Streamlined Sales Tax and Small Businesses – an eBay Seller Shares her Experiences

Every year, eBay's Government Relations team brings our sellers face-to-face with legislators in the United States Congress. Named "United States of eBay," the event is a great opportunity for our Community to let Senators and Representatives know how they and their eBay businesses might be affected by legislation being considered by Congress.

During this year's United States of eBay, the fifth of its kind, sellers from 21 states met with over 50 congressional offices, and also heard remarks from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL).

We asked one of the participants, eBay member golfingaddict, to share her experiences about the event and also explain why it's important that legislators understand the viewpoints of sellers like her, on issues like the Streamlined Sales Tax Proposal (also known as SSTP or Remote Sales Tax).

Here, in her own words, is what golfingaddict has to say.

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Did you know that there are over 7600 state and local sales tax jurisdictions in the United States?  If some special interest groups have their way, eBay sellers, large and small alike, would be responsible for filing sales tax in each and every one of those jurisdictions if they sell to a buyer residing in one of those locations! That means 45 different states (excluding some that don't have sales tax), 45 different filing procedures and the potential for 45 different audits each year!

When I first heard those numbers, I found them to be very scary and quite frankly, a nearly impossible task for me, a small eBay seller and business owner.

Going to United States of eBay
On September 26-28th, I was one of approximately 25 eBay sellers from across the country that took part in the United States of eBay Washington D.C. Fly In. We visited key legislators with our message:

The Streamlined Sales Tax Proposal (to force you to collect and remit sales taxes in thousands of different taxing jurisdictions) is too complex and would place unfair costs and burdens on small business owners like you and me!

The US of eBay Fly In was the fifth annual event held about this issue. We represented sellers from our states and regions and spoke directly with legislators that can make a difference. We met directly with members of Congress, including Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) on Capitol Hill and spoke about the impact this issue would have on our businesses. The eBay sellers were accompanied by members of eBay's Government Relations team that helped us with the process. Our message was very clear: this proposal would be very harmful to small business owners on eBay. We oppose the Streamlined Sales Tax project unless it provides for an exemption for small business owners.

SSTP would be a huge burden to small sellers
Currently, the law requires sellers to collect sales tax if we sell to someone that resides in our own state. I collect sales tax from Washington State residents and submit that tax to the state each quarter. The Streamlined Sales tax proposal would require sellers to collect sales tax from all buyers in every different state that have sales taxes and submit that tax to the correct state or jurisdiction. This would be a huge burden to small sellers.

Can you imagine the paperwork required to file 45 different states? Even more complex is the local jurisdiction issues. There are over 7600 different jurisdictions across the states, all with different tax amounts. What this means is that sellers would likely have to collect a different sales tax amount depending on which of those 7600 jurisdictions the buyer resides in. I think this process would put a lot of sellers out of business simply because the burden would be too much to ask of someone without the means and ability to hire a team of accountants to deal with the issue. I know that I would not be able to handle all this paperwork on my own and would have to reconsider the burden of selling online if this sales tax collection process was imposed on me.

I encourage everyone to sign up to be an eBay Main Street Member. When you sign up you will get updates on the legislative issues that affect you as an eBay member. I also encourage everyone to contact their local legislators and voice your opinion on this sales tax initiative. I urge you to oppose the Streamlined Sales Tax Proposal unless it includes an exemption for small businesses.