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Taxes / State tax rules / Louisiana

Selling on eBay, Poshmark or Etsy from Louisiana: sales tax and 1099-K rules

Since July 1, 2020, under Act 216 (La. R.S. 47:340.1), a marketplace facilitator over Louisiana's threshold collects and remits state and local sales and use tax to the Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers on sales it facilitates, including for sellers located in Louisiana, whose marketplace sales count as remote sales. For Form 1099-K, no Louisiana threshold appears on the Department of Revenue and Remote Sellers Commission pages checked for this page; the federal test is over $20,000 in more than 200 transactions.

General information, not tax advice. Check with a tax professional about your own situation.

Checked against the official pages listed below on .

Louisiana in short

General sales tax:
Yes, 5% state rate
Marketplace facilitator law:
Yes: La. R.S. 47:340.1 (Act 216 of the 2020 Regular Session), since Jul 1, 2020
When a marketplace must collect:
200 or more sales, or $100,000 or more of gross sales, into Louisiana in the prior or current calendar year, counting all remote sales including exempt ones (as the Commission described Act 216 in 2020)
Form 1099-K:
No state rule stated on the pages checked

Who collects the tax on a marketplace sale

La. R.S. 47:340.1(B) makes the marketplace facilitator the dealer responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax on all remote sales made through its marketplace. It registers with the Commission within 30 days of meeting a threshold, starts collecting within 60 days, and files monthly by the 20th.

If you sell only through marketplaces

The Commission's Remote Sellers Information Bulletin 23-001 says a Louisiana merchant selling through a marketplace facilitator is making remote sales and may rely on the facilitator to collect and remit state and local tax for it, even though it has a physical presence in Louisiana. Its direct sales outside the marketplace stay its own: it collects and remits on those as the dealer under La. R.S. 47:303.

Registration, resale certificates and what changes when you also sell direct have their own page: Louisiana: seller's permit and resale certificate rules.

The law: La. R.S. 47:340.1 (Act 216 of the 2020 Regular Session), effective .

"All marketplace facilitators are required to collect and remit sales taxes to the Commission on behalf of all of their marketplace sellers, including those marketplace sellers located in Louisiana."
Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers, Remote Sellers Information Bulletin No. 23-001: Guidance on Collection and Remittance Requirements for Louisiana Merchants Making Marketplace Sales and Direct Sales, Louisiana Merchants Selling Through a Marketplace Facilitator
"Being deemed a remote seller due to the use of a marketplace facilitator does not mean all sales of a Louisiana merchant are remote sales."
Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers, Remote Sellers Information Bulletin No. 23-001: Guidance on Collection and Remittance Requirements for Louisiana Merchants Making Marketplace Sales and Direct Sales, Louisiana Merchants Making Direct Sales and Sales Through a Marketplace Facilitator

Sources: Remote Sellers Information Bulletin No. 23-001: Guidance on Collection and Remittance Requirements for Louisiana Merchants Making Marketplace Sales and Direct Sales; Remote Sellers Information Bulletin No. 20-003: Registration and Collection of Sales and Use Tax by Marketplace Facilitators.

Louisiana's sales tax

The Louisiana Department of Revenue says the state sales tax rate is 5%; parishes and other local jurisdictions levy their own sales taxes. Tax on marketplace and other remote sales goes to the Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers, which distributes it to the state and local taxing jurisdictions.

"The state sales tax rate is 5%."
Louisiana Department of Revenue, General Sales & Use Tax, Rate of Tax

Sources: General Sales & Use Tax; Frequently Asked Questions.

Form 1099-K: Louisiana and the federal test

The Louisiana Department of Revenue and Remote Sellers Commission pages checked for this page don't address Form 1099-K, so no Louisiana 1099-K rule is stated here.

The federal test, for comparison: the IRS says a payment app or online marketplace must send a Form 1099-K when payments for goods or services total over $20,000 in more than 200 transactions, and adds: "However, they may send you a Form 1099-K with lower amounts and/or transactions." (Understanding your Form 1099-K, reviewed ). The Instructions for Form 1099-K count both parts for the calendar year, through each platform separately, and say the box 1a gross amount is figured without adjustments for credits, discounts, fees, refunds or shipping, so a 1099-K figure is not the same as profit. More on the federal rule in Form 1099-K for resellers.

Sources: Frequently Asked Questions; General Sales & Use Tax.

Worked examples

A New Orleans seller with marketplace and pop-up sales

Sales through a marketplace are remote sales, so the facilitator collects state and local tax on them and remits to the Commission. Sales the seller makes in person at a pop-up are direct sales: RSIB 23-001 says the Louisiana merchant collects and remits state and local sales tax as the dealer on those.

Tax on a $40 sale to a Louisiana buyer

The facilitator collects the 5% state tax, $40 x 5% = $2.00, plus the local sales tax where the item is delivered, and remits both to the Commission, which passes the local share to the taxing jurisdictions.

Edge cases and details

  • Act 216 relieves the facilitator of liability for tax it failed to collect because of insufficient information from the marketplace seller, and the seller is then liable for the tax due, unless the two are affiliates (RSIB 20-003).
  • For a remote seller's own threshold, the Commission says only direct sales for delivery into Louisiana are counted; marketplace sales are left out because they count toward the marketplace's threshold.
  • Class actions against marketplace facilitators are barred, including over refunds, unless the facilitator intentionally collected tax without regard to the law (RSIB 20-003).
  • The Commission's bulletins are informal guidance that doesn't have the force of law, each bulletin notes.

What to do

  1. Keep each marketplace's sales report showing the Louisiana tax it collected on your sales.
  2. Give each marketplace accurate item information: under Act 216, tax missed because of insufficient seller information falls on the seller.
  3. If you also sell in person or through your own site in Louisiana, read RSIB 23-001 on direct sales, and check with a tax professional or the Louisiana Department of Revenue about registering.

Common questions

I live in Louisiana. Does the marketplace still collect tax on my sales to Louisiana buyers?

Yes. RSIB 23-001 says marketplace facilitators collect and remit sales tax to the Commission for all of their marketplace sellers, including sellers located in Louisiana, because sales through a marketplace are remote sales.

Where does the tax on my marketplace sales go?

To the Louisiana Sales and Use Tax Commission for Remote Sellers, which the facilitator files with monthly; the Commission distributes it to the state and the local taxing jurisdictions.

Related

General information, not tax advice

This page summarizes Louisiana's own published pages and statutes as read on , and the IRS's 1099-K pages. It doesn't say what you should file, register for or pay. Rules depend on your situation and change: check with a tax professional, or with the state's revenue department.

Sources

Official pages this page is built from, with the day each was read.

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