Aliexpress charges sales tax?

I am a licensed California reseller and am getting hit with sales tax - is there a way to have AX waive this?

I have shopped on Aliexpress frequently and for some time. They have suddenly started trying to collect “sales tax.” From what I know, they are not going to give anyone any tax money in the US. I think this is a money making project. They have made a lot of changes lately and not all of them are good. I refuse to pay the sales tax. I get my purchases into the “order cart” but I don’t pay for them. I then contact the sellers and tell them we don’t pay sales tax when shopping in a foreign country. I then ask them to remove the tax before I pay for the items. I hope this is not a trend from them that lasts a long time.

At least with me, everything was showing tax-free ’til I confirmed the order, then bam!, tax was added in that split second. Ie, at least for me, it didn’t show up as, say, on Amazon where the tax is shown and you then “confirm” that exact amount. Nope, this would show ~20bux every step of the way (even through PayPal) and then as soon as I’d confirm the order, again, bam!, the amount’s now 21.80 or whatever. And I’m staring at the screen, like, wtf??

The chances of them actually remitting it to anyone are probably close to zero

I’m in Australia & from time to time buy from UK dealers. Some of them drop the VAT on my ordere. Some still try to charge me VAT - I will not buy from UK dealers who charge me VAT which does not apply to overseas buyers.
When I queried this I was told I should just claim the VAT back from UK Customs :slight_smile:

That’s a reasonable question, but Alibaba has opened up its marketplace to U.S. businesses and hopes to grow here. Would it jeopardize its reputation, or stock price (NYSE: BABA) as it tries to expand by not operating properly and conforming to U.S. laws? Large corporations are much easier targets than smaller, individual entities that don’t comply.

October 1st brought another round of marketplace, or “marketplace facilitator” laws into effect, all stemming from the Wayfair ruling and its allowance of economic nexuses. So not only did AX start collecting tax in a bunch of new states, but so did eBay.

As noted, this should really be no surprise by now, and it’s not hard to look up the changes in tax laws as a result of that SC ruling.

The question is whether there is any jurisdiction, or in fact any way to collect, from a foreign company. If they have no assets in the US there is no way to enforce any STATE tax law against them.

Alibaba has a U.S. office in California, one of at least two states (NY being the other) known for loving their taxes and not being shy about pursuing them.

Given that, Alibaba not only has an economic nexus, but a physical nexus in that state.

California state law does not exempt foreign sellers.

Pragmatically speaking, if AX is so shady, why do so many sellers, and their buyers here, do business with them? There are no shortage of other marketplace options, but I think it’s fair to say that AX still have a big piece of the action.

Just my luck…

Having an office does not mean they have any assets here.

My last purchase on Ebay was divided into two charges in my pay pal account. One charge to the Chinese company and one for the tax.

I too have been shopping Aliexpress for 6 years. I started being charged sales tax October 1, 2019. I live in Tennessee, and from what I understand, I should not be charged sales tax. Do you ever have any sellers refuse to remove the sales tax charge? It wasn’t too long ago that we also started getting charged for shipping too, and it is quite high. The shipping and sales tax charges take a pretty big chunk out of my small business profit. I am going to try to also ask for sales tax to be removed and see what happens. Thanks for posting as I have found little to no information on this topic.

How much is this sales tax?

Right around 10%

Is 10% the normal Tn. sales tax rate?

9.75%

I know that my last ebay purchase from a Chinese company was taxed. 2 separate charges on PP. One for the product and one for the tax. I assume the tax goes to my home state.

Let’s hope!

My last Amazon purchase was divided into 2 separate charges also.

Same here, two charges on CC. Now I just look for a local or same state seller if I can on eBay, at least I’ll get it sooner.