Aliexpress collecting tax now?

I don’t know about your specific state - Kansas, but Ebay collects sales tax automatically, regardless of where the seller is located, when a US person buys a product. I, as a seller from Europe for example, do not even see that sales tax money. They are remitted by ebay. At least they say so in their help section.

I see no reason why Aliexpress and other platfoms would not do the same thing.

Sales tax on online purchases does not hinge on whether the business is in your state since Supreme Court ruling a few years ago. Not sure how this affects international sales.

This says they may have to collect sales tax:Do International Sellers Have to Deal with Sales Tax in the US? - TaxJar
Excerpt

You are an international seller who has no physical presence in the U.S., but who makes sales into the U.S.
In this case, you may have economic nexus. A June 21, 2018 Supreme Court of the United States case allowed states to require online sellers with “economic nexus” in their state to comply with that state’s sales tax requirements.

This simply means that if a seller – no matter where they are located – makes a certain dollar amount of sales in a state, or a a certain number of transactions with buyers in that state, then they are required to collect sales tax in that state.

For example, in Kentucky, any seller (U.S. based or international) who makes more than $100,000 in sales in the state in the previous or current calendar year, or who made more than 200 sales transactions in the state in the previous or current calendar year, is required to comply with Kentucky’s sales tax laws. Compliance means registering for a Kentucky sales tax permit and collecting sales tax from any buyers in Kentucky.

About half the states in the U.S. currently have economic nexus laws. You can read more about each U.S. state’s economic nexus laws here.

wait you guys are seeing taxes? i havent got charged tax at at all on any AE purchases, or amazon.ca for that matter, as long as the seller is from china

That about sums it up. That SCOTUS ruling opened the door (thanks Colorado) for online retailers, regardless of whether they’re in the US, to collect sales tax at-will. Not a requirement, but if I were someone like AE, with nearly zero accountability to report earnings to the US or remit any money to the government, do you think Id’say no to sales tax? No they take it to the bank. I get texed on every online sale except a few: if I buy from Oregon (no sales tax), or another state with no tax and some online retailers don’t charge it either. It just depends. All the Chinese retailers, AE, BG, Kaidomain have all added sales tax (for me at least).

If you think AX is remitting sales tax (to Kansas or any other state), I have some lakeside property I’d like to sell you in Arizona. :disguised_face:

I doubt they are. Makes sense because they’re making millions per year on it.

I have made Ebay purchases from Chinese sellers where PayPal charged separately for the tax and the seller’s charge. I assume the tax portion went directly to Pa.

If a seller is collecting a state tax and not remitting that money to the state government, they would have some huge liability. I don’t believe it’s some scam, and unless you have evidence that the Chinese venders are cheating the government by collecting tax but not remitting it, I’d be very careful about casually libeling someone.

If your state collects taxes, it would be damned unfair to make all of your local storefront sellers collect and pay it but someone who is located out of state to not have to do the same and pay it for the same sale. If someone doesn’t like the tax, work to reduce or eliminate it for all.

Nothing casually implied… If nobody in the world BUT AX collects tax for MY state (so far), they ARE scamming ME (and my state). I’m not speaking for other countries here btw.

I have been a manufacturer and reseller and submitted taxes in several states and China has no obligation to submit sales taxes to the US any more than I did to buyers out of the US. BUT AE will collect it from those who are willing to pay it! :stuck_out_tongue:

Correct. Ebay, as a US-based company under the IRS are required to report all earnings, including tax, to both state and federal governments. I’ve had refunds from Chinese sellers come as 2 transactions- one for thr purchase price, and another, directly from eBay for the sales tax.

I wish there was a way to say definitively where AE tax ends up. I would think because of their size alone they would play by the rules.

Well, there are no international rules on sales taxes (in the US) on general purchases sold OUT of the USA. Import taxes yes, sales taxes- no. Those taxes are BETWEEN states (sometimes), and IN EACH STATE (all the time) and yep… they will include product SOURCED out of the US, but (key point) SOLD in the US.

Yes, yes, they are working on it I’m sure, but it’s just not happening in real life right now folks.

IF (BIG IF!)… AX DID REALLY collected these “imaginary” sales taxes off sales to the US (AND remitted them)… then they would NOT be charging this 10% scam fee calling it a “tax”. In fact: 6.5% WOULD be the correct “intrastate” sales tax rate for sales IN my state of Kansas).

Bottom line: If AX were legit here… they would play by the SAME rules as the states (and major companies: eBay, Amazon, etc.) DO play by. And they are not, so it’s clear they are pulling the old “bend-over” on a lot of buyers this year when they started this scam.

So this is the tell-tail for any doubters as to if AX isn’t picking your pockets. :stuck_out_tongue:

Taxes only applies if item is shipped to USA. No taxes apply if shipped to Canada.
Because of COVID restrictions, can’t cross the line to pickup my order from AE.

Not wanting to be political, but didn’t Trump play tough with China about economic imbalance? Always thought this hidden tax is to compensate.

Not all do, though. FT still doesn’t.

And no need for any “tax”, as prices are normally just jacked up to make up for shipping costs, etc.

Like airlines hitting people with a “fuel surcharge” when the cost of Jet-A goes up, or just jacking up prices without.

Correct.
Aliexpress charges 10% tax on the cost of item(s) + the shipping costs.

How this tax actually gets back to the Australian government is unknown.

It’s the new tax regimen for private import, that EU has started to implement. This because it’s unfair that foreign online shops could sell their products without tax, while domestic shops had to pay tax. Tax demanded by Aliexpress, iHerb etc. at purchase, is refunded to customs office in destination country. Before they had to handle one by one, now it will become more streamlined, and there will be no additional handling tax. In many countries cheap products under ie. 40 usd will become 10-20 to 25 % more expensive (depending on destination country), while products with higher price will become somewhat cheaper as there will be no more handling tax. I’m not sure, in USA there is no vat / tax on products / services as in EU , and there should be no added tax on packages sent to USA, still some states demand states tax and country/city sales tax, while others not.

It’s in the service section on aliexpress: Notice on American States Sales Tax

I for one, don’t carry a grudge towards AE. Their prices and wide selection offsets any small additional cost. They have just so recently made some changes to the login and is better. This was a more contentious item than a 5 to 10 % price hike as I’ve had with FTs web page price vs. cart. And so recently, Ali Express Shipping is using Hong Kong Air Hub which makes for much better transit times - 10 to 16 days which was 3 to 5 weeks. Compared to FastTech’s PostNL which takes 8+ weeks.

Whether or not AliExpress hands over the "tax money," I will continue shopping there.

I will shop at almost anywhere (that is reputable) if they have the lowest price or offer something I cannot get elsewhere.