Industries
E-commerce sellers
Payouts are not revenue, inventory is not an expense, and sales tax is not yours. Three ideas that separate clean e-commerce books from a shoebox.
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- team of Certified Accountants, CPAs and Enrolled Agents
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What goes wrong in e-commerce books
- Amazon, Shopify and Stripe deposit net payouts. Booking the deposit as revenue understates sales and hides fees, refunds and reserves.
- Inventory bought is an asset until it sells; expensing it on purchase makes profit swing with buying cycles.
- Sales tax collected is a liability, not income. Marketplace-collected tax still has to be excluded from revenue.
- Economic nexus: $100,000 of sales into a state (some $500,000) creates a registration obligation, and states audit years back.
- Ad spend across Meta, Google and Amazon with no cost-per-order view, so margins are a guess.
What we set up
A chart of accounts with gross sales, discounts, refunds, platform fees, shipping income and expense, COGS and inventory. Payout reconciliation from the platform reports so every deposit ties to its orders. Sales tax tracked by state with filing as an add-on at $50 per state per month. Monthly gross margin by channel. Year-end financials that support the return, including inventory at cost.
Tax for sellers
Schedule C, 1065 or 1120-S depending on structure, with inventory and COGS reported correctly. Non-US sellers using a US LLC: Form 5472 every year, and a review of whether inventory in US warehouses creates US-connected income and a 1040-NR filing. Sales tax registration in the states where nexus exists, and marketplace facilitator rules applied so you do not double-collect.
Questions people ask
Do you integrate with Shopify and Amazon?
We reconcile from the platform payout and settlement reports into QuickBooks Online or Xero. Connector apps can be used where they help; the reconciliation is what matters.
I sell into 30 states. Do I need to register in all of them?
Only where you have physical nexus (inventory, staff) or cross the economic threshold. Marketplace sales usually count toward thresholds even when the marketplace collects the tax. We track it state by state.
I am not in the US but sell to US customers through my US LLC. What do I file?
Form 5472 with a pro forma 1120 every year, sales tax where nexus exists, and a review of whether US warehouses or contractors make the income US-connected.
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