The State of Washington has required Amazon to collect tax on behalf of all of its third-party sellers on sales to customers in the state. Amazon has started that process. It makes things significantly more complicated for FBA sellers and other third parties who sell using the Amazon marketplace.
There have been many questions about this, here are a few that we answer in this podcast.
- Is Amazon collecting tax in the state of Washington on behalf of third-party (FBA) sellers? 00.50
- Doesn't Amazon already collect tax everywhere? 01:16
- Can a third-party seller direct Amazon to collect tax on their behalf? If so, how much does Amazon charge for that tax collection service? 01:38
- I thought Amazon took the position that tax was not due on sales over the Internet 02:34
- How much does Amazon charge a third-party seller to collect tax on their behalf? 03:22
- How much will my sales decrease if I start charging sales tax? 03:38
- When did Amazon start collecting tax for third-party sellers in Washington? 06:25
- Can we de-register in Washington now? 06:39
- What is the process for de-registering for sales tax in a state? 06:51
- What about the Business and Occupation (B&O) tax in Washington, how does this new process affect it? 7:08
- What's the process for filling out the sales tax return in Washington? 07:35
- Do we report all of our sales to Washington even though Amazon collected it? 07:37
- Do we have to collect sales tax made through other platforms (like WalMart or Ebay) or our own website in Washington? 07:56
- Does the state of Washington say we can de-register now? 09:45
- Is sales tax reporting easier and better now in Washington? 10:05
- Will Washington cancel open sales tax audits of FBA sellers now? 11:17
- What is the penalty rate in Washington? 11:31
- How come Congress doesn't get involved and clean up this mess? 12:24
- Can state auditors still come after FBA sellers in future audits even though Amazon is the tax collector? 14:01
- How will state auditors find FBA sellers now that Amazon is collecting the tax on their behalf? 16:10
- If our only activity ever in Washington was through the FBA, and we aren't currently registered, are we still required to register for the sales tax? 19:06
- What evidence will Washington request to show your activity in their state? 20:50
- How do the new "notice and reporting" rules fit into this? 21:40
- What if I just drop FBA altogether, would that solve my tax problems? 21:55
- Why are states requiring notices to our customers about sales tax? 22:31
- What are the notice and reporting requirements in WA? 22:46
- What's the penalty for not complying with the new notice and reporting rules in WA? 24:09
- Will Washington enforce this harsh penalty? 24:34
- Why not just ignore the new notice and reporting rules in WA? 24:49
- What's the most aggressive state as far as sales tax audits of FBA sellers? 25:41