Netflix tax

[stickerswa]

Just got an email from ebay...

From 1 July 2017, Goods and Services Tax (GST) will apply to fees on eBay.com.au, due to new legislation in Australia (the "Netflix Tax").

Businesses registered for GST will not be affected by this change if you register your Australian Business Number (ABN) with eBay here.

Anyone else feel a fee increase coming to cover this....

[bjmonty28]

ebay really doesnt give a rats about australia, or about the aussie way of life. 

Why should ebay start paying tax like any other aussie business now and not 2000?

If their big fat law team was able to get away with aussie tax for this long and they obviously lost the battle with the aussie govts skinny law team (ebays law team is bigger than ours, or any countries for that matter), then shouldnt they be forced to back-pay the aussie govt for tax? It sure would help australia out, getting taxes owed !

Why call it netflix tax ebay you fools? Might aswell call it Corby tax !

Fancy ebay law fattys providing the email to use and not even having it right, im not surprised to see no information when you click the link and instead it just goes to the home page.

Fancy getting it the wrong way around and putting an exemption link for ABN registered members haha, the fools.

[thesoulyearns]

I just had a chat to an eBay representative via the eBay Chat link. I stated that I'm a seller and asked whether the 9.9% FVF will now become 19.9%. They queried whether I was selling digital goods and I said I was only selling products delivered by mail. They said I wouldn't pay GST on those products. Read into that what you will. I'm just relaying the info.

[bjmonty28]

They are all in the phillipines and they don't know what 1 + 1 is, let alone anything ebay related.

[bigbrickshop]

If anyone needs more information you should check the ATO site or read the Government's budget info.

It has been called the "netflix tax" for a couple of years by the media and the Government, it is not a term created by eBay.

It is a business to consumer tax so any sellers who are registered for GST will be exempt.

http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/Budge...

https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/International-tax-for-business/In-detail/Doing-business-in-Australia...

[bigbrickshop]

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@thesoulyearns wrote:

I just had a chat to an eBay representative via the eBay Chat link. I stated that I'm a seller and asked whether the 9.9% FVF will now become 19.9%. They queried whether I was selling digital goods and I said I was only selling products delivered by mail. They said I wouldn't pay GST on those products. Read into that what you will. I'm just relaying the info.

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If you currently pay 9.9% then you will be charged an extra 10%, so your total fee will now include GST and be 10.89%

[thesoulyearns]

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@bigbrickshop wrote:

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@thesoulyearns wrote:

I just had a chat to an eBay representative via the eBay Chat link. I stated that I'm a seller and asked whether the 9.9% FVF will now become 19.9%. They queried whether I was selling digital goods and I said I was only selling products delivered by mail. They said I wouldn't pay GST on those products. Read into that what you will. I'm just relaying the info.

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If you currently pay 9.9% then you will be charged an extra 10%, so your total fee will now include GST and be 10.89%

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Thank you. I read DG's post before but wanted to check with an eBay representative whether it was 10.89% or 19.9%, since it's a pretty big difference if it was the latter. They didn't actually say what the new percentage is, so we'll just have to see what our invoices show in July/August.

[ozstockman]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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@ozstockman wrote:
pdme_dolls, I guess it should be completelly opposite to what they are actually saying. An exempt should be applied to those who are not registered for GST and they do not need to do anything, all others should provide an ABN and a business name. It makes sense that way only

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The way they are doing it is the right way, if it has to be done. I don't think supplying an ABN to eBay will exempt a seller from having to pay GST, it should just be for record keeping purposes so that when the seller then goes to claim the GST paid to eBay in credits at tax time, it can be checked / cross referenced properly. (That's why they are saying GST-registered sellers won't be affected, because they'll pay more through the course of doing business, but at tax time they'll claim it all back).

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They cannot be exempted for sure and that's what is a big confusion here. Everybody is paying GST on sales/services in AU. If eBay is forced to pay GST from their fees now it should not  matter to eBay where businesses are registered for GST or not. It should not even matter whether a seller is a business or not. We are talking about GST on ebay fees and now an eBay invoice for fees must be a tax invoice and it should include GST. For any seller even a private one. 

I think the whole reason why they are asking for these details is to have them displayed on eBay  tax invoices. It is just like you have just suggested.  But then they should not have this "exempt status" wording on their page and they  need to say that they are collecting these details just to know  which  eBay seller is a business  that is registered  for GST. 

It may be that their wording "exempt status"  has nothing to do with taxes but the whole page is about a tax so it is very confusing as some may think they can be exempted from paying GST.

Whether eBay will include GST into they current fees or they will add it on top of them should not really matter for businesses registered for GST. If they include it in their fees those businesses will win if they add it on top it wil stay the same for them as they can claim it back.  

However it matters for other businesses and private sellers.  If they add it on these type of sellers will have an extra expense they cannot claim. And they will win nothing if ebay will include GST component into their  current fees because these.selelrs cannot claim it back.

If they add GST on top of their fees(I am sure they will do it that way) it sounds like a long going plan to make private sellers expenses more and get them  to stop selling on eBay. It seems they want to turn eBay into a big digital shopping centre like  a normal shopping centre where big chain stores have better deals with rent rates and conditiones and every small business is charged much more for renting shop spaces, has a lot of restrictions and struggling to survive because of the high rent rates. 

[ozstockman]

Actually it makes sense if you read the page below

http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/Budge...

The key features of the ‘Netflix tax’ are as follows:

• it will be imposed on intangible supplies such as supplies of digital content, games and software—but will also extend to consultancy and professional services performed offshore for customers in Australia
• the liability for the GST will rest either with the supplier or with the operator of an electronic distribution service
• GST will be imposed at a rate of 10 per cent on the value of the supply
• at this stage it would appear that all intangible supplies will be caught, regardless of the value of the supply (currently goods valued of less than $1,000 from overseas suppliers over the internet imported by Australian consumers are not covered under the GST Act, hence it is likely there might be scope for this value of intangible supplies to be changed by regulation) and
• only supplies made to consumers will be caught: business-to-business transactions will be exempt.

After reading it I got it. But then it means eBay does not have to pay GST at all if it is a business selling on eBay  as it will be a business to business service and it will be exempt. It is not an exempt status for sellers it is an exempt status for eBay which allows them to avoid collecting and paying GST from business sellers under this condition. 

[debonnairefashions]

I think this applies to the Tax Department not ebay. It applies to digital products purchased over the internet like downloaded movies, etc. Not physical products sold and sent by mail.

From the link provided by ebay, there is a topic "Record Keeping". It says the new law applies very broadly to sales of anything except goods or real property.

Examples of digital products include downloaded movies, games and electronic books. Examples of services include architectural, legal or educational services.

If you sell through an electronic distribution platform (EDP), for example an app store, the platform operator is responsible for registering, reporting and paying the GST.

[lyndal1838]

Even if a seller cannot claim their GST back on their BAS it is still a claimable expense of doing business and can be claimed on their tax return.

Sellers who are not registered for GST and/or do not have an ABN will just claim it as an expense.