why Ebay taxing food sales in WA state ( honey)

[raw_honey]

Why Ebay taxing food sales in WA state ( honey) ?

my WA state buyers complaining about honey taxation ( Retail stores in WA state doesn't charge sales tax on food, honey :

Food and food ingredients: for example retail sales of honey are exempt from sales tax. (WAC 458-20-244)

Sales of food and food ingredients for human consumption are exempt from sales tax. (WAC 458-20-244)

Ebay - please remove taxation from our all honey listings ( we sell just regular honey = nothing added in, just pure raw honey)

Thank you!

[castlemagicmemories]

I believe this comes under, Ebay is required to collect taxes, and the buyer can address the discrepancy on their taxes somehow.

Others should be along soon to weigh in on this as well.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

You'd think that if ebay as a faciltator is collecting taxes they'd at least have some way of knowing what wasn't taxable.

[castlemagicmemories]

Yes, I see what you mean, but that would be added expense for programming that they may not feel is warranted, or it could be they just want to cover themselves against any eventuality.  I don't know, just speculation on my part.

Then again, it could be that since this is so new, they just don't have all the refinements needed programmed, you know exceptions like this.

Again, just speculation on my part.

[helloandgoodmorning]

Many states have exemptions or lower tax rates on food, healthcare items, clothing and other necessities. eBay needs to handle these situations without telling individual consumers they need to claim it on their year end taxes.

If I was being taxed on something my state exempts I would stop shopping for those items here.

[lacemaker3]

@raw_honey, I will tag an eBay employee who has been active in helping us to report issues with the sales tax implementation, so he can look at this.

@Anonymous, this appears to be another issue with the Washington sales tax being applied incorrectly.

The OP appears to be correct, honey is a food or food ingredient, and is not subject to sales tax in Washington state.

https://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=458-20-244

There is no list of food products that qualify, only exemptions (which are taxed). Candy that includes  honey would be taxed, but not pure honey because it is not "... in combination with chocolate, fruits, nuts, or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces." (from the definition of Candy).

Here is one of OP's listings for honey, which is in the correct category (Home and garden > Food & Beverages >Honey, Syrup & Sweeteners). It would appear that this leaf category should be exempted from sales tax in Washington. Not the next tier up branch category, though, because that would also include things like soft drinks, which are taxable.

[gracieallen01]

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@raw_honey wrote:

Why Ebay taxing food sales in WA state ( honey) ?

my WA state buyers complaining about honey taxation ( Retail stores in WA state doesn't charge sales tax on food, honey :

Food and food ingredients: for example retail sales of honey are exempt from sales tax. (WAC 458-20-244)

Sales of food and food ingredients for human consumption are exempt from sales tax. (WAC 458-20-244)

Ebay - please remove taxation from our all honey listings ( we sell just regular honey = nothing added in, just pure raw honey)

Thank you!

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Sooooo, if ebay is charging the tax, but WA doesn't tax such items, where does that money go?

[Anonymous]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

@raw_honey, I will tag an eBay employee who has been active in helping us to report issues with the sales tax implementation, so he can look at this.

@Anonymous, this appears to be another issue with the Washington sales tax being applied incorrectly.

The OP appears to be correct, honey is a food or food ingredient, and is not subject to sales tax in Washington state.

https://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=458-20-244

There is no list of food products that qualify, only exemptions (which are taxed). Candy that includes  honey would be taxed, but not pure honey because it is not "... in combination with chocolate, fruits, nuts, or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces." (from the definition of Candy).

Here is one of OP's listings for honey, which is in the correct category (Home and garden > Food & Beverages >Honey, Syrup & Sweeteners). It would appear that this leaf category should be exempted from sales tax in Washington. Not the next tier up branch category, though, because that would also include things like soft drinks, which are taxable.

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Hi @lacemaker3, thank you for reporting this. While we do have some category exemptions in place currently, we are unable to support all possible exemptions at this time. I will get this over to our tax teams for investigation and in the meantime, a credit can be pursued through the tax agency in Washington. Thanks again!

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Presumably it goes into WA revenue coffers unless the taxpayer is savvy enough to request a credit for taxes paid which shouldn't have been.

Now whether buyers are going to pursue that is doubtful.

[dhbookds]

errrr Trinton..........who's supposed to apply for the refund?  the customer?   Seller doesn't handle it at all.........

Frankly, I'd check the bill as applying to marketplaces,  there may be no exemptions there as opposed to retailers within the state.......

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@dhbookds wrote:

errrr Trinton..........who's supposed to apply for the refund?  the customer?   Seller doesn't handle it at all.........

Frankly, I'd check the bill as applying to marketplaces,  there may be no exemptions there as opposed to retailers within the state.......

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The buyer is supposed to apply for the refund in the case of a sales tax overpayment. The refund would come from the state since all tax money is sent to them.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

@raw_honey, I will tag an eBay employee who has been active in helping us to report issues with the sales tax implementation, so he can look at this.

@Anonymous, this appears to be another issue with the Washington sales tax being applied incorrectly.

The OP appears to be correct, honey is a food or food ingredient, and is not subject to sales tax in Washington state.

https://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=458-20-244

There is no list of food products that qualify, only exemptions (which are taxed). Candy that includes  honey would be taxed, but not pure honey because it is not "... in combination with chocolate, fruits, nuts, or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops, or pieces." (from the definition of Candy).

Here is one of OP's listings for honey, which is in the correct category (Home and garden > Food & Beverages >Honey, Syrup & Sweeteners). It would appear that this leaf category should be exempted from sales tax in Washington. Not the next tier up branch category, though, because that would also include things like soft drinks, which are taxable.

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Hi @lacemaker3, I just wanted to give an update that we do have the Home & Garden > Food & Beverages > Honey, Syrup & Sweeteners category set to be exempt from taxes, however, the primary category on this listing is Health & Beauty > Vitamins & Dietary Supplements > Other Vitamins, which is not exempt. If the two categories are swapped, this should actually remove the tax on the item as we look to the primary category when applying exemptions. We are taking this example into account for future improvements and I want to say thank you again for sharing!

[pjcdn2005]

Just a heads up that using variations to charge buyers a separate insurance insurance charge has been a policy violation for about 10 years.  You aren’t allowed to charge separately for insurance at all but you can include it on your shipping cost or handling charge.

[slippinjimmy]

This tax (or not) by Category (or sub category) is going to be complicated and difficult for no other reason than it may lead to even more use of improper categories when listing.

You know there will be a be "smart" types that will list taxable items in non-taxable categories. This is akin to the GSP issues where where tax portion is charged based on category (thus books can get taxed improperly if they are not listed in the right category) or the issues of shipping weight where GSP has to guess based on category when a seller does not provide a shipping wight and/or dimensions because they use flat-rate.