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30
Jul
So Ottawa came out yapping its mouth off warning Ebay businesses and other online sellers that they better be paying their taxes. It isn’t easy keeping track of a web businesses dealings so easily and I imagine there are a lot of people getting away with a lot. Looks like they got all the data they need from Ebay to start auditing at he end of the Summer, so you best be ready for next years taxes.
In a September 2007 decision, the Federal Court of Canada ordered eBay Canada Inc. to provide the Canada Revenue Agency with the names of its high-volume sellers, their contact information and their sales records.
So don’t be surprised if you get contacted by them asking you about your Ebay ventures and how your taxes went. I imagine after a while the hype will be forgotten and business will go back to normal. According to Revenue Canada they’re targetting people who applied for the power selling program.
- Published by Rob in: News
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3 Responses to “Canadian Taxes & Ebay Businesses”
July 30th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
I can’t find the fairness is targeting EBay users when millions of other Canadians are using sites such as Kijiji.ca, and Craigslist.ca to sell their used stuff without paying taxes. Lets also not forget the millions of Canadians who do not report income from garage sales, and local classified ads.
Where is the difference between selling a used car on EBay, or selling a used car through the Autotrader publication or their website Autotrader.ca? I can’t begin to imagine the billions of unreported income dollars from Canadians selling their used cars.
I understand, and agree with, the Canada Revenue Agency going after businesses who do not claim income from EBay sales, but how do you tell the difference? If an individual sells his/her large personal collection of art, books, jewelry, or whatever over a number of months and qualifies as an EBay power seller does that make he/she the same as a business selling art, books, or jewelry? There is no way to separate the two by looking at EBays records as the Canada Revenue Agency intends to do.
If the Canada Revenue Agency takes the action of hunting down people who sold on EBay, it is only fair to pass legislation requiring income reporting from garage sales, classified ads, buy and sell publications, and all other markets for used items.
It is unjust to target a single group of Canadians based on their choice of market place for their used stuff!
July 30th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Lets just imagine!
Just imagine if EBay charged one simple flat rate for listings, and kept no record of final sale amounts. EBay would then be no different than all the other market places such as classified ads, Kijiji, Craigslist, Autotrader, buy and sell publications, and who knows how many more.
This whole taxing Canadian EBay users situation is a simple matter of the lazy, over compensated, personal at Canada Revenue taking advantage of the fact that EBay has already done the work for them.
Clearly if you find a contractor in a classified ad, and pay him cash to renovate your kitchen, he will probably not claim the income. There are thousands of situations like this out there every day, and Canada Revenue doesn’t have a clue how to control it, so they unfairly target EBay sellers since EBay has made it so easy for them.
Lets also not forget garage sales!
July 31st, 2009 at 1:02 am
You guys hit it on the head…I’m getting pretty sick and tired of the crazy crap the Government is pulling these days. It’s like they are just having a grand old time doing whatever they want.
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