eBay

velvet@ebay · ‎05-03-2022

Hi everyone –

We know you might have questions regarding the email you recently received about eBay Canada collecting Canada Sales Tax (GST/HST/QST/ PST) on behalf of our sellers. Please feel free to leave your questions and comments here and we’ll get them answered as soon as possible. Keep in mind there could be a delay as we check with internal teams to ensure we’re getting you the right answers to your questions.

Thanks for your patience!

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎06-23-2022

velvet@ebay wrote:
Hi everyone! We've gone through and pulled questions from the past few weeks to forward on to the tax team. When they get us replies, we'll follow-up with them here as we have been. Thank you for the questions and for your patience. 😊

Hello velvet@ebay

Any updates on our previous questions on the new collection of tax. This most recent response was 8 days. Rollout is less than a week away. Sellers want to have their ducks in a row so this is a smooth rollout.

The biggest questions in all this is will all sellers be receiving a form to fill out and is there a acknowledgement system in place (from eBay) once they have returned the form that everything has been confirmed and in place so EVERYTHING happens correctly July 1? (Many have received the announcement ONLY.) If everything has not been filled out will there be holds applied to sellers payouts?

-Lotzofuniquegoodies

***As a side thought it might be better to have a link with any answers as part of a help FAQ vs a treasurehunt.***

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎06-23-2022

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
velvet@ebay wrote:
Hi everyone! We've gone through and pulled questions from the past few weeks to forward on to the tax team. When they get us replies, we'll follow-up with them here as we have been. Thank you for the questions and for your patience. 😊
Hello velvet@ebay

Any updates on our previous questions on the new collection of tax. This most recent response was 8 days. Rollout is less than a week away. Sellers want to have their ducks in a row so this is a smooth rollout.

The biggest questions in all this is will all sellers be receiving a form to fill out and is there a acknowledgement system in place (from eBay) once they have returned the form that everything has been confirmed and in place so EVERYTHING happens correctly July 1? (Many have received the announcement ONLY.) If everything has not been filled out will there be holds applied to sellers payouts?

-Lotzofuniquegoodies

***As a side thought it might be better to have a link with any answers as part of a help FAQ vs a treasurehunt.***

I couldn't find an image for the Canadian 2022 tax season. This was close enough!!

-Lotz

g1v2d3 · ‎06-23-2022

Hi Again

Any confirmation yet of receipt of form sent back to you. Haven`t heard back for weeks.

thx

begreenoutlet · ‎06-29-2022

Hi,

What is the correct treatment for ITCs and how should this be reported on the HST return ?

I am not seeing any explaination on this issue. Very short notice for such a major change.

begreenoutlet · ‎06-29-2022

So this is not the case under the "e-commerce regime" there is no input tax credits per my understanding. See below:

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=17efba72-7b7e-4a7d-aec4-4b9b7162197b

I have not received any response from eBay to clarify this issue either.

begreenoutlet · ‎06-29-2022

So I read through the entire thread and still haven't seen a response to the question regarding ITCs

Basically if you are a business registered for HST like a lot of larger eBay sellers would be.

You are required to collect and remit HST - which ebay is doing now and I dont have an issue with per se.

But you are also entitled to get an Input tax credit on the HST paid on busienss expenses. For eg. if you buy something to resell on ebay, you get a credt which offsets the HST you collect form customers

However since eBay is collecting HST now are HST registered sellers still entitled to the Input Tax Credits on their business expenses as they were before ?

marnotom! · ‎06-29-2022

While there’s no official interpretation of the ITC issue on this thread, either, @begreenoutlet, there’s a lot of interesting discussion about it:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/eBay-Canada-collecting-Canadian-Sales-Tax-as-of-July-1-2...

FWIW, my thinking is that because sellers are filling out these authorization forms so that there’s some sort of paper trail to explain why they no longer have GST/HST to claim as an ITC, they can still claim ITCs on other business-related expenses.

The form eBay sent out/has on its site is an all-purpose one issued by CRA and Revenue Québec that just happens to have eBay’s information already filled out. My thinking is that if you fill out the same form authorizing a different party to collect taxes on your behalf or if you have sales outside of eBay, it shouldn’t affect your ability to claim ITCs as usual, either.

“My thinking” is no substitute for advice from your accountant, however, who should be brought into the loop on this if this hasn’t already been done.

ricarmic · ‎06-29-2022

@marnotom!

Just to clarify this comment, which I might be misunderstanding?:

"FWIW, my thinking is that because sellers are filling out these authorization forms so that there’s some sort of paper trail to explain why they no longer have GST/HST to claim as an ITC, they can still claim ITCs on other business-related expenses".

I think instead you meant:

FWIW, my thinking is that because sellers are filling out these authorization forms so that there’s some sort of paper trail to explain why they no longer have GST/HST collected, they can still claim ITCs on other business-related expenses".

I may be misunderstanding what you meant but the GST/HST ebay collects instead of us isn't an ITC for us, only the GST/HST they charge us for our fees/services ebay provides is.

As I understand things we will be able to claim all ITCs as usual including the GST/HST we paid to ebay for our selling fees etc, and the ebay sales we make* are treated the same as zero rated sales today (I contacted the CRA directly and asked that question).

If I've misunderstood, please just correct me!

*so for clarity ALL ebay sales after July 1 are like international zero rated sales for us today

begreenoutlet · ‎06-29-2022

Gotcha but I dont think there is an automated paper trail since the form designating eBay as an agent isnt really filed with CRA just kept by both parties. So high risk of audit.

I also sell on another large marketplace platform which I wont name, but they introduced something similar to eBay last year due to new Canadian laws.

But on there if you are reigstered for HST and you provide them documentation, and then they don't collect on your behalf. This is in line with new legisltation where platforms have that option.

So this causes 2 issues for me as a seller.

1. Basically my HST numbers for eBay business will be really strange and I am at much higher risk of getting audited by CRA.
2. Cash flow issues since i am now relying on a large year end refund from CRA rather thann remitting net amount.

The Canadian laws for platforms needing to collect HST were only supposed to apply to non-registered international sellers who weren't registered for HST and for HST registered selelrs there is an option to let the sellers continue doing it themseves which is what the other large selling platform is doing.

It seems someone at eBay dropped the ball. I noticed in the email they sent about sales tax tables they are saying the sales tax tables will be back on Jan 10 2023 meaning I think they are working on a system to allow sellers to collect HST again.

Rather than communitcate things clearly there is a lot of obfuscation going on. I am just going to cut down on eBay sales in the next few months till dust settles.

velvet@ebay · ‎06-29-2022

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

velvet@ebay wrote:

Hi everyone! We've gone through and pulled questions from the past few weeks to forward on to the tax team. When they get us replies, we'll follow-up with them here as we have been. Thank you for the questions and for your patience. 😊

Hello velvet@ebay

Any updates on our previous questions on the new collection of tax. This most recent response was 8 days. Rollout is less than a week away. Sellers want to have their ducks in a row so this is a smooth rollout.

The biggest questions in all this is will all sellers be receiving a form to fill out and is there a acknowledgement system in place (from eBay) once they have returned the form that everything has been confirmed and in place so EVERYTHING happens correctly July 1? (Many have received the announcement ONLY.) If everything has not been filled out will there be holds applied to sellers payouts?

-Lotzofuniquegoodies

***As a side thought it might be better to have a link with any answers as part of a help FAQ vs a treasurehunt.***

Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies! We've not had any more replies provided for us to share. Once we do, we'll be sure to post them. Thanks!

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎06-29-2022

velvet@ebay wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
velvet@ebay wrote:
Hi everyone! We've gone through and pulled questions from the past few weeks to forward on to the tax team. When they get us replies, we'll follow-up with them here as we have been. Thank you for the questions and for your patience. 😊
Hello velvet@ebay

Any updates on our previous questions on the new collection of tax. This most recent response was 8 days. Rollout is less than a week away. Sellers want to have their ducks in a row so this is a smooth rollout.

The biggest questions in all this is will all sellers be receiving a form to fill out and is there a acknowledgement system in place (from eBay) once they have returned the form that everything has been confirmed and in place so EVERYTHING happens correctly July 1? (Many have received the announcement ONLY.) If everything has not been filled out will there be holds applied to sellers payouts?

-Lotzofuniquegoodies

***As a side thought it might be better to have a link with any answers as part of a help FAQ vs a treasurehunt.***
Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies! We've not had any more replies provided for us to share. Once we do, we'll be sure to post them. Thanks!

Hello Velvet,

The meter is running for this to be up and running. Will there be a FAQ in eBay help? There was no formal announcement other that the discussion post. It is likely majority of sellers do not check the discussion pages.

-Lotzofuniquegoodies

esolutions_canada · ‎06-29-2022

So the rollout of this is in less than 2 days, and there are still lots of questions from this chat that haven't been addressed. Will there be an official response or announcement from eBay or is there an opportunity for sellers to discuss any remaining questions before this goes into effect?

marnotom! · ‎06-30-2022

@ricarmic wrote:

FWIW, my thinking is that because sellers are filling out these authorization forms so that there’s some sort of paper trail to explain why they no longer have GST/HST collected, they can still claim ITCs on other business-related expenses".

Yup, I did. That's what I get for typing all that nonsense into a phone first thing in the morning.

flipistics · ‎06-30-2022

Does anyone know when the changeover actually happens? Is it midnight EST, PST, or something else? Is eBay going down for a period of time while this occurs?

marnotom! · ‎06-30-2022

@flipistics wrote:

Is eBay going down for a period of time while this occurs?

If it goes down for an extended period, we're going to blame you for asking the question that caused it. 😉

tch_ca · ‎07-01-2022

When will ebay (if ever) be providing confirmation of receipt of the form????...I assume eBay will furnish the sellers with some sort of a coherent report. Will the reports be monthly or quarterly? If monthly, how long after month end can they be expected?

currency_41 · ‎07-01-2022

I was a low volume seller sitting below $30,000 in annual sales from primarily selling used technology items from my personal collection that I no longer wanted. As a small supplier, my sales are not subject to any sales taxes in Canada. With this change, my customers would be forced to pay more money for nothing extra and for no valid reason.

I closed my eBay store and will not be returning as a seller until the policy is changed. Unfortunately, I am now far less likely to use eBay as a buyer as well. One of the appeals for me was finding a deal on a used item for a great price that also had the benefit of no tax. In my experience, these hot deals could most often be found offered by low volume sellers getting rid of personal items who obviously do less than $30,000 in sales per year.

This reeks of a cash grab being forced upon eBay by an out-of-touch government with a spending problem and an obsession with involving itself in the lives of citizens.

marnotom! · ‎07-01-2022

@currency_41 wrote:

This reeks of a cash grab being forced upon eBay by an out-of-touch government with a spending problem and an obsession with involving itself in the lives of citizens.

I guess the governments of jurisdictions such as the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Australia are just as out of touch as they've had this sort of system in place for online purchases for a while now.

okkoppan · ‎07-01-2022

Buying and selling silver and gold bullions are tax exempt. Ebay please fix it!!!

chiefscrub · ‎07-01-2022

I agree with @currency_41 : I have next to NO INCENTIVE to buy from small-scale, low-volume, average, everyday, used-item sellers from across Canada. I'm NOT paying tax on second, or third, hand items that people are trying to get rid of to make, or recoup, a little side money while also trying to reduce garbage/consumption.

I could avoid paying taxes on those items, locally, by buying/trading at many thrift shops, pawnshops, flea markets, Kijiji, Craigslist, Used, Facebook Marketplace etc. ... but having a service that allowed people to connect on this front, on a national level, like eBay was great.

I am antcipating a DRAMATIC reduction in Canadian-based sales over the coming months. Shame on eBay!!! This has ruined a great buying/selling avenue for many everyday Canadians! Time to contact your local politicians and MPs to voice your displeasures!

velvet@ebay jasmen@ebay tell your superiors that this is BS! This is going to GREATLY impact how/IF I choose to use eBay in the future...