Small businesses may have to pay 2% online sales tax

Mayday

via the eBid Forums this morning - Small businesses may have to pay 2% online sales tax.
Apparently Etsy have launched a petition to send to the government about this matter. Big businesses selling online might be able to swallow the increase but small sellers who work from home with marginal profits are really going to suffer if this tax is imposed.
https://smallbusiness.co.uk/small-businesses-may-have-to-pay-2-online-sales-tax-2550812/

RFW

Some of us have already been paying it.

Not sure how it's materialised for Ebay, Etsy, etc.

https://tamebay.com/2020/08/2-amazon-fee-increase-pass-digital-services-tax-uk-smes.html

soolin

Yes it was announced back in July/August and at the time ebay said they would not be charging sellers I can't find their announcement but I did find this

https://tamebay.com/2020/08/ebay-will-not-pass-uk-digital-services-tax-sellers.html

Etsy have also sent out an email stating this would be coming into effect. 
Add to that the 3 increases in RM prices so far , the downturn in world economy generally and I fear online sales are going to be harder to chase than ever. 

RFW

soolin said:

Yes it was announced back in July/August and at the time ebay said they would not be charging sellers I can't find their announcement but I did find this

https://tamebay.com/2020/08/ebay-will-not-pass-uk-digital-services-tax-sellers.html

Etsy have also sent out an email stating this would be coming into effect. 
Add to that the 3 increases in RM prices so far , the downturn in world economy generally and I fear online sales are going to be harder to chase than ever. 

My only problem with the tax is that now it exists they'll keep putting it up. It makes no difference to Amazon as they'll just pass it on.

soolin

RFW said:

soolin said:

Yes it was announced back in July/August and at the time ebay said they would not be charging sellers I can't find their announcement but I did find this

https://tamebay.com/2020/08/ebay-will-not-pass-uk-digital-services-tax-sellers.html

Etsy have also sent out an email stating this would be coming into effect. 
Add to that the 3 increases in RM prices so far , the downturn in world economy generally and I fear online sales are going to be harder to chase than ever. 

My only problem with the tax is that now it exists they'll keep putting it up. It makes no difference to Amazon as they'll just pass it on.

I fear you are right, it will just be another tax that goes up each budget or whatever. There is a survey doing the rounds from paypal - I was invited to complete it and that basically asked where you would be looking to recover that 2% from, , whether it would be added to your item costs or covered by your profits, there was also a bit about whether you think 2% is about right, or whether there should be tapering amounts depending on total cost of sale. That suggests that companies are already considering this to be a moveable percentage.

RFW

soolin said:

RFW said:

soolin said:

Yes it was announced back in July/August and at the time ebay said they would not be charging sellers I can't find their announcement but I did find this

https://tamebay.com/2020/08/ebay-will-not-pass-uk-digital-services-tax-sellers.html

Etsy have also sent out an email stating this would be coming into effect. 
Add to that the 3 increases in RM prices so far , the downturn in world economy generally and I fear online sales are going to be harder to chase than ever. 

My only problem with the tax is that now it exists they'll keep putting it up. It makes no difference to Amazon as they'll just pass it on.

I fear you are right, it will just be another tax that goes up each budget or whatever. There is a survey doing the rounds from paypal - I was invited to complete it and that basically asked where you would be looking to recover that 2% from, , whether it would be added to your item costs or covered by your profits, there was also a bit about whether you think 2% is about right, or whether there should be tapering amounts depending on total cost of sale. That suggests that companies are already considering this to be a moveable percentage.

2% on fees is barely noticeable to me. As the Tamebay article points out though the idea is to tax the big boys and that isn't what's happening.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

They taxed windows, they taxed salt, whatever is popular will be taxed and I would assume with this the marketplaces will collect it automatically (and possibly charge their commission on the tax as well). 

The death of the High Street is just a convenient excuse, if the government cared about the High Street they wouldn't have let councils gouge the life out of them for past couple of decades.  

In the case of Amazon you'll effectively be taxed 2% on 2% (of their fees) if you've raised your prices to cover the extra fees they are already charging (I know it's only pennies each time but with all these increases the various commissions and taxes such as VAT are a lot more than they were 5 years ago).

If it comes in I wonder whether it will apply to private sellers and "private" sellers? 

I would be in more support a tax on all online sales if a) it was frozen for 5 years b) a decent proportion of the money raised went to fund a regulator to back small businesses currently at a significant unfair advantage to these big tech companies who have the power to destroy your business overnight if their automated processes screw you. 

Regarding things going up and not down, look at Royal Mail with their fuel surcharge con.