CRA Reporting - I'm going to settle the argument from January

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

There was a big argument in the forum about when CRA reporting starts... accountants were telling people it starts in 2025 (sales from Jan 1 2025 and onward, and it would be reported in January next year). Other people said 2024.

I'm settling this argument...

The reporting started January 1, 2024, in 2025 (like today) all my 2024 sales were reported to the CRA.

So if you didn't declare your 2024 earnings and you have this report, CRA is going to find out. The report says how many transactions and a breakdown by quarter. I don't want to share my sales information, but if you qualify for this report you should find it in your eBay.

C.

[marnotom!]

My understanding is that these particular reports are for CRA use only and are submitted to sellers for their records and review.  It shouldn't matter to sellers if they're a "mess" because sellers are supposed to be doing their own bookkeeping.

As you suggest, @byto253, I think CRA will generally just use them to see if the sales in the report are in the same ballpark as what's reported in the tax return of the seller noted in the report.  This isn't the same as a "T" form which reports income for employment, interest, etc. and breaks it down where necessary.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

My spreadsheet (a Hilroy exercise book) includes the cost of shipping and the shipping charges.

So I guess I'll have to fire up the Babbage Engine and start adding. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drGx7JkFSp4

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@femmefan1946 

Whenever I try to justify/reconcile eBay math my abacus overheats. 

[femmefan1946]

That's why I upgraded to Charles and Ada's clever invention. 

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

That's why I upgraded to Charles and Ada's clever invention. 

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Do you know if it could be charged with USB or only works using hamster power?

[dinomitesales]

Going back to OPs original point when making this thread, I guess we need clarification on whether or not this report was actually sent to the CRA.

DID the digital reporting obligations actually start based on sales for 2024 and eBay is just submitting this information to the CRA extremely late?

Or do the obligations not actually start until tax yar 2025, and eBay is just sending us this report based on our 2024 sales and saying "hey, this is what you can expect going forward". In which case these numbers weren't actually sent to the CRA?

Has anyone that sells on any other platforms (Etsy, Poshmark, Amazon, etc.) received a similar notice for their 2024 sales?

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For anyone saying they didn't give eBay their TIN, that wouldn't stop eBay from complying with the digital reporting guidelines. They obviously can't force you to provide that information. But they're still obligated to pass along whatever information they do have on your account (name, address, bank account, etc). I suppose they could restrict your account privileges if you chose not to give them your TIN, but at the same time I could see them saying "well, we notified you and you didn't give it to us, so whatever - it's the CRAs problem now". If you got absolutely zero notification to provide the TIN though that's a different story.

[doc_scribe]

@fergua3 wrote:

My hunch is this reporting to CRA doesn't 'officially' start until 2025, hence them not asking my SIN.   This 2024 reporting may be some kind of a dry run or could just be a scare tactic to get people to start reporting in 2025.  Or i could be totally wrong. 

But regardless, i and apprently lots of other people did not have to submit their SIN.  But this year, everyone who went over one of the threshholds did have to report their SIN.  Make of that what you will.  I have not exceeded 30 sales or $2800 this year.

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My *.PDF did include an anonymized Tax Identification Number (only the last 4 numbers visible), which was baffling because I never created such an ID within CRA...thus never used it for any of my business activiites (exclusive sole proprietor here)...and certainly never submitted it to eBay (although I have been including my eBay ID on my T2125 in a spirit of nothing-to-hide transparency). As for other info submitted to CRA via eBay's report, all of it was accurate, although I would question why such a report requires both Birthdate and SIN. Hmmm...

So thank you @fergua3  and everyone else digging into this.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@dinomitesales wrote:

Going back to OPs original point when making this thread, I guess we need clarification on whether or not this report was actually sent to the CRA.

DID the digital reporting obligations actually start based on sales for 2024 and eBay is just submitting this information to the CRA extremely late?

Or do the obligations not actually start until tax yar 2025, and eBay is just sending us this report based on our 2024 sales and saying "hey, this is what you can expect going forward". In which case these numbers weren't actually sent to the CRA?

Has anyone that sells on any other platforms (Etsy, Poshmark, Amazon, etc.) received a similar notice for their 2024 sales?

----------

For anyone saying they didn't give eBay their TIN, that wouldn't stop eBay from complying with the digital reporting guidelines. They obviously can't force you to provide that information. But they're still obligated to pass along whatever information they do have on your account (name, address, bank account, etc). I suppose they could restrict your account privileges if you chose not to give them your TIN, but at the same time I could see them saying "well, we notified you and you didn't give it to us, so whatever - it's the CRAs problem now". If you got absolutely zero notification to provide the TIN though that's a different story.

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@dinomitesales 

@doc_scribe 

My biggest concern in all this that IF ebay is going to submit numbers to CRA they also forward to seller at the same time so everyone is working off accurate current info. To advise us of 2024 info being sent at end of '25 sounds hinky. It may not be considered the same as a T4 but it's just as critical. By law a T4 needs to be received by last day of February for the previous year. 

With token disclaimer. Even though we are "technically" considered self employed in eBay's eyes. 

[dinomitesales]

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@doc_scribe wrote:

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My *.PDF did include an anonymized Tax Identification Number (only the last 4 numbers visible), which was baffling because I never created such an ID within CRA...thus never used it for any of my business activiites (exclusive sole proprietor here)...and certainly never submitted it to eBay (although I have been including my eBay ID on my T2125 in a spirit of nothing-to-hide transparency). As for other info submitted to CRA via eBay's report, all of it was accurate, although I would question why such a report requires both Birthdate and SIN. Hmmm...

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The "Tax Identification Number" is just your SIN if you don't have a registered business with the government. That's what mine shows on my 2024 Digital Sales Report - the last four digits of my SIN.

[dinomitesales]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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My biggest concern in all this that IF ebay is going to submit numbers to CRA they also forward to seller at the same time so everyone is working off accurate current info. To advise us of 2024 info being sent at end of '25 sounds hinky. It may not be considered the same as a T4 but it's just as critical. By law a T4 needs to be received by last day of February for the previous year. 

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The relevant pages on the CRA website are very clear that the Digital Sales report must be provided to each reportable seller by January 31 of the year following the calendar year in which the seller is identified as a reportable seller. 

So if these reports were just submitted to the CRA now, then I would assume eBay has received some sort of penalty for failing to comply. Or, the obligations don't actually begin until next year.

[doc_scribe]

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@dinomitesales wrote:

The "Tax Identification Number" is just your SIN if you don't have a registered  business with the government. That's what mine shows on my 2024 Digital Sales Report - the last four digits of my SIN.

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...and mine as well. Thanks!

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@flipistics wrote:

@lotzofuniquegoodies  I don't know if Chat Chats and Stallion do, but Click Ship, Sendle, and Shipping Chimp give full tax breakouts with their tax number on the invoice. EasyShip breaks it out, but doesn't include their tax number (which at the price of most labels shouldn't matter as the totals should be under the threshhold).

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Stallion does the same. I request a copy of my invoice (for the dates I specify) and it tells me how much GST/HST is collected so I can claim it.

C.

[ricarmic]

@dinomitesales As a note, eBay has BOTH my HST number and my SIN. The tax reporting number they show is my SIN as well.

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@ricarmic wrote:

@dinomitesales As a note, eBay has BOTH my HST number and my SIN. The tax reporting number they show is my SIN as well.

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I just checked  mine, I didn't look carefully.. they have all my details, name DOB, address, banking info and SIN.

All I can say is it's good 2024 isn't the first year I'm reporting eBay income... I don't think they'd buy me starting in Q1 and selling that much for the first time when they have my account being opened in 1998. (Although in fairness I didn't report taxes for eBay sales until 2013, but that was from lack of selling, not lack of reporting... I was only an occasional, 2 items a month type of seller until 2013). I have reported business income since 2005 (from my time selling at the local farmer's market).

C.

[silverpinups]

"per dinomitesales question about my SIN appearing in the PDF:  it does not.   In fact it doesn't even have a 'tax idenfification number' heading at all.  Down the left hand column of page 1 it shows:  ebay seller details, ebay username, primary residence, place of birth (blank), bank information and account creation date.  And that's it.  No spot for a tax identification number .  I checked the other pages and nothing there either".

My ebay seller details, date of birth, ebay username, primary residence, tax identification number, bank information and account creation date. But no SIN.....

[silverpinups]

"I also think ebay doesn't have the security issues sorted out yet to ensure a secure data transfer, which is why there's no sensitive information on the report. The report is just a different format of the regular sales reports. I guess we'll get answers eventually, but I think it will be status quo for a while yet".

You are correct... All the personal info is redacted, for example my date of birth xx/xx/196? or bank info is *************422?

The ? is to cover a number.....  

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

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My biggest concern in all this that IF ebay is going to submit numbers to CRA they also forward to seller at the same time so everyone is working off accurate current info. To advise us of 2024 info being sent at end of '25 sounds hinky. It may not be considered the same as a T4 but it's just as critical. By law a T4 needs to be received by last day of February for the previous year. 

How is this report just as “critical” as a T4?

[xmiketheripper]

I opened my account in 2012 as well, and only have 161 sales total, i never claimed anything because i thought i was way below what a "business" account would sell, and my account IS casual, I buy video games and figurines as a hobby, and often in the hobby, when a new statue gets announced, you sell the old one to pay for the new one, so the hobby (used to - now almost every sale is at a loss) pay for itself. I'm obviously going to start claiming going forward, but my gross sales are always below $10,000 so I never thought I had to report them. I'm hoping they'll just let me make the adjustment for 2024 and let me pay back whatever difference i owe for the extra income added and it will be business as usual going forward for 2025-> 2026 etc. as long as I keep claiming what I sell. 

Can you elaborate if you feel comfortable what you can claim as someone who sells on ebay? you mean like tape, printing ink, paper etc? 

[sapphyres-designer-jewellery]

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@xmiketheripper wrote:

I opened my account in 2012 as well, and only have 161 sales total, i never claimed anything because i thought i was way below what a "business" account would sell, and my account IS casual, I buy video games and figurines as a hobby, and often in the hobby, when a new statue gets announced, you sell the old one to pay for the new one, so the hobby (used to - now almost every sale is at a loss) pay for itself. I'm obviously going to start claiming going forward, but my gross sales are always below $10,000 so I never thought I had to report them. I'm hoping they'll just let me make the adjustment for 2024 and let me pay back whatever difference i owe for the extra income added and it will be business as usual going forward for 2025-> 2026 etc. as long as I keep claiming what I sell. 

Can you elaborate if you feel comfortable what you can claim as someone who sells on ebay? you mean like tape, printing ink, paper etc? 

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I claim packaging supplies and postage (relating directly to eBay). I claim eBay fees for my store and FVF fees, and subscriptions (like SixBit).

Since I'm running an actual business I also claim "use of home" on the T2125 (business income reporting), and some vehicle expenses. I sell enough to be required to register for HST, so claiming use of home and vehicle expenses hasn't been a problem.

One issue if you become a business is whether or not your home insurance and car insurance will still cover you. One way they determine if you're a business is if you're reporting the income (which there's no choice in anymore), and how much you're selling. If it's just a few hundred dollars or even a couple thousand here and there, the home insurance company won't consider you to be running a business.

C.

[flipistics]

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@sapphyres-designer-jewellery wrote:

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One issue if you become a business is whether or not your home insurance and car insurance will still cover you. One way they determine if you're a business is if you're reporting the income (which there's no choice in anymore), and how much you're selling. If it's just a few hundred dollars or even a couple thousand here and there, the home insurance company won't consider you to be running a business.

C.

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Yeah, home insurance often seems to not care too much as you aren't having customers come to the house (you do have to tell them though). I'm guessing because of the number of people who run small businesses out of the home they can't afford to turn people away when there's little to no extra risk for them. Car insurance seems to be another matter entirely, and the commercial rates are MUCH higher.

[xmiketheripper]

You can claim the ebay transaction fees when you make a sale?! 👀 i wonder if that's only for business accounts lol definitely something to keep in mind, Thank you for your response 🙏