Reverse charge for small business owners: yes or no?
Summary: mons-molentum expresses confusion about whether they, as a small business owner exempt from VAT under section 19, need to handle VAT on eBay fees themselves due to reverse charge rules. They reference information that suggests it might be necessary to declare and pay this tax even though eBay invoices now include German VAT since 2018. rest-fest responds by explaining that since 2018, small business owners receive gross invoices with included VAT which they do not need to separately account for or declare, addressing mons-molentum's concerns about the reverse charge process.
Hello everyone,
First of all, I am a small business owner under §19 and have been a commercial seller on Ebay for a long time.
Now I’m extremely confused: by chance I came across the automatic transmission of the PStTG report reports, and the “reverse charge” procedure.
According to this, the sales taxes incurred on the Ebay fees are not remitted by Ebay, but must be reported and paid by the business owner themself to the tax office.
Even as a small business owner exempt from sales tax.
The internet is full of it. The Google AI too (admittedly not the smartest) insists that I would have to pay sales tax on the fees (retroactively). (among other things because Ebay “forced” me in 2021 to apply for and store a VAT ID no.)
Then I found this as well:
"The change took place on 1 May 2018. Back then, the contractual partner for German eBay users changed from eBay Europe S.à r.l. to eBay GmbH, Kleinmachnow. eBay’s own help page says it verbatim:
„Commercial sellers from Germany who are liable for VAT and who have previously received net invoices have been charged German VAT on their eBay fees since 1 May 2018."
„Our fees for all users based in Germany include German VAT."
And the terms and conditions name eBay GmbH as the contractual partner in the EU — also in the previous version."
--> So what’s actually correct? Pay VAT on the fees retroactively, or not?
Thanks in advance and best regards
rest-fest
·1 week agoI know it like this - your tax advisor / tax office can tell you legally and reliably.
Until 2018, the eBay invoice came from Luxembourg(?).
Small businesses under §19 had to pay the 19% VAT on the fees as well if they received a net invoice via the UID.
All other taxpayers paid this to the tax office via the UID and at the same time got it back as input tax.
Since 2018
Small businesses under §19 receive a gross invoice and therefore pay, for example, 12% fees and on top of that 19% VAT.
Since no input tax is offset, nothing further can be claimed here
All others can have these 19% from the invoice credited as input tax.
mons-molentum
OP1 week agoOkay, so it has already been taxed at 19% (since 2018). No reverse charge and therefore, as a small business owner exempt from VAT, I also don’t have to submit a VAT return/registration just for that. Right?
(Of course I’m not asking for legal advice. Just opinions or how others in my situation handle it)
rest-fest
·1 week agoYes, that’s how I understand it. So your invoice should look roughly like this in excerpt
In the example you pay 42.19 EUR, I only 35.35 because, as a VAT-liable person, I can deduct 6.84 as input tax.
The fact that the amounts aren’t exactly at 19% is due to the rounding method used.
bikenerd.23
·1 week agoSince September 2018 there is no more RC, as tax is paid in DE - unfortunately, as a non-regular taxpayer, you therefore can't reclaim the VAT. If you use Packlink via Ebay, you have to be careful. There is an RC there, which you have to declare in your VAT return