Germany to discuss online shopping tax laws

A German finance ministry spokeswoman says the country is planning stricter online shopping rules to combat sales tax fraud.

Reuters reviewed the draft law, which would oblige e-commerce companies to record transactions that could be taxable in Germany. Companies like Amazon and eBay would be liable for unpaid taxes of shoppers, especially when sellers aren’t registered for tax purposes to sell to German customers. The law will be discussed on Wednesday at a cabinet meeting. 

• Click farms: Over the weekend, the WSJ reported that Amazon’s platform is susceptible to click farms, hired reviewers, and other scams merchants pull to game the product-ranking system. Amazon says those abusing the system “make up a tiny fraction of activity on our site.”