Sales Taxes (State of Georgia)

[Anonymous]

Any Georgia-based sellers breaking down in-state sales taxes by county/city jurisdiction (location buyer takes possession) on ST-3 part B?

[Anonymous]

I’ve been trying to determine how to reconcile Georgia’s requirement to collect and remit sales taxes at different rates depending on the location the buyer takes possession with eBay’s limitation of only allowing one sales tax rate per state.

https://dor.georgia.gov/tax-rates
https://dor.georgia.gov/documents/sales-tax-rate-charts

I called the DOR and spoke with two different clueless chair warmers about how to collect & report taxes on eBay sales.
Me: “eBay only allows sellers to set one tax rate for Ga sales. What rate should I set?”
DOR: “You have to collect tax at the rate specific to the buyer’s location.”
Me: “I know, but I can’t; should I collect at the maximum rate to be sure?”
DOR: “No, that would’t be legal.”
Me: “How about I collect at the minimum rate and make up the difference out of pocket?”
DOR: “I don’t know. Let me ask someone and I’ll call you back.”

That was 9 this morning. No callback yet.

This is not a new problem. There must be thousands of eBay sellers in Ga, and hundreds must be actually collecting sales tax and given the massive shift to e-commerce, you’d think Georgia would want to facilitate maximum compliance. The tiny sums involved make the time invested getting answers all the more annoying.

Any insights from sellers in Georgia or other states who’ve solved this problem (legally) are greatly appreciated.

[T-Satt]

I am not a Tax Accountant, and I don’t pretend to play one on the internet.

I am an accountant and former Controller though, so I do have some experience in this area. Basically…looks like it sucks to be in Georgia.

In Colorado where we are, we have a state rate and as long as I don’t deliver to an address in our County, I can charge a single state rate.

But looks like in Georgia, you are supposed to charge the rate based on their address. Not good.

TBH, I doubt that you will be big enough to hit their radar, and I would see if you can contact a tax accountant to figure it out. Outside of that, I would charge the higher rate and remit at the higher rate. Do you remit to the state and the state files in their location? Or do you have to file in each location?

Yeah, lots of issues here. I would really contact a tax accountant to navigate through this.

[Anonymous]

Luckily, we do remit to the state which distributes to the jurisdictions.

I’m hopeful that I’m too small fry to bother with, but trouble has a way of finding me, and given the penalties for non-compliance, I’d rather get on the right side of the law.

Still, it’s tempting to just exclude Ga buyers; might just be worth the reduced workload.

[T-Satt]

Yep. Better to be right.

You can probably do a lot of other digging on Dr. Google and see how others have dealt with this in GA. Other than that, I would ask a Tax Expert on Georgia law.

Or like you said…exclude GA from your sales and you don’t have to worry about it!

[Anonymous]

Oh, just remembered–if I exclude Ga, I’ll shut out a lot of potential big-ticket, local pickup buyers.

Georgia, Georgia
No peace I find

[T-Satt]

Yeah…good tax guy needed…

[Julie B]

I’m in GA but I have no answer for you. Just chiming in because misery loves company?? I was quite perplexed when filing state sales tax. I used to charge 4% base sales tax and later after misinterpreting the law, I started charging 7% (the rate where I live in Floyd county). Now that I read you were told it’s illegal to charge more than what is owed, I’ll have to take a fresh look. I’ll probably switch back to 4% (or whatever the lowest possible rate is in Ga) and pay the rest out of my own pocket (it’s not illegal to pay sales tax out of your own pocket). If you ever have trouble getting an answer when calling GA tax office, I have found that it works to post on their facebook page and to also send a DM through FB messenger. Someone higher up in the office called me within 12 hours when I tried that tactic. Here’s hoping it did not get me on their “People to Audit” list.

[Anonymous]

I finally concluded there is no proper solution. I do think the best approach is just to charge the minimum and make up the difference–a negligible cost for the likes of us, anyway.

[Author]

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