales tax for us, we still have responsibilities to file our taxes accurately within whatever state we are in. Simply ignoring any sale Ebay has collected taxes on isn't the answer in regards to our reporting requirements, at least not in the state of WA.
For example from the link you provided.
- Sales made through a marketplace facilitator should be reported under the state retail sales tax classification, but the marketplace seller should take the deduction “Retail Sales Tax Collected by Facilitator (101)”.
So as I stated in the beginning, we need some reports from Ebay to accomplish this. From an accounting standpoint it makes perfect sense to report the income this way.
But you are right, it does not have to be complicated, well unless we can't get the information out of Ebay in an easy report format.
BTW, it is NOT your "total sales on Ebay" it is your Washington state sales on Ebay. So sure we can all track that separately by building our own worksheet or some way to track it so we have the info at tax time. But wouldn't it be so much easier if Ebay just gave us a report we could print and/or download. They have all the information.
I have my own database built in Microsoft Access.
The way I track it personally is not the issue.
Ebay is now taking on the tax collection function there is no reason at all that we can't have a report that we can access when we need to on the details.
That isn't exactly how the form format goes, but the end result is the same.
