Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Apparently, as of a few weeks ago, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has imposed on Ebay a requirement to collect sales tax on purchases by its citizens. Until then, this collection had been done during income tax filing, taxpayers voluntarily imposing upon themselves a special tax on internet purchases, a standard amount based on level of taxable income. This came with a warning in the instructions that seemed to leverage the taxpayer into paying this special tax in exchange for some protection from audit of internet purchases. Personally, I had been diligent about paying the tax, as it seemed to be a small fraction of what I would owe had the full extent of my purchases been taxed.
Also, Pennsylvania sellers had been required to collect sales tax on purchases by Pennsylvania buyers, in accordance with Sales and Use Tax Permit requirements.
Now though, with the full extent of my purchases being taxed,my Ebay bidding into the future will surely be constrained.
Wondering if SOR will be able to escape this trawl, or not.
And, wondering if all states will eventually follow suit, setting the playing field level, once again.
Bottom line for me: It all kinda sux.
-Paul
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It is equally frustrating as a seller. I am in NY and collect sales tax on all sales and pay them once a year to NY. I just had my first NY sale on Ebay since the new rule came into effect and the order details state that NY state sales tax was collected by Ebay and will be remitted to the state by Ebay. Small problem - neither the "order details" nor the Paypal payment show sales tax. Order amount was $9.95 plus $3.50 S/H and previously $1.08 would have been added as sales tax. That does not show up on any record.
When I file I have to list total sales, NY sales, total cash received from any payment processor (Paypal) etc. NY sales have to be broken down by county and any other taxing agency (city, town, village, special districts, etc). We will see come March 1st how the state handles their instructions to sellers.
An ominous side effect of this is that if you are a small time Ebay seller and have considered yourself immune from collecting tax or filing a Schedule "C" it may well be that Ebay has to identify the seller to the state so they can cross check.. That may not happen if sellers can just treat Ebay sales as "non-taxable" on the required sales tax report - time will tell.
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I think it can best be stated that Stamporama offers itself as a place for exchange of philatelic material. Those who participate are responsible for following their own respective federal, state and local laws while doing so.
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Webpaper said:
"$1.08 would have been added as sales tax. That does not show up on any record."
As an Ebay buyer, sales tax that I paid DOES show up under Order Details. Ebay programmers have NEVER impressed me as having much understanding the practical implications of what they throw up. It's like they don't test their product. And, it takes them eons to correct serious defects.
I'm a small-business owner in PA, and have also dealt with accounting for sales tax I (theoretically) collect. Only, ALL of my customers, being farmers, are sales-tax exempt for everything I sell. So, I have only ever filed returns with all zeros on them. Thus, I've horribly neglected filing in recent years, and it has not caused me any consequences with the state.
-Paul
PS, I can't imagine the PA Dept. of Revenue martialing the resources necessary to send out collection notices to all of the 10 million-odd online purchasers they may identify...
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"Small problem - neither the "order details" nor the Paypal payment show sales tax. "
Yes, it would be nice if Ebay noted the amount added and taken from the buyer. Texas doesn't have this problem (still have to collect sales taxes, though), but my sales records to people living in states where ebay has to collect sales tax have a note on the order details. Since Ebay is taking the sales tax from the buyer and paying it directly to your state, I don't see where there is any issue for a seller.
You can determine how much was added to the buyer's purchase price by going to the Seller Hub.
- hover your cursor on MY EBAY
- click on SELLING
- under the ORDERS column click on SEE ALL ORDERS
On orders where Ebay added sales tax you will see the note at the bottom of that order. You will have to subtract the SOLD FOR amount from the TOTAL amount to get the amount of sales tax collected by Ebay.
This actually helps sellers who live in tax grabbing states. Why? Because previously, buyers would look for sellers who are located outside of the state to purchase items to avoid paying sales taxes. Now that the buyers can't avoid paying sales taxes to their state, it doesn't matter who they buy from. They may buy from sellers in their own state as the item will be "closer to home". Ebay sellers who previously had sales from those buyers will probably lose sales now.
For Stamporama, taxes that a seller has to collect can be manually added to the invoice in the "Other Charges" box, and a note to what the charges are can be left in the comments box.
As Antonio stated in his post above, each seller here is responsible to collect any taxes that are required to be collected for the jurisdiction where they live. Whether a seller on Stamporama does that or not is between the seller and the taxman.
Remember that Stamporama is located in Canada, and cannot be mandated to collect taxes for jurisdictions in the United States.
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OK Michael - where is the Seller Hub ? I do everything off "My Ebay: All Selling" page. I've been on Ebay since 1997 except for about a year after Donahoe introduced his Bain inspired "Disruptive innovation" style of management.
If I go to "Order details" it tells me Ebay paid the sales tax but it is not included in the total figure.
If I go to Paypal they only show me the total of the item and shipping but it does not include tax.I wonder how Ebay is going to handle returning the tax to buyers who return items?
Can't seem to find anything called "Seller Hub" in any of the dropdowns available to me or the sub dropdowns......
Help
Thanks
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You can determine how much was added to the buyer's purchase price by going to the Seller Hub. To get there:
- hover your cursor on MY EBAY
- click on SELLING
- under the ORDERS column click on SEE ALL ORDERS
On orders where Ebay added sales tax you will see the note at the bottom of that order. You will have to subtract the SOLD FOR amount from the TOTAL amount to get the amount of sales tax collected by Ebay.
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When I hover over My Ebay at the top of the page and click on “Selling” I end up at a page titled “My Ebay: All Selling”. The page contains everything I need – Your performance, Monthly selling limits, Selling Reminders, Scheduled, Active Selling, Sold, Returns, Unsold,, Saved drafts, and Promotional Offers. When I click on the order in question under “Sold” and go to “Order Details” it shows only the total of item and shipping without sales tax..
On the right hand side of the page I see the following in small letters:
“Swtich to new selling overview Tell us what you think
The My Ebay landing page is set to summary”
I did get on some page about a month ago where all I could do was relist items – I spent 20 minutes trying to find what I was selling, what I had sold, and finally gave up and called Ebay because by this point in time I was absolutely panic stricken. I thought that they had lost all of my information. They finally had me click on something that brought me back to my page with all the information . I don’t ever want to go back to that page again …..
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Looks like you have the old selling pages.
I like the new selling pages. It lets you do with your list of items for sale pretty much like we could do with the old BidStart (pre-Gibbons era).
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Thanks Michael.
I'll have to think about trying the page (guess I just click those links) on a calm, still day. We had our 50th wedding anniversary last week and my youngest son flew out from Vegas to visit - still trying to recuperate.
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It seems to me that, if ebay collected and will submit the sales tax paid by the NY resident, then you should treat the sale as if it was made to a nonresident. If you don't, NY will be collecting double the required amount of sales tax.
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Remember when they talked about the day when internet purchases would be taxed ? First it was the ebay fee...ok..then the paypal fee..mmmmmmm, now judgement day with the state tax. And we will keep on buying and selling !
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07:37:01am
This is, currently, an issue for Ebay sales, but seems could spill over into SOR auctions.
Apparently, as of a few weeks ago, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has imposed on Ebay a requirement to collect sales tax on purchases by its citizens. Until then, this collection had been done during income tax filing, taxpayers voluntarily imposing upon themselves a special tax on internet purchases, a standard amount based on level of taxable income. This came with a warning in the instructions that seemed to leverage the taxpayer into paying this special tax in exchange for some protection from audit of internet purchases. Personally, I had been diligent about paying the tax, as it seemed to be a small fraction of what I would owe had the full extent of my purchases been taxed.
Also, Pennsylvania sellers had been required to collect sales tax on purchases by Pennsylvania buyers, in accordance with Sales and Use Tax Permit requirements.
Now though, with the full extent of my purchases being taxed,my Ebay bidding into the future will surely be constrained.
Wondering if SOR will be able to escape this trawl, or not.
And, wondering if all states will eventually follow suit, setting the playing field level, once again.
Bottom line for me: It all kinda sux.
-Paul
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08:52:46am
re: Ebay sales tax
It is equally frustrating as a seller. I am in NY and collect sales tax on all sales and pay them once a year to NY. I just had my first NY sale on Ebay since the new rule came into effect and the order details state that NY state sales tax was collected by Ebay and will be remitted to the state by Ebay. Small problem - neither the "order details" nor the Paypal payment show sales tax. Order amount was $9.95 plus $3.50 S/H and previously $1.08 would have been added as sales tax. That does not show up on any record.
When I file I have to list total sales, NY sales, total cash received from any payment processor (Paypal) etc. NY sales have to be broken down by county and any other taxing agency (city, town, village, special districts, etc). We will see come March 1st how the state handles their instructions to sellers.
An ominous side effect of this is that if you are a small time Ebay seller and have considered yourself immune from collecting tax or filing a Schedule "C" it may well be that Ebay has to identify the seller to the state so they can cross check.. That may not happen if sellers can just treat Ebay sales as "non-taxable" on the required sales tax report - time will tell.
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re: Ebay sales tax
I think it can best be stated that Stamporama offers itself as a place for exchange of philatelic material. Those who participate are responsible for following their own respective federal, state and local laws while doing so.
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10:55:53am
re: Ebay sales tax
Webpaper said:
"$1.08 would have been added as sales tax. That does not show up on any record."
As an Ebay buyer, sales tax that I paid DOES show up under Order Details. Ebay programmers have NEVER impressed me as having much understanding the practical implications of what they throw up. It's like they don't test their product. And, it takes them eons to correct serious defects.
I'm a small-business owner in PA, and have also dealt with accounting for sales tax I (theoretically) collect. Only, ALL of my customers, being farmers, are sales-tax exempt for everything I sell. So, I have only ever filed returns with all zeros on them. Thus, I've horribly neglected filing in recent years, and it has not caused me any consequences with the state.
-Paul
PS, I can't imagine the PA Dept. of Revenue martialing the resources necessary to send out collection notices to all of the 10 million-odd online purchasers they may identify...
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11:17:28am
re: Ebay sales tax
"Small problem - neither the "order details" nor the Paypal payment show sales tax. "
Yes, it would be nice if Ebay noted the amount added and taken from the buyer. Texas doesn't have this problem (still have to collect sales taxes, though), but my sales records to people living in states where ebay has to collect sales tax have a note on the order details. Since Ebay is taking the sales tax from the buyer and paying it directly to your state, I don't see where there is any issue for a seller.
You can determine how much was added to the buyer's purchase price by going to the Seller Hub.
- hover your cursor on MY EBAY
- click on SELLING
- under the ORDERS column click on SEE ALL ORDERS
On orders where Ebay added sales tax you will see the note at the bottom of that order. You will have to subtract the SOLD FOR amount from the TOTAL amount to get the amount of sales tax collected by Ebay.
This actually helps sellers who live in tax grabbing states. Why? Because previously, buyers would look for sellers who are located outside of the state to purchase items to avoid paying sales taxes. Now that the buyers can't avoid paying sales taxes to their state, it doesn't matter who they buy from. They may buy from sellers in their own state as the item will be "closer to home". Ebay sellers who previously had sales from those buyers will probably lose sales now.
For Stamporama, taxes that a seller has to collect can be manually added to the invoice in the "Other Charges" box, and a note to what the charges are can be left in the comments box.
As Antonio stated in his post above, each seller here is responsible to collect any taxes that are required to be collected for the jurisdiction where they live. Whether a seller on Stamporama does that or not is between the seller and the taxman.
Remember that Stamporama is located in Canada, and cannot be mandated to collect taxes for jurisdictions in the United States.
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02:11:48pm
re: Ebay sales tax
OK Michael - where is the Seller Hub ? I do everything off "My Ebay: All Selling" page. I've been on Ebay since 1997 except for about a year after Donahoe introduced his Bain inspired "Disruptive innovation" style of management.
If I go to "Order details" it tells me Ebay paid the sales tax but it is not included in the total figure.
If I go to Paypal they only show me the total of the item and shipping but it does not include tax.I wonder how Ebay is going to handle returning the tax to buyers who return items?
Can't seem to find anything called "Seller Hub" in any of the dropdowns available to me or the sub dropdowns......
Help
Thanks
Login to Like
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05:31:35pm
re: Ebay sales tax
You can determine how much was added to the buyer's purchase price by going to the Seller Hub. To get there:
- hover your cursor on MY EBAY
- click on SELLING
- under the ORDERS column click on SEE ALL ORDERS
On orders where Ebay added sales tax you will see the note at the bottom of that order. You will have to subtract the SOLD FOR amount from the TOTAL amount to get the amount of sales tax collected by Ebay.
Login to Like
this post
07:35:25pm
re: Ebay sales tax
When I hover over My Ebay at the top of the page and click on “Selling” I end up at a page titled “My Ebay: All Selling”. The page contains everything I need – Your performance, Monthly selling limits, Selling Reminders, Scheduled, Active Selling, Sold, Returns, Unsold,, Saved drafts, and Promotional Offers. When I click on the order in question under “Sold” and go to “Order Details” it shows only the total of item and shipping without sales tax..
On the right hand side of the page I see the following in small letters:
“Swtich to new selling overview Tell us what you think
The My Ebay landing page is set to summary”
I did get on some page about a month ago where all I could do was relist items – I spent 20 minutes trying to find what I was selling, what I had sold, and finally gave up and called Ebay because by this point in time I was absolutely panic stricken. I thought that they had lost all of my information. They finally had me click on something that brought me back to my page with all the information . I don’t ever want to go back to that page again …..
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07:39:37pm
re: Ebay sales tax
Looks like you have the old selling pages.
I like the new selling pages. It lets you do with your list of items for sale pretty much like we could do with the old BidStart (pre-Gibbons era).
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07:49:32pm
re: Ebay sales tax
Thanks Michael.
I'll have to think about trying the page (guess I just click those links) on a calm, still day. We had our 50th wedding anniversary last week and my youngest son flew out from Vegas to visit - still trying to recuperate.
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re: Ebay sales tax
It seems to me that, if ebay collected and will submit the sales tax paid by the NY resident, then you should treat the sale as if it was made to a nonresident. If you don't, NY will be collecting double the required amount of sales tax.
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re: Ebay sales tax
Remember when they talked about the day when internet purchases would be taxed ? First it was the ebay fee...ok..then the paypal fee..mmmmmmm, now judgement day with the state tax. And we will keep on buying and selling !
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