eBay Sellers Targeted by Australian Taxation Office
According to an article in The Australian, the Australian Tax Office has issued eBay with a legal notice requiring them to provide the ATO with information on all Australian eBay sellers with more than $50,000 in annual sales.
A thread in the eBay Forums confirms that eBay has complied, and notified the sellers that their info has been given to the ATO.
It doesn't affect me because I don't sell anywhere near that much, so I don't have to worry about GST (good and services tax). But I agree with the sellers who say if the ATO starts enforcing GST compliance should help make a more level playing field. Sellers who are adding 10% GST to their invoices are obviously at a disadvantage when other sellers don't do it. But it still won't help deal with non-Australian sellers who do business on eBay Australia, since they aren't required to charge GST.
According to the article, eBay Australia has over 5 million members now. I doubt all of those are active accounts, but it's still a pretty big number in a country of 20 million people. And of those, over 1000 were sent these notices, which means they've got eBay sales of over $50,000 a year. Impressive. I can tell ya, I sure wouldn't mind joining them.
A thread in the eBay Forums confirms that eBay has complied, and notified the sellers that their info has been given to the ATO.
It doesn't affect me because I don't sell anywhere near that much, so I don't have to worry about GST (good and services tax). But I agree with the sellers who say if the ATO starts enforcing GST compliance should help make a more level playing field. Sellers who are adding 10% GST to their invoices are obviously at a disadvantage when other sellers don't do it. But it still won't help deal with non-Australian sellers who do business on eBay Australia, since they aren't required to charge GST.
According to the article, eBay Australia has over 5 million members now. I doubt all of those are active accounts, but it's still a pretty big number in a country of 20 million people. And of those, over 1000 were sent these notices, which means they've got eBay sales of over $50,000 a year. Impressive. I can tell ya, I sure wouldn't mind joining them.
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