Canadian Revenue Agency Wants eBay Sellers to Pay Up
Posted By Ezra Silverton in Beware!, eCommerce on 2007-09-28
Watch out Canadian eBay PowerSellers! The government wants to be certain that you are claiming the correct amount of revenue for tax purposes.Yes, you knew it was coming. The Canadian Revenue Agency won a Federal court order, which forces eBay Canada Ltd. to provide the names, telephone numbers, addresses, and email addresses of its high volume sellers. If you or your company sell over $1000 / month you are recognized as an eBay PowerSeller.
Although sellers’ information is controlled by US based eBay Inc. and stored on a US server, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that eBay is nevertheless required to provide this information.
The Globe and Mail reports that Canadians spent about $5 billion online each year, a quarter of which represent eBay’s total sales. However, Statistics Canada reports $39.2 billion CAD spent online in 2005, that’s 38.4% up from 2004.
According to eBay, the site was visited by approximately 11 million Canadians this past August.
The issue of double taxation is sure to become a cumbersome topic, since many sellers auction used goods. Meanwhile companies that sell through eBay may now need to re-evaluate their profit margins.
Comments
That’s a lot of dough!
Nice blog.
Comment by Gary Johnston — November 5th, 2007