UK sellers have to pay American buyers’ state sales taxes?
I have recently noticed that if I sell a book to a buyer in the USA, the state sales tax for which he is liable is deducted from my asking price. How can this be fair?
Example: A buyer in America orders a book costing £10. If the buyer has to pay £1 American state sales tax, then £1 should surely be added to his bill, but what actually happens is that Amazon deducts £1 from my £10 asking price, which means that I am paying his taxes, which is ridiculous.
Does anybody have any views on this?
UK sellers have to pay American buyers’ state sales taxes?
I have recently noticed that if I sell a book to a buyer in the USA, the state sales tax for which he is liable is deducted from my asking price. How can this be fair?
Example: A buyer in America orders a book costing £10. If the buyer has to pay £1 American state sales tax, then £1 should surely be added to his bill, but what actually happens is that Amazon deducts £1 from my £10 asking price, which means that I am paying his taxes, which is ridiculous.
Does anybody have any views on this?
48 replies
Seller_wRGBSSwJnzaDE
That doesn’t seem right to me. AFAIK Amazon should collect it from the customer as not all US states charge this tax, and the ones that do levy different amounts. I don’t sell much to America on here, but on Etsy around half my sales go there and Etsy collects it from the customer. If I buy goods from America, I expect to pay the import tax, and the RM handling fee.
Found this, which suggests the buyer pays the tax. There is no mention that the tax is covered by the seller.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202036190
Seller_f5cnodyVjLD4S
If the buyer ordered on .com you would be liable for the duty/import tax anyway. Amazon is collecting as a Marketplace Facilitator just as a Duty Paid carrier would.
However if the customer ordered from Amazon Uk,I agree that they then accept the relevant import duties and taxes concerned.
US Marketplace Tax Collection
Seller_PUgTge8LPB8FY
This is how the system works for ecommerce, with Amazon acting as a facilitator. For example, when Australia introduced its new rules for the imposition of GST on all ecommerce imports, Amazon announced that it would be collecting GST at the point of sale, ready to pass on to the government. Sellers were advised to adjust their sales prices to compensate.
The same principle applies to the collection of sales tax in the USA.
Seller_Iy465y3uxw4nw
Agree, sales take should be added to the total and not deducted from your price
The market place facilitator tax should be taken from the buyer on top of the price for the item plus shipping and that Amazon sends to the respective state
It does look like something else is happening and you should raise a ticket with seller support to get to the bottom of it
Seller_sFEUMUfeW5484
It’s your job to add any sales tax/duty etc to the item price, as a seller you must pay the taxes on any sales to such places, not the buyer. This is an Amazon policy only, not how it would work if you sold it via your website for example.
So for example, come January on Amazon “UK”, if we sell an item to someone in Italy, we must make sure that any duties/taxes are paid by us, not the buyer on receipt of their order. Nightmare-Yes, Fair -No.
Seller_odR4kBmurI7lo
You might have your US prices calculated to include tax rather than excluding. I sell on the US and UK: my UK prices are inc VAT but my US prices are ex sales tax. Look on Taxjar and Trustfile for blogs about amazon charging sales tax.
Seller_QFH3yXlgdxrRR
We sell in the US and Amazon add the relevant state sales tax to the purchase price, this is normal practice in the USA. In the past Amazon UK have always added the tax to the US buyers total price and collected it on behalf of the seller. A UK seller cannot be expected to include US sales tax in their purchase price, the rates vary from state to state and some states have different rates for different areas, some states do not collect sales tax at all. Open a case and find out what is going on.
Seller_UX2C3EhaIu1sz
Its what its. We American have to pay VAT when we sell to customer in all Europe including UK.
Seller_L3E8iknKXqZNV
Ebay add these taxes at the checkout so the customers pay in addition to all sales and shipping costs.
Seller_sFEUMUfeW5484
You are getting confused with the way it works in shops and on other websites,to the way AMAZON have decided you as a seller must work.
Sellers on Amazon pay the import duties etc NOT the buyer,that is just the stupid way AMAZON want it.
