For the Higher-Volume Canadian Sellers • Collecting General • The Acaeum

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For the Higher-Volume Canadian Sellers
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g026r
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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:45 am

For those who haven't heard the news: apparently the taxman's getting interested in eBay.

From http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070926.wrebay27/BNStory/Technology/home:

Canadians who sell a lot of stuff on eBay best beware -- the taxman is watching.

The Canada Revenue Agency has won a Federal Court order requiring eBay Canada Ltd. to turn over the names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of all high-volume sellers on the popular website. The CRA wants to find out whether those individuals or companies are reporting the income they made from online sales in 2004 and 2005.

Blackmoor
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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:09 pm

I am sure I was a Power seller in 2004, I sold my friends die cast car collection and made him some big bucks. It would really suck to have to pay taxes on something I did for a friend. :evil:

Games can get you through times of no money but money can not get you through times of no games!!

g026r
Verbose Collector

Posts: 1324
Joined: May 28, 2007
Last Visit: Aug 27, 2011
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:50 pm

You were actually who I was thinking of when I spotted this article.

That does pose an interesting question though: how do they deal with selling items for someone else? I'm never going to be a power seller (I think I've sold at most a dozen items through eBay over the years) and therefore don't need to worry just yet, but even I have sold items for other people. It's clearly not your own income, but eBay's records are going to represent it as such.

Blackmoor
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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:15 pm

I try and limit my sales to less than $1000 per month usually, I do not really want the Power Seller Label.

Games can get you through times of no money but money can not get you through times of no games!!

mnw
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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 3:02 pm

Government scum sticking their snouts into every nook and cranny whilst their mates and future employers, the elephant corporations, evade billions of dollars in tax year on year. It's the same here in the UK, if it moves the filth takes a cut.

Mars
Grandstanding Collector

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Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 3:45 pm

I would think that unless you are set up as a business that you should be pretty safe from this. I really don't know how the government would even process this information to come up with numbers. My 2 concerns are these:

1) If you are a business, you buy stuff for cost $A and sell for $B and pay tax on the profit $B-$A or get a tax credit for the loss. As a business you should have the receipts for the stock you purchased, as an individual you probably don't and shouldn't be expected to keep them. So how would the government determine the profit earned?

2) What if you are a legitimate business set up to sell things on Ebay like isoldit? Basically, the business only gets paid a flat rate and/or percentage for acting as a middle man. I'm not sure how the government could check to see if these sellers are claiming everything they should be.

I think the intent of this is to probably go after some of the really big fish.

deimos3428
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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 3:57 pm

Mars wrote:I think the intent of this is to probably go after some of the really big fish.

Yes, you've hit the nail on the head.

Considering the business practices of certain individuals purporting to be Titanium Powersellers, I'd suggest that it's a good thing. They'll take the raw data, sort by size, and go after anybody that looks suspicious based on what they already know. The eBay data alone isn't very usable. But like an anonymous tip, it tells the CRA where to look further.

(My father has worked for the CRA for nearly 15 years, in the "Special Investigations" division of Customs and Excise. He's also one hell of a roleplayer!)

lucyjoyce
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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 9:50 pm

Blackmoor wrote:It would really suck to have to pay taxes on something I did for a friend.

Yes, I thought about that too, as I am selling a friend's collection (although so slowly that it's quite small potatoes). I send her the proceeds in a check clearly marked "ebay" in the memo field, so at least I will have something of a paper trail should the IRS care.

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error. - John Kenneth Galbraith

Blackmoor
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Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:10 pm

lucyjoyce wrote:
Yes, I thought about that too, as I am selling a friend's collection (although so slowly that it's quite small potatoes). I send her the proceeds in a check clearly marked "ebay" in the memo field, so at least I will have something of a paper trail should the IRS care.

Good thinking, I toss everyhting after about 90 days. No record keeping for Me

Games can get you through times of no money but money can not get you through times of no games!!

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