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Canada wants Ebay sellers to pay up..

Started by MichiganFlynn,

116 posts in this topic

MichiganFlynn

MichiganFlynn

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My apologies if this has already been posted, feel free to post with annoying faces of anger and disgust:

 

Government Wins Right To Keep Tabs On EBay Sellers

Thursday September 27, 2007

CityNews.ca Staff

If you sell a lot of items on eBay, prepare to hear from the government.

 

The Canada Revenue Agency just won a court decision to obtain contact information for high-volume sellers on the website, in order to ensure they're getting their piece of the action. The agency wants to check that sellers reported all income made online, which could be taxed if it's over a certain amount.

 

The Federal Court order requires eBay Canada to turn over names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of the people who sell over a certain amount on the website.

 

Not sure if that means you? Well according to a published report the government is only going after those people who qualified for eBay's PowerSeller program in 2004 and 2005, meaning anyone who sold more than $1,000 worth of merchandise in a month.

 

EBay Canada lawyers argued the CRA shouldn't have access to the information because it's a subsidiary of American company EBay Inc. and the customer information is stored in machines outside of Canada.

 

However Justice Roger Hughes contends the company must hand over the information regardless of where it's housed.

 

Canadians spend $5 billion online annually and eBay remains the largest Internet marketplace, racking up a quarter of total sales. In August 11 million Canadians visited the site.

 

Government Wings Right To Keep Tabs On EBay Sellers

 

As a casual seller this type of mess disgusts me. I already pay taxes once when I buy the item (or someone else did), you pay taxes if it has to cross the border and that person pays taxes if you resell it and it crosses the border again, what a crock.

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MichiganFlynn

MichiganFlynn

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It's only for 2004 and 2005 AND if you are a powerseller, but this just opens up the floodgates. Soon any casual seller (myself included) will have to resort to other means. I get buyers remorse sometimes and often resell (sometimes pricey) items and get my money back and buy something else, why should I have to pay taxes on an item I've already purchased??

 

Yes they say they aren't targeting low volume sellers, but how soon until they do?

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awe4one

awe4one

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Yes they say they aren't targeting low volume sellers, but how soon until they do?

 

Once they have it figured out for the Powersellers? I suspect not long at all...

 

And they'll probably keep a record that these individuals have a potential source of income outside the norm. This will help them ID sales via other comics sites. Of course that would be difficult as those sites usually don't have the seller visibility that eBay does...

 

Jim

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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The Canada Revenue Agency just won a court decision

 

I always laugh when I see headlines like this - when was the last time Revenue Canada *lost* a court battle to get MO' MONEY? If it happened, I bet a few judges will find "audit" notices in their mailbox.

 

Awhile back they successfully lobbied to find several (supposedly) tax-free lottery winners liable for tax, because that made up a 'significant portion of their income" - no sheit Sherlock, I think $5.6 million is a significant portion of anyone's income. doh!

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BEAUMONTS

BEAUMONTS

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What if I sold items on ebay for a loss will the loss be a deduction?

And will the ebay and paypal fees be tax deductable?

Also how do you differentiate selling ten thousand dollars of your Silver Marvel Collection, then using that money to invest in early Silver DC or OA. From actual income, is it income if you already have a existing collection that you sell and replace with another area of collecting that you know pursue? And in this instance who will valuate what you "had" and what you "now" own for a collection? And how will you explain this to revenue Canada.

If this is a problem for comic collectors, what about muscle car collectors, toy collectors, art collectors etc.

I have sold items on my ebay account for friends and not made a dime, will I know be liable for the money?

Will people now be having new accounts every two or three months to keep under a certain level of "profit" and how will this effect the already precarious integrity of fee bay.

 

Also, if people donated items to various charitable programs that do not fall under the tax free status umbrella. Like various local food banks etc. will those organizations have to pay tax's on items sold on fee bay and if they do should the people who donatated said items have received a receipt?

I understand the Canada revenue agency wanting to get in on this, but it should have a starting date. Note just going to a arbitrary date and saying from this day forward you pay.

I don't like being taxed, but I know it's necessary to have the services that we have. Just let me know when I am going to be. That's all I ask.

 

 

 

 

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Artboy99

Artboy99

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It goes beyond the seller's tax to, now that the Revenue Canada agency has access to Ebay they can see exactly how much the item you bought was purchased for so you will now have to declare all actual value on customs forms...double ding.

 

 

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Ares

Ares

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The Canada Revenue Agency just won a court decision

 

I always laugh when I see headlines like this - when was the last time Revenue Canada *lost* a court battle to get MO' MONEY? If it happened, I bet a few judges will find "audit" notices in their mailbox.

 

Awhile back they successfully lobbied to find several (supposedly) tax-free lottery winners liable for tax, because that made up a 'significant portion of their income" - no sheit Sherlock, I think $5.6 million is a significant portion of anyone's income. doh!

Well Correct me if im wrong but the Lottery winnings are still tax free or they would tax all winnings from everyone but they never do.

 

But the interest from the winnings is taxable as income is what the rulling was applied to

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