For e-commerce operators
A U.S. company for sellers who ship into it. Including the ones who have never been.
Selling on Amazon, Shopify or TikTok Shop from outside the United States. You need an entity marketplaces will verify, books that match your settlements, and a straight answer about sales tax. The straight answer is below, with the state's own rule cited.
- 4
- Marketplace and DTC channels covered
- 1 Oct 2019
- Since when the marketplace collects, not you
- 31 Aug 2026
- Every figure below re-checked
- 4
- Sales-tax cases separated, not blurred into one warning
- $0
- Sales tax you owe on marketplace-facilitated California sales
- 5
- Primary government sources cited on this page
- $500,000
- California direct sales before a foreign seller must register
The straight answer
Who actually collects sales tax on your sales? Usually not you.
This is the question that keeps cross-border sellers awake, and the answer is better than most pages in this market admit — for marketplace sales. It is worse than they admit for direct sales. The same seller can be fully covered on Amazon and fully exposed on their own store, which is why these cases are separated rather than blurred into one warning.
| How the sale happened | Who collects | What that means for you |
|---|---|---|
| You sell through a marketplace (Amazon, Etsy, TikTok Shop) | The marketplace. | In California, from 1 October 2019 the marketplace facilitator is the retailer for sales it facilitates, and you are no longer considered the retailer of those sales. |
| ALL of your retail sales are facilitated by a marketplace | The marketplace. | In California you are not required to register with CDTFA for a seller's permit at all, provided the facilitator is registered. |
| You also sell direct — your own Shopify or DTC store | You. | Direct sales are not facilitated. A marketplace seller making direct sales into California may have a registration requirement through physical presence or economic nexus. |
| You are outside the U.S. and sell direct into California | You, above the threshold. | California requires remote sellers — expressly including sellers located outside the United States — to register and collect use tax once combined sales for delivery into California exceed $500,000 in the preceding or current calendar year. |
Where this page stops
Who this is for
However you sell into the U.S.
Amazon FBA
Inventory in U.S. fulfilment centres
Shopify and DTC
Your own store, your own checkout
TikTok Shop and Etsy
Marketplace-native sellers
Wholesale and import
U.S. warehouses or a 3PL
Who this is not for
- ×Sellers who need sales tax registered and filed today — We surface the exposure; we do not yet file. We will refer you to a specialist rather than sell you a waitlist.
- ×Anyone wanting a guaranteed marketplace approval — No provider controls that decision. Anyone promising it is selling you something they cannot deliver.
- ×Operators needing customs, duty or import brokerage — A different specialism entirely. We refer.
Scope
What Prolify handles for a seller.
Included means a plan covers it today. Partner-led means we coordinate a licensed third party. Not yet available means exactly that — we would rather say so than sell you a waitlist.
U.S. entity, formed for the channel you sell on
The state that fits how you actually operate, then the filing. Marketplaces verify the entity, not the intention.
EIN without an SSN
The federal number every payout processor and marketplace will ask you for.
Registered agent and a real U.S. street address
A street address rather than a PO box, and an agent in every state you register in.
Banking prepared for marketplace payouts
The application prepared and routed. Approval is the bank's decision, never ours to promise.
Settlement reconciliation
Marketplace fees, refunds, chargebacks and FX reconciled so your books match what actually landed in the account.
Form 5472 and the pro-forma 1120
Coordinated with licensed tax partners, where foreign ownership makes it apply.
Nexus exposure surfaced
Where your inventory and your revenue have likely created an obligation, flagged during the audit.
Sales-tax registration and filing
Not built. We coordinate with sales-tax specialists for operators who need filings now.
What actually goes wrong
Six ways a cross-border seller acquires a problem they did not choose.
Running payouts through a personal account
It breaks reconciliation before it starts, and it is the first thing that unravels when a marketplace reviews the account.
Assuming FBA inventory is invisible
Stock sitting in a fulfilment centre is a physical presence. It is the classic way a seller acquires an obligation in a state they never chose.
Assuming the marketplace covers everything
It covers the sales it facilitates. The moment you open your own store, those sales are yours to account for.
Missing Form 5472
A U.S. disregarded entity wholly owned by a foreign person files Form 5472 with a pro-forma Form 1120, and it cannot be filed electronically. The penalty is $25,000.
Changing the responsible party and not telling the IRS
It must be reported on Form 8822-B within 60 days.
Forgetting the entity has its own annual bill
A Delaware LLC owes $400 a year on 1 June whether or not it sold anything, and loses good standing if it does not pay.
Straight answers
The questions sellers actually ask.
Do I have to collect U.S. sales tax on my Amazon sales?
For sales Amazon facilitates into California, no — the marketplace is the retailer and collects. If every one of your retail sales is facilitated by a registered marketplace, California does not require you to register for a seller's permit at all. Direct sales from your own store are a different question, and other states set their own rules.
I am outside the U.S. Does any of this apply to me?
Yes, and California says so explicitly: its remote-seller rule reaches retailers located outside the United States once combined sales for delivery into California exceed $500,000 in the preceding or current calendar year.
Do I owe U.S. income tax as a foreign seller?
That depends on your entity, your ownership and where the work happens, and it is a question for a licensed tax professional, which Prolify is not. What is not in doubt is the information return: a U.S. disregarded entity wholly owned by a foreign person files Form 5472 attached to a pro-forma Form 1120, and it cannot be filed electronically.
Will your U.S. address work for marketplace verification?
We provide a real U.S. street address rather than a PO box, and an agent in each state you register in. Whether a given marketplace accepts a given account is that marketplace's decision against its own current policy, and we will not promise an outcome we do not control.
Can you reconcile my settlement reports?
Yes — marketplace fees, refunds, chargebacks and FX, so the books match the money that actually arrived. That is bookkeeping, and it is the part of this page most sellers actually search for.
Next
Answer one question at a time, free.
Check where sales-tax nexus is triggered
Which states your inventory and revenue have created an obligation in.
Check whether Form 5472 applies
The test for a foreign-owned U.S. disregarded entity.
Reconcile your settlements
Marketplace fees, refunds, chargebacks and FX, matched to what actually landed.
See every deadline your entity owes
Federal, state of formation, and every other state you touch.
Who files Form 5472, and the cost of getting it wrong
The full guide, with the IRS instructions cited throughout.
Form the entity
If you have not started yet, start here.
Sell into the U.S. from anywhere. Know exactly what that costs you.
A marketplace tells you what it collected. An accountant tells you what you owed. Neither tells you what is coming next.