eBay now charging sales tax to buyers!

Those 8% eBay bucks deals will barely break you even now, time to move to Hipcomic or Comic Connect.

For a small seller that might be manageable, but remember that PayPal also keeps track of your sales and I’m sure as a subsidiary of eBay they will be reporting those sales to the proper tax people.

They are separate companies parted ways in 2015 EBay will be getting rid of Paypal checking out for a new Dutch company called Adyen very soon.

I thought Paypal was entirely on it’s own now… eBay does not have my SSN or Tax ID either, it’s Paypal that does. I do believe Paypal still operates as a $20k and 200 transactions before they report earnings to IRS.

I should read more comments before commenting… so me hunch was correct.

I would imagine Tax rules still apply no matter which company you use. Maybe its different because Ebay Facilitates the sale where Paypal only accepts the payment and shipment and reporting to the IRS.

Yeah, think of eBay as the middle man. No transaction actually takes place on or at eBay.

Honestly, I don’t know what or why there is a debate at all … the IRS requires you report income, period … they always have … so, unless it’s Cash Money, there is a trail of any and all on-line transactions …

Now, the benefit to being legit is simple, if you’re an at-home Seller / On-Line only, you get the deductions related to use of Home as Business …

If you’re a Con Dealer, and you just take Cash, there is no trail … (that’s not advice, just a fact) …

This is exactly why the Suits in Charge would like Cash Money to just go away … it’s called “The Underground Economy” …

#1 Rule == Don’t Screw Around When it Comes to the IRS …

i think the whole point is we dont want to get in trouble with the IRS. Part of that is paying the appropriate tax to the right states. Being online makes it a real issue. Do i need to worry about loosing sales because a customer dosnt want to pay tax via ebay or do I need to start tracking who does what on my website to make sure tax is taken out … When i turn my stuff over to my accountant i will have to ask. Maybe i should just start charging 3% to cover the states that collect taxs.

Very true but the sales taxes being collected by states is not the IRS. I wonder how many states are going to justify money to go after those not within their own state boundaries for not collecting state sales taxes?

But yes, as Willie says, any and all income should be reported on your Federal Income and State Income taxes.

Now, collecting sales tax, if I missed a collection on a sale out of Washington State I’d like to see them come and get their money… :stuck_out_tongue: (I kid, I kid… )

You really can’t equate Sales Tax with the IRS … and, as mentioned, the Venues used for selling are collecting it and distributing it for you … I can’t say how that relates to a Website since I don’t have one … however, I’m confident there are automated processes that will handle that as well …

I cant speak for other platforms, but through Shopify i need to charge tax myself. IE click the button that says " Charge Tax" for every product that i post on my site. Ebay does it for everyone automatically.

Which states have paper and paper types exempt from tax? Here in Massachusetts - comics, magazines and newspapers are exempt from sales tax. So even if they started enforcing that tax rule, would eBay know not to collect taxes on that type of exemption or would they just charge across the board?

I know in some States if it was collected and you know it’s exempt you can claim it for a refund on your State or Personnel Property Taxes if you fill out the correct forms. Frequently these are also the same forms consumers are supposed to be filling out to report items they weren’t charged Sales Tax on so they can be assessed a “USE TAX” or similar sounding thing.

When i turn my stuff over to my accountant i will have to ask. Maybe i should just start charging 3% to cover the states that collect taxs.

You have to be careful with the wording there. You can’t label it as a Sales Tax and charge it unless it’s going to the State in question and some of them have waaaaay more than 3%, especially some of those individual districts in California which hopefully you’ll never have to deal with but E-Bay probably will if they get forced to by the Nexus Laws. Here’s a page defining some of the Nexus types.
Unfortunately each State gets to word their own versions of each if they choose to have one or more types required to collect.

As for if or when you may or may not get caught, sniffer type software is getting more advanced all the time. If it’s electronic, there’s a trail that can be found.

For me it’s one of the reasons I try to limit online listings to items $10 and up or bundled sets. Proactively trying to prevent exceeding the limits while limiting the amount of filing, paperwork and accounting expenses.

Here’s another one I’ve messed up before.
Is a sales tax return required even if my tax due is zero?

I thought the old account was closed properly. $10 late fee for the month it wasn’t quickly assessed even though I’d actually claimed, filed and paid those amounts for that period on the new License on time. I got hit for another $10 a few months later when their online payment confused me and didn’t get that last click it needed to submit so one day late I caught that it hadn’t been paid yet and paid immediately. Still hit up for another $10 for being late.

No … unless, I suppose it’s your own Website … again, the Selling Venues are collecting the sales tax … they are not giving it to the Seller … eBay, et al are collecting it and submitting it … if selling on a Venue, any possible refund would go to the Venue that collected it … (I call them Venues, others call them Platforms) …

I sold a book over the weekend for $109 … my PayPal showed a net $105 (Approx) after fees … it went to Washington State, a Sales Tax State … no where in the PayPal record is the Sales Tax reflected in my account … however, it is included in the eBay detail … the Customer was charged, eBay collected, eBay kept it and will forward it to the Taxing District at the appropriate time … I did not see a nickel of it …

That’s exactly what I’m doing now. Only buying bigger ticketed items when eBay bucks promotions come along, unless I get a spectacular deal.

Bought a comic last month and got 12% eBay bucks. As my $85 ebay bucks was set to expire in a few days, another promotion came out today (8%) and I made an offer on a comic for $200 (which was just accepted). Despite $85 contributing from my eBay bucks, I still got $16 (8% of $200) in ebay bucks!

Workin the system…

I’m in CT and have been dealing with eBay taxes since April 1st. Needless to say I’ve been at a disadvantage in live auctions since then as I’ve had to consider taxes in what I was willing to bid…I don’t think I’ve won a regular auction since (all BINs). So I will relish the day when the playing field is leveled again and I can be competitive once more (mmmmm…relish…).

But yes, the sellers will be the ones hurt the most in the end as it’ll be the final sale prices being lowered pay for the inevitable tax.

Certain things such as gambling you can claim losses against income earned. I thought hobbies were excluded but now I’m reading as of 2018 you cannot deduct expenses from money making hobbies yet are REQUIRED to claim any income from them!! Am I reading that Right?

Thank you once again, tax reform laws…

For tax years after 2017, the IRS doesn’t allow you to deduct hobby expenses from hobby income. you must claim all hobby income and are not permitted to reduce that income by any expenses.

That is what it is written in that article.

If you’re selling regularly, you’re a business. Different towns and States have various limitations you can do to stay under to not qualify. For instance, if you have a yard sale around here once a year, you’re okay. If you do it multiple times a year or even every weekend you need a business license and they will eventually pull up in your driveway and ticket you.

Another one I’m seeing more and more over the last decade are the couponers. They run from store to store looking for crazy discounts combining coupon deals with store specials to buy out entire product lines just so they can stock their sale booths for the weekend. Then people show up at the store for the advertised special and it’s all gone while on the way home they pass four sellers who now have all the product on their front yard not charging Sales Tax either. At least when it comes to food, groceries and essentials the government does tend to step in occasionally and try to stop price gouging. You hear about that most noticeably after major disasters.

I’ve always though retailers or sellers should pay the sales tax instead of the buyers. I mean sellers are profiting off selling so shouldn’t they pay it? I feel this way for any and all businesses.

We do. We pay taxes on the business and the profits that we made.

The consumer would end up paying regardless. If the seller or business paid all sales taxes, then we’d likely just see the cost of goods go up as well. Sales taxes are a good thing, they keep the other taxes in check like property taxes and income taxes. It all pretty much levels out in the end… there are two things certain in life, death and taxes.