Anyone else having ebay automatically adding sales tax in states that don't have taxes on coins or bullion? I live in Oklahoma and the tax law states that no taxes are to be charged on any coin that is made for circulation or has been in circulation in any country as well as bullion. The past few days ebay keeps charging me sales tax. Just wondering if it is just me or everyone? And what are they doing with the money they are collecting illegally? I've never had this problem till the last week and it will hurt sellers because I will now factor in tax for my best offers and bids.
Perhaps eBay figures that it's safer to charge too much than too little. Since Oklahoma does not collect the tax, it begs the question. What is EBay doing with the money?
If you know enough other like-minded collectors in your state, find a lawyer willing to bring a class action, have him / her draft a letter threatening to do so, and eBay will almost certainly alter their programming to stop charging for anything they should not be.
If eBay withholds the money, they are legally obligated to forward to the taxing jurisdiction. The bigger question is, will eBay tell the state that the buyers are entitled to refunds of taxes withheld once they realize their mistake?
I could be wrong, but I seem to remember reading about a change in how tax laws are applied when sales are made via the internet. Something along the lines of in some cases tax must collected when either the buyer or seller lives in a state that charges tax. But like I said, I could be wrong.
That's eBay's method of fitting to the rules. If they cover all possibilities, even if it's overkill, they feel safer.
The laws are so different from one state to the next that it makes one's head spin. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Oklahoma law exempts the buyer's purchases, as claimed.
I went round and round with eBay when they started charging sales tax across state lines. I live in Michigan, coins and bullion are tax-exempt here. I finally got them to stop charging me sales tax on coins, and even got refunded for tax erroneously charged. I'm not sure if your situation is something new or just more of the same from eBay, most of the time the right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing with them.
Several issues to explore: 1. is it really eBay collecting the tax or the particular seller charging the tax? 2. have you contacted the seller regarding the tax being charged? 3. have you contacted your state tax authority to have them see IF the tax collected has actually been remitted to your state? Believe me they can track it rather quickly. If not then they could face some fraud or worse consequences. Just a note of interest but Confederate currency transactions ARE taxable; otherwise most other legal currency transactions are tax exempt.
I have a case pending right now, they charged me tax on a graded Buffalo Nickel, i actually bought two, same order different sellers, one was taxed and the other was not, i think it's a glitch, it's pending with Ebay's tax dept. The day after this i ordered 5 random ASE's for a friend who only does cash, no CC's, the order was not taxed!
When the tax laws changed after the Supreme Court ruling on internet taxes this was happening to a lot of people in different states where coins shouldn't have been taxed, including mine (Illinois). A lot of people were complaining, and it took awhile but it did get straightened out. I don't think it's any malice on the part of eBay, just due to how complex tax laws are. Maybe a tax law changed recently in your state and this is a consequence of them trying to accommodate that.
Laws and regulations are changing all the time, so I wouldn’t be surprised to run into glitches or temporary issues from time to time - on any web site.
I just stopped shopping on ebay and looked else where Esp now , feebay is coming out sneaking snaking policies . More reason not to shop there , imo
Move to a state that doesn't charge it even at the register. I'm still tax free up here in New Hampshire! No tax on eBay, no tax in stores unless it's a restaurant or food service.
I ran into that yesterday and cancelled the order. Colorado does not tax legal tender coins, yet I ordered a 1934-D Lincoln Cent and sales tax was added. I just cancelled the order and ordered directly from the seller off of ebay. If you want a complex sales tax structure, come here. We have 769 sales tax jurisdictions in this state, some collected by the state, other by home rule cities and other jurisdictions.
Hopefully you offered to pay the PayPal fees that the seller has to eat because those are not refunded on cancelations or returns
Colorado's law is a little more complex than that. I believe that if you pay cash for a legal tender coin then yes you are exempt, but as soon as you use a credit card than the tax is applied. The law is read differently across the state, depending on which municipality you are in. I used to try and fight it. But I still get charged tax in certain county's.
Oklahoma: SB 862 providing a sales-tax exemption for "sales of gold, silver, platinum, palladium or other bullion items such as coins and bars," The state's statute (68 O.S. Supp. 2013, Section 1357) will be amended to read as follows: Sec. 1. (42) Sales of gold, silver, platinum, palladium or other bullion items such as coins and bars and legal tender of any nation, which legal tender is sold according to its value as precious metal or as an investment. As used in the paragraph, "bullion" means any precious metal, including, but not limited to, gold, silver, platinum and palladium, that is in such a state or condition that its value depends upon its precious metal content and not its form. The exemption authorized by this paragraph shall not apply to fabricated metals that have been processed or manufactured for artistic use or as jewelry. explanations I found " If any coin or other legal tender is created and presented for sale for more than its face value, or the value of the content of metal, than it is deemed for artistic value and is taxable. In other words, if you buy a gold coin with a face value of $5 dollars, and a weighted gold market price of $100 for $300 dollars, this is a taxable transaction." " Oklahoma State Sales Tax Requirements for Bullion & Collectibles Industry The State of Oklahoma requires the collection of vendor use taxes on certain products and delivered to an Oklahoma address. These taxes must be collected on (1) copper products; (2) coins that are not currently, or were not previously, used as legal tender in the United States or any foreign country; (3) accessory items; and (4) processed items. The following definitions apply to products on which taxes must be collected in Oklahoma: Coins. A coin made of gold, silver, or other metal which is or has been used as legal tender in the United States or any foreign country sold for more than face value. Accessory Items. Items such as holders, tubes, coin flips, and apparel. Processed Items. Precious metals that have been processed by third parties into items that are valued on more than their precious metal content, such as statues or colorized coins." MY OPINION: in other words, unless it's a coin sold at face value or as bullion for the bullion metal value, it's a taxable transaction. I don't live in Oklahoma, Just spent 20 minutes looking at it and I don't know if I have the newest information on the subject.
