US SSN and resale certificate for non-US resident

Hi all,

First off, thanks very much for all useful information in this forum; thanks to SaleHoo I finally decided to start a dropshipping business using Amazon. I'm a Venezuelan lad living in the UK (Scotland) at the moment and I'm actually selling items in Amazon US. I've got a SaleHoo account and also I applied for a EIN in the US. All seems good so far, in fact, I published some items from drop shippers in my Amazon Pro Merchant account (I'm just waiting for Amazon to answer my Pro Seller Application, I sent them my ID and Banks Statements).

So, when it comes to get a resale certificate, I've noticed that best thing to do is to get resale certificate in the state your supplier/drop shippers is located (In my case, in New York State), nevertheless you can get it from any other state as in most cases any resales certificate is valid. So, I'm having kind of a issue with this since the NY tax department website is quite dodgy lately, I can't submit my resale permit application. So, they said they will send me a physical form that could take up to 10 working days to arrive to my UK mailing address. I told them to do so. However, I don't want to wait too much to get started so I'm looking for other states to apply for other resale certificate.

The issue is that most of them require Social Security Number (SSN) and I take that when you're a non-us citizen you are unable to get this. I've tried with states of Maryland, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Ohio. All of them require SSN and this is turning into a nightmare.

Help! How can I sort this issue? Do I have to get a SSN?

Sorry for the long post, hope to hear from you soon.

Many thanks,

Sebastian

Hi Sebastian,

A sales tax ID is equivalent to VAT ID in Scotland. You're actually not required to get a US sales tax ID as you are not a US-resident. The same with SSN. In general, you cannot apply for a US SSN not unless you have a permit to work in the US from the Department of Homeland Security.

You can apply for a VAT ID locally on Scotland's government website here: Link hidden: Login to view - this serves the same purpose as a sales tax ID and should US suppliers require you of one, you can present them your VAT ID.

Having a sales tax ID means you're obligated to collect sales tax from local buyers for every sale that you make. By local, I mean buyers from Scotland. This will then be remitted to your local government later for government funded facilities such as national parks, or public libraries. For this reason you are not required to collect sales tax from US-buyers as you are living in Scotland thus, not required to have a US sales tax ID.

Hope this information helps.

rhea_salehoo wrote:Hi Sebastian,

A sales tax ID is equivalent to VAT ID in Scotland. You're actually not required to get a US sales tax ID as you are not a US-resident. The same with SSN. In general, you cannot apply for a US SSN not unless you have a permit to work in the US from the Department of Homeland Security.

You can apply for a VAT ID locally on Scotland's government website here: Link hidden: Login to view - this serves the same purpose as a sales tax ID and should US suppliers require you of one, you can present them your VAT ID.

Having a sales tax ID means you're obligated to collect sales tax from local buyers for every sale that you make. By local, I mean buyers from Scotland. This will then be remitted to your local government later for government funded facilities such as national parks, or public libraries. For this reason you are not required to collect sales tax from US-buyers as you are living in Scotland thus, not required to have a US sales tax ID.

Hope this information helps.

Hi, Rhea

Thanks very much for your answer. Yes, it helps a lot. Although there's a main doubt to be clarified: If I don't have to collect Sales Tax from my buyers (US citizens), then who collects this tax? my supplier? I say this because I know some of them will ask me a Sales Tax ID in order to waive the Sales Tax. Will a VAT ID work as a Re-seller Certificate so they may waive the Sales Tax from the purchase? So that means that amazon still have to collect Sales Tax?


I know I'm making kind of a mountain out of a molehill... but it's my first time I'm selling using drop shipping and I don't want to commit any tax avoidance.

Thanks again

Sebastian

Hi Sebastian,

As Rhea mentioned, the tax id in question is for US citizens.

In many cases you will find that suppliers won't requite any tax id for you once they are aware of your location and in the event that they do still ask for that, then your local id will do. In your case, that would be your VAT id.

As a UK citizen, your tax obligations are always to your own government, not any foreign government.