Ebay still don't show taxes paid on shipping label bought on their website

[chicweb]

I don't think that's even legal, unless there's no taxes ?

Aren't they obligated to show us their tax number and the tax collected in an invoice when we buy a shipping label on eBay ? We are literally buying from them.

Right now, I don't deduct the taxes paid from shipping labels... I just enter the total amount as expense but, those sales taxes would be deductable, right ?

[chicweb]

As an example, it is shown on the promoted listing fees. (But I still don't see their tax numbers). In case of an audit by the government, this is very important.

But nothing on the shipping labels.. Weird.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@chicweb wrote:

As an example, it is shown on the promoted listing fees. (But I still don't see their tax numbers). In case of an audit by the government, this is very important.

But nothing on the shipping labels.. Weird.

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@chicweb 

This is a post I mentioned the issue in March of this year. There have have been several other discussions on the topic. Sadly eBay refuses to address. As you stated it should be standard procedure to include tax, fuel and the discount with each label. 

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Community-eBay-Site-Issues/ebay-Labels-on-ca-and-defects/td-p/506037

With the CP tools it has always been included along with Shippo/Paypal.  Not with the eBay verion of the calculator. The eBay announcement(s) about Expedited Lite makes the price look awesome. Add tax and fuel, not so much. I recent one I had to QC went up by over 4.00.  Base price shows slightly over 5.00. They do note that fuel/tax are extra but for transparency that should have been properly displayed. 

-Lotz

[reallynicestamps · Accepted solution]

I found this with a Google search.

GST Registration Number :
87488 3325 RT0001
QST Registration Number :
1221899241 TQ0001

(The Toronto address)

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Ebay-HST-number/td-p/466216

There is also this:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Canadian-Sales-Tax/Canadian-Sales-Taxes-Questions/td-p/478117/page/12

@std002 wrote:

Please supply me with eBay sales taxes numbers for GST (Canadian government) and QST (Quebec government).

This is imperative that you include the sales taxes numbers in your invoices.

Hi @std002! The tax team said:

We don't need the GST number on the invoices. The numbers for eBay Canada Ltd. are online in the User Agreement in the Fees and Taxes section: eBay.ca User Agreement | eBay. Technically they don’t have to be in an invoice if they’re in other supporting documentation, such as a contract. (They're also included in the Billing Agent Authorization). 

Message 224 of 284

[chicweb]

So, basically, the taxes are included in the shipping label price ?

[chicweb]

Thank you 🙂 Tagging it as accepted answer for a quick view to their taxes number if needed 🙂 Even adding  this thread to my favorites so I will have at hand.

[flipistics]

I was originally told at last year's eBay Open that they were hoping to have it fixed by the start of this year, but obviously that never happened. It does appear that we're being upcharged slightly on the labels, so there's tax there too that we're either not being charged (which would be a problem for eBay) or not getting credit for on the upcharge (a problem for us).

I'm not a tax professional, but the best I was able to come up with is that we probably can't claim the taxes because there's no clear proof that we're being charged them. I think all they actually have to do is include an indication of what tax has been charged on the labels and it would meet enough requirements for most labels to claim them (we'd have to do the calculations ourselves, but while annoying at least it would be workable). I know not being able to claim them cost me a fairly significant amount of money last year.  I'm hoping when they eventually DO include it that it will be done retroactively and I can amend the return, but we'll see.

[recped]

First thing, yes GST or HST or GST+PST is charged by eBay and included in the final price you pay. This only applies to Domestic shipping labels (International/USA are zero-rated so if eBay is doing it right not tax is added)

Second thing, initially did not break out GST/HST/PST and it would seem that they still don't do this (totally ridiculous)

You back reverse engineer the amount of GST/HST/PST and then claim those amounts (only GST/HST) as Input Tax Credits if you are registered for GST.

The problem with calculating the total tax content is that the rates vary depending on the destination Province (I presume Canada Post still charges based on destination). You can still do it but to be accurate you have to do separate the calculations by GST/HST rate.

eBay GST registration numbers appear on the monthly Tax Invoice, that as far as I know only include taxes collected of regular Fees.

You can expense the total amount charged but it would be far better to get a full refund of taxes paid on shipping labels and just expense the net amount.

eBay's inability to get this right is just so amateur, they should be embarrassed to have not corrected this after all this time.

All of the above is based on my brief experiment with eBay shipping labels when they first started offering them (taking over from PayPal). Perhaps they have made some changes but it sounds like nothing has happened.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@recped wrote:

First thing, yes GST or HST or GST+PST is charged by eBay and included in the final price you pay. This only applies to Domestic shipping labels (International/USA are zero-rated so if eBay is doing it right not tax is added)

Second thing, initially did not break out GST/HST/PST and it would seem that they still don't do this (totally ridiculous)

You back reverse engineer the amount of GST/HST/PST and then claim those amounts (only GST/HST) as Input Tax Credits if you are registered for GST.

The problem with calculating the total tax content is that the rates vary depending on the destination Province (I presume Canada Post still charges based on destination). You can still do it but to be accurate you have to do separate the calculations by GST/HST rate.

eBay GST registration numbers appear on the monthly Tax Invoice, that as far as I know only include taxes collected of regular Fees.

You can expense the total amount charged but it would be far better to get a full refund of taxes paid on shipping labels and just expense the net amount.

eBay's inability to get this right is just so amateur, they should be embarrassed to have not corrected this after all this time.

All of the above is based on my brief experiment with eBay shipping labels when they first started offering them (taking over from PayPal). Perhaps they have made some changes but it sounds like nothing has happened.

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@recped 

Amateurish...Cloak and Dagger....Not good at showing the math? Hard to choose!!

[chicweb]

Basically, we are loosing money on each shipping label because they don't provide this information.

Of course, we pay less than at the counter, but...

This is money left on the table sent to the government when we could get it back. Unless we calculate ourselves, but there's a risk of human errors in the calculation and a lot more work for a few cents/dollars.

Still, all those taxes sent without being deducted can amount to something substantial in the long run.

[chicweb]

Someone know about Shippo ? I don't use that platform often (used it once)...

Do we have the same discounts on shipping labels? If so, do they show taxes ? I like their easy return shipping label feature also.

If so, I will start using that instead of buying directly from eBay website until it's fixed...

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@chicweb 

Used Shippo for 3-4 years. Awesome support. Quick with help. Once you built up some business you could arrange to pay weekly or when you hit a specific dollar amount. From start I believe per transaction. CP at last word was still level 1. No access to the current eBay discounts. They have access to discounts with UPS/Fedex and the returns options. I believe you can still create manual bills for personal shipments but unable to confirm that detail. Payment is CC or you can keep a balance on file.

Shippo Payment Options

• Traditional Credit Cards.
• Traditional Debit Cards.
• ACH direct billing (U.S banks only)

Can you use PayPal on Shippo?

This e-commerce payment system accepts a wide variety of payments: all major credit cards and signature debit cards, as well as Apple Pay and other digital payment solutions. You can also accept e-checks and integrate your system with PayPal.

Detailed invoice showing tax/discount/fuel and total in Cad funds. And gives you access to the more detailed customs form.  If you choose to use Shippo you are unable to easily apply CP discounts because the vary per service. You could wing it and make a little on some, lose on others and refund where you saw fit.

-Lotz

[flipistics]

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@recped wrote:

You back reverse engineer the amount of GST/HST/PST and then claim those amounts (only GST/HST) as Input Tax Credits if you are registered for GST.

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This is the part I'm unsure about (I should probably take my own general advise and talk to someone).  According to this, it sounds like we can't (part in bold):

22. Under subsection 169(1), no ITC may be claimed in respect of a supply where no GST/HST is payable on the supply. Despite the fact that, in circumstances where the total cost for a supply or supplies is under $30, there is no requirement for the supporting documentation to indicate the amount of GST/HST separately from the value of consideration for the supply, or for any statement to be made declaring that tax is included, the documentary evidence must nonetheless enable the person who acquires the property or service to determine the ITC amount. In situations where it is not clear from the documentary evidence either that GST/HST has been charged or what the amount of tax actually was, the documentation is not sufficient to support the ITC claim.

Looking at the monthly tax invoice from eBay, the label section is specifically categorized as "Total non-taxable amount".  If they even included something that indicated that tax had in fact been paid but was included in the price, we'd probably be fine. 

The other issue is that it's not clear what tax we're actually being charged on the labels. We know eBay is charged tax based on the destination, but are we being charged the same or are we being charged for the label as a service at the seller's provincial GST/HST (etc) rates?

[pjcdn2005]

Since it is a Canada Post label I'm fairly sure that we are paying the same tax that we would be paying if we were buying them direct from CP website.  They charge based on the receiver's location. 

[regs43]

I was audited last tax season for GST/HST claims I made as I was getting a large refund, I did claim these ebay labels at the time. However I plan to not claim this tax season because of that blurb, since I don't think I have sufficient supporting documentation if they asked to see anything regarding those shipping labels this upcoming tax season in event I am audited again.  Ill just leave the money on the table for now I guess. Would be really nice for ebay to get their Sh*t in order!! LOL

[dinomitesales]

Did anyone here attend the virtual eBay Open and bring this up to Luke during the eBay Canada session to see if there are any updates or if they're still working on it? I wasn't able to attend otherwise I would have done it myself.

[regs43]

Didn't even know there was a ebay open, was there an email about it? Do you need to be invited?

[dinomitesales]

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@regs43 wrote:

Didn't even know there was a ebay open, was there an email about it? Do you need to be invited?

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It was last week, September 25th-26th. I've probably received a dozen emails about it over the past few months. You just needed to pre-register on the website. They've been doing it for years now.