E-bay charging buyers tax

[Maurice Leakey]

The attached was posted a few weeks ago, so I thought I would repeat it for information.
New Value Added Tax (VAT) Arrangements for US Sellers Exporting to UK | eBay Main Street

Maurice

[Nick Regan]

We sell worldwide, we advertise a price for delivery to wherever the item is going but state the buyer is responsible for any import duties tax etc. This worked well, if a tax was requires upon the item entering the country then the buyer was contacted by the relevant authorities and any tax collected. Never had any complaints. We recently sold an item to the USA, using our own courier service as normal not eBays , when we received our monthly invoice from eBay it shows WE were charged the customers import taxes etc by eBay at moment of sale even though we had not charged the customer or were even aware of the cost.

eBay is getting to be both far too greedy and far too manipulative in the way it treats its sellers.

[Richard C. Patchett]

My question is who has to file the collected tax to the government
that they collect
eBay PayPal or the seller ????

This question has not been answered yet
If the sale went through with No problems

[Nick Regan]

Richard

Ultimately It is the responsibility of the buyer to pay the import tax / duty, however saying that, in order to send the item to another country a customs declaration has to be filled in and affixed to the package along with the address label, the tax due is at that time calculated and added to the postage / courier costs. The courier then normally pays this tax at point of entry. If the tax has not already been paid to the courier it will either at that time (entry) invoice the buyer before the item is released for delivery or pay the tax and then keep the item until the tax has been reclaimed by them through the buyer.

This is why eBay should not be claiming this tax / duty unless they are actually delivering the item through ebay delivery as your own delivery courier is responsible for payment of that tax.

[Richard C. Patchett]

Greetings

I use Stamps .com for all mail here in the USA and ship world wide

I got this notice from them

Dear Stamps.com customer, Effective Jan 1, 2021, value added tax (VAT) must be collected for all goods entering the United Kingdom (UK). There will be a 20% VAT rate on goods valued up to £135 (about $180 USD), which you must collect unless your online marketplace (e.g. eBay, Amazon, Etsy, etc.) is already collecting it. Current procedures for goods valued over £135 remain the same. To prevent your UK shipments from being delayed, held, or returned by UK customs in 2021, please take the following steps: 1. Register for a VAT number with the UK: https://www.gov.uk/vat-registration 2. Collect VAT at the time of purchase. 3. Make quarterly VAT return payments to the UK. In addition, you should include your VAT number on your customs declarations. This process will vary depending on your shipping software, so be on the lookout for instructions early next year. If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact our award-winning Customer Care department. Sincerely, Stamps.com Customer Care

[Richard C. Patchett]

Greetings
Here in the USA as a small business owner I have to
Send (report) the sales tax to the government every so often
and pay them the sales tax
So who pays (file) the state sales tax on this new rule
eBay PayPal or the seller ( Me) to the government ?

[Ed Gordon]

The end result is there is now a huge disincentive for US sellers to sell to anyone in the UK. Any US seller that uses Ebay to sell to UK customers is going to take a 20% hit plus Ebay fees. Any US seller who does not use Ebay to sell to UK customers will have to take on the VAT tax collection responsibility.

See: "How a New VAT Rule From BREXIT Now Impacts Every US Seller Shipping to UK Customers" at:

https://esellercafe.com/how-a-new-va...-uk-customers/

[Bill Phelps]

I'm waiting for the answer too Richard...no one knows I guess. The sellers just keep it.

[Ed Gordon]

This question has not been answered yet
If the sale went through with No problems

Here is what I found at Ebay:

If you sell to buyers in the US, some jurisdictions may require you to collect applicable Internet Sales Tax on your transactions. As of January 1, 2021 a total of 44 jurisdictions require the collection of sales tax. In such cases, eBay collects and remits Internet Sales Tax on your behalf.
Learn more about Internet Sales Tax, on our Help pages, or from your tax advisor.
Starting in November 2019, the way taxable transactions are processed and how taxes are collected for remittance will change, as follows:

• In jurisdictions where eBay is required to collect Internet Sales Tax from buyers, order totals sent for processing will reflect the gross order amount inclusive of tax.
• Once settled, the tax amount will be automatically deducted for remittance to the applicable taxing authority.
• A record of the sales tax portion of the order will be available on the Seller Hub Order details page and through our Download order report.

Please note the applicable tax will continue to be paid by the buyer and you do not need to take any action. These changes do not apply to sellers in managed payments.

From:
https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center...ation.html#ist
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fe...harges?id=4121

What confuses the issue is our forum has buyers and sellers in the US and UK, etc. Brexit brought a new VAT tax with impacts buyers and sellers everywhere.

Is the seller in the US, or UK?
Is the buyer in the US or UK?

The simple answer is for US sellers on Ebay or this forum not to ship outside the US. I don't know what the impact is for UK sellers shipping to the US.

Every question raised and answered seems to generate two more questions.

[Bill Phelps]

Thanks for the reply Ed...I no longer sell on eBay. I only buy stuff and have been paying tax on anything I buy for a while, more than a year. I knew taxes would show up at some point. I don't think I would go back to selling on eBay anymore...too convoluted now.

[Richard C. Patchett]

Greetings
I also no longer sell on eBay. I only sell parts to the UK and many other places overseas and in the USA
I understand the VAT system
But Michigan has a 6 % sales tax On which I must send my collected sales tax to Michigan, Some other states do the same thing
The collected tax if apoetical has to be sent to there state (if collected) on sales
So as i understand that eBay pays the tax to the state where the sale takes place
Now if and when i sell parts overseas do i have to send the Vat charges to the country that i collect ?
My sales usually is less then $100.00 plus postage

[Brian Stearns]

I told you, Ebay collects the tax and reports it to the government. The seller who sells through them doesn't have to, PayPal doesn't collect taxes they are just a payment service. If you have a business and sell outside of ebay, you charge the tax and file with gov