Ebay, Send to me EXACTLY what you send to CRA

[eurotin]

My sales were of 2 types. First, antique collectables, mainly toys and trains, owned by my company and second, commission sales of items like automotive sales brochures and train collections. All revenue and expenses flowed through my company and income was reported fully. However, I'm sure I sold enough that CRA will come calling. So ebay, I need to get prepared for this. It would be a huge advantage to know just what CRA is looking at so I can start assembling documentation on enough of these sales to put their minds at ease. There was nothing in the ebay agreement that anticipated this situation and I'm assuming that ebay can provide this info to all affected powersellers in a vastly more efficient manner that the individual sellers could. If ebay is handing out my account information I have a right to know exactly what information this is. Its worth noting that when my company purchased collectables, I was audited and challenged by CRA. Looks like selling them is going to draw the same sort of time-consuming, distractive and expensive attention.

[fenian]

Reading through to the end of the osler dot com comments, I note eBay Canada has until January 6, 2009 to file an application for leave to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. Is there any indication that eBay Canada will apply for leave to appeal this ? In case you're wondering, I do file an annual statement declaring my eBay income.

[dipmicro]

Pierre, please do not tell me you honestly believe this is ok.

Since nobody has nothing to hide, perhaps we should allow police officers routinely go through our drawers, because they "might" find something.

I read a story recently - a lady in the big name store was asked by a security to open her bag, it was a routine check. She refused although she had paid for everything. Bully security personnel managed to finally check her bag and verify the receipt. She was embarrased and frustrated. Why, if she had nothing to hide?

Being treated like a criminal by authorities is not right. It's offensive and illegal.

[lina-mallows]

[13] The Minister did not know the names and contact information of Canadian PowerSellers or the value of the goods and services that they had sold on eBay. Accordingly, he applied ex parte to the Federal Court under subsection 231.2(3) for an order authorizing him to impose a requirement on eBay Canada to produce information and documents that would enable him to audit them. Justice Hughes granted the ex parte application on November 6, 2006, requiring the appellants to provide to the Minister

… the following information and documents for any person having a Canadian address according to your records (including individual, corporation and joint venture) who qualified for the PowerSeller status under eBay’s PowerSeller program in Canada at any time during the two calendar years 2004 and 2005:

a) account information – full name, user id, mailing address, billing address, telephone number, fax number and email address; and

b) merchandise sales information – gross annual sales

Original documents in their original forms are required. Photocopies of information or documents will not be sufficient. Where these records exist in electronic format, I require that the records be provided in electronically readable format.
------------------------------------------------

It appears the above is not consistant with eBay's published statement:
http://pages.ebay.ca/powersellerinfo/
"What if I was only a PowerSeller for part of the year in 2004 or 2005?
The request relates to all Canadian eBay members who held PowerSeller status at any given time in 2004 or 2005. The information that we disclosed will only include transactions which took place while the affected member held PowerSeller status. "

[fenian]

I heard back from powerseller support and got a canned response simply restating what we all received. There was no answer to my question about eBay Canada seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada prior to the January 6/09 deadline. The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest level in the judiciary system and is above the Federal Court of Appeal, where eBay was ruled against. Will eBay even bother to pursue this to that level ? If not, then be prepared for CRA to be checking out any 'for sale' classified ads folks run in the local paper, garage sale flyers on supermarket bulletin boards, and records of who sells at flea markets, just in case anyone might be making some money on things they sell.

[recped]

There was no answer to my question about eBay Canada seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada prior to the January 6/09 deadline

There will be no further appeals, eBay have made that quite clear.

[nibor2dooh]

No further appeals would be required. My understanding is that ebays information has been forwarded to CRA and a motion for a stay pending an appeal was denied making the appeal irrelevant. Seems clear in the opinion that while an appeal could be initiated the records were still to be disclosed before date the appeal would be heard.

[craftycatsattic]

I got an email yesterday sent through the forwarding system (in French and apparently from a lawyer's office) that they will be fighting the release of this information for Quebec Powersellers. I find it a little odd that I would receive such an email but regardless..

Like everyone else, I don't like the prospect of a fishing expedition but I've declared my ebay income so I don't know what's the point of joining the cause to fight this. If others want to do it then that's within their rights and that's fine, but I myself cannot afford to waste time and energy toward's this.

[pierrelebel]

Please guys do NOT twist my words.

Paragraph 1 - "The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."

This "fishing expedition" by CRA was accepted by our Canadian Courts.

If you have stuff to hide from CRA, I suggest you do not post it on public forums. It may add a huge target on your User ID. .

[craftycatsattic]

Just wanted to post an update to my earlier post about the email I received as there's a separate thread on it:

http://forums.ebay.ca/thread.jspa?threadID=500037817&tstart=0&mod=1228155718136

Looks like it got the attention of Miriam so will be watching to see what happens.

[batterybargaincanada]

Bump!

Has anyone had any upates on this topic or has anyone been audited due to the eBay sales? It's 2011 almost 2012 and there is next to no talk about anyone being audited let alone prosecuted.

Can anyone shed some light or PM me if they don't feel comfortable talking here?

It would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Steve 🙂

[eurotin]

Well, I was right. CRA called on my 65th birthday. This week, I got the word that there would be no adjustments. My sales volume was pretty low. Even lower when the obvious, ebay and paypal charges, and the less obvious, huge postal costs, were deducted. So, a warning. Selling less than 25K per year will still draw attention. In spite of all this, I think that being singled out for an audit because you sold on ebay is brutally arbitrary. Sigh.

[bb_cool_stuff]

Unfortunately it happens.

Pierre & Dane went through the same process.

While It may be a pain in the butt, you came out on the winning side.

Have always kept my dealings with eBay & the CRA legit as most of us have. Never want to see a red flag come up with the CRA everytime I file my taxes.

[dipmicro]

Wow, 4yr old thread 🙂

I hear auditors are ruthless and ignorant of the laws that don't suit them, but they usually back down if you have a tax lawyer on your payroll.

If anyone gets an audit, contract tax attorney and have them deal with CRA. May be nothing and may just save you whole lot of time and needless stress (medical bills are costly, cheaper to pay the lawyer and sleep well). Watch your lawyer, they like to yap on the phone and bill you $5/min.

[bb_cool_stuff]

I remember Pierre posting his frustrating experiences during his Audit though I can't recall the details.

Keep all your receipts, do everything legit, no worries. I'm sure its not always that simple though.