eBay

fashionandform · ‎01-06-2020

Hello- I am a CA seller who uses Go Daddy bookkeeping. I have noticed a few strange transactions from the period of 11-4 to 11-7 under Business Expenses, sales tax submitted. I have 6 transactions, 2 are CA and the rest are other states.

Here’s what I can make out of how tax was collected so far- From 1-1 to 9-30 I collected CA tax for remission, as always. Then from 10-1 to 11-4 it appears that ebay collected the tax and does not show on my sales tax record. then after 11-8 it looks like ebay started collecting tax which is now in our PP total. on Go Daddy it shows as a positive 'sales tax collection' transaction, then as a deduction by 'unknown' for the same amount.

So that leaves the period 11-4 to 11-7 in which sales tax was again collected differently ( and submitted) as I noted above. Does anyone else see this as well?

autopiacarcare · ‎01-06-2020

California Marketplace Facilitator law kicked in on Oct 1. https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/taxes-import-charges?id=4121#section4

That means from Oct 1 onward, it is eBay's responsibility to collect and remit the tax. Originally, the sales tax was a separate payment between the buyer and eBay directly and the tax amount was not included in the payment to the seller, so you wouldn't see it in your PayPal account.

Buyers were complaining about it being split out as a separate charge, so eBay and PayPal changed it starting on Nov 4th so that sales tax collected by eBay is included in the payment to the seller and then deducted from the seller back to eBay.

So for 2019, Jan 1 - Sept 30th any tax collection would be the responsibility of the seller if they were required to collect and remit. Oct 1st onward that responsibility transferred to eBay. From Oct 1st - Nov 3, the tax amount would not be reflected in the seller's PayPal account because it was paid directly to eBay. Nov 4th - Dec 31st, the sales tax amounts are included in the PayPal payment to the seller and then deducted back out and sent to eBay.