Canadian GST

[toystoriesforjoy1]

eBay now collects Canadian Goods and Services Tax (GST) for buyers on sales from Canadian Sellers. The item sold is charged GST tax according to Province in Canada shipped to. The rates are all different. Shipping charged to the buyer is also charged GST tax by eBay. The shipping is also charged GST tax at the post office. International Fee Charge by eBay is also taxed with GST.  The Final Value Fee is taxed also with GST.  Many items are used items and have been taxed at source so the tax by eBay again on  used items is double tax. TOO MANY TAXES. This is how eBay makes money. Buyers wonder why prices are so high and sellers wonder how they can possibly sell at a bargain. 

The Canadian Government are trying to sink small businesses. They are doing a bang up job and it hurts everyone excet eBay and the Canadian Government. 

[brettjet38]

Get in line for your UBI, it was always the final destination...

[mrdutch1001]

This isn't about eBay, the new Canadian taxation process encompasses other online selling sites and it is this Canadian law that requires these selling sites to comply with collecting the taxes....very much like the USA's "internet taxation process" that 45 or so USA states require marketplace facillitators to collect the states' taxes on buyers' online purchases. Get used to it, you will see this taxation process applies to Amazon, Etsy and other online selling sites. Canadian buyers will have to accept, adapt and adjust their online buying with applicable taxes, same as USA buyers have had to do for the past 2+ years...Canadian buyers will get used to it in time and will find this online taxation process isn't any different than going to their local retail outlets where they pay these same applicable taxes.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

This isn't about eBay, the new Canadian taxation process encompasses other online selling sites and it is this Canadian law that requires these selling sites to comply with collecting the taxes....very much like the USA's "internet taxation process" that 45 or so USA states require marketplace facillitators to collect the states' taxes on buyers' online purchases. Get used to it, you will see this taxation process applies to Amazon, Etsy and other online selling sites. Canadian buyers will have to accept, adapt and adjust their online buying with applicable taxes, same as USA buyers have had to do for the past 2+ years...Canadian buyers will get used to it in time and will find this online taxation process isn't any different than going to their local retail outlets where they pay these same applicable taxes.

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Haven't bought anything on eBay other than the mostly free eBay supplies quarterly which have had tax added on for the last year.

Anyone that has made a purchase in the last 48 hours curious to know what you are seeing when you go to check out? Was it just suddenly part of the el grande total?? The weirdly unique best surprise is no surprise preference!!

There was really no(if any) fanfare from a buyers perspective(unless they accidently saw something on the news as to what was about to happen. Can imagine there has been "some" shock when buyers went to pay. Maybe even a few who said...Huh and No thanks then moved on. Many who may have shopped via eBay based on sellers that sell without adding tax. Because in the past they really didn't sell enough in the past to make it worthwhile to charge.

-Lotz

[mrdutch1001]

I believe buyers will be more tolerant than we give them credit for at the moment...agreeably there may be some hesitation at first, some will balk at the idea of having to pay taxes for their online purchases here on eBay or Etsy and so forth, but they will in time accept, adjust, adapt and carry on!!...after all if buyers are purchasing anything at all from say Wayfair, Walmart, other retail outlets that have an online selling presence, buyers are already paying taxes on those online purchases...

[marnotom!]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Anyone that has made a purchase in the last 48 hours curious to know what you are seeing when you go to check out? Was it just suddenly part of the el grande total?? The weirdly unique best surprise is no surprise preference!!

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https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Canadian-Sales-Tax/What-this-looks-like-for-a-buyer/td-p/481049

[marnotom!]

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@toystoriesforjoy1 wrote:

The Canadian Government are trying to sink small businesses. They are doing a bang up job and it hurts everyone excet eBay and the Canadian Government. 

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I think the pandemic made it abundantly clear to many governments, not just ours, that there was a gulf between brick and mortar businesses and online businesses when it came to taxation.  When we were locked down/encouraged to stay home, we made more online purchases which may or may not have been subject to taxes.  Meanwhile, small brick and mortar businesses struggled and didn't generate as much tax revenue for the feds and provinces.

This initiative--like it or not--levels the playing field that both brick and mortar merchants and online businesses play on, and what's more, on marketplace sites such as this one, it means that all sellers are now playing by more or less the same rules when it comes to the charging and collection of sales taxes.

Canada is actually playing catch-up to the European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, and other jurisdictions including the tax-adverse United States in this regard.  Did you know that you've already been charged FVF on the taxes charged to most of your buyers from Europe and the US?

[reallynicestamps]

The item sold is charged GST tax according to Province in Canada shipped to. The rates are all different.

The GST is consistent in all provinces and territories.

The provincial sales taxes vary.

A (very) few sellers have expressed relief that eBay is doing all these calculations for them, rather than having to keep 13 different tax tables, with all the varying exceptions on file.

Shipping charged to the buyer is also charged GST tax by eBay...International Fee Charge by eBay is also taxed with GST. 

Managed Payments charges fees on the entire customer payment which includes shipping, international fees, and taxes.

EBay charges (and remits) sales taxes on the fees.

It's a goods and services tax.

The shipping is also charged GST tax at the post office.

It's a goods and services tax.

Many items are used items and have been taxed at source so the tax by eBay again on used items is double tax.

While some provinces apparently do not charge sales taxes on used goods, most do.

 This is how eBay makes money. 

It's a commercial operation. Like your business and mine.

Making money is the point.

They make money by providing a service (website, payment processing, and remitting collected taxes.)

They don't keep the tax money, or not for long anyway.

and sellers wonder how they can possibly sell at a bargain.

Why are sellers trying to sell "at a bargain"? At a fair price, yes, but we are not charities.

[recped]

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@marnotom! wrote:

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Anyone that has made a purchase in the last 48 hours curious to know what you are seeing when you go to check out? Was it just suddenly part of the el grande total?? The weirdly unique best surprise is no surprise preference!!

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https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Canadian-Sales-Tax/What-this-looks-like-for-a-buyer/td-p/481049

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Looks the same to me as it always did.....(well not the PST/QST line because I'm in an HST Province)

I don't remember the last time I bought anything on eBay Canada that did not include Ontario HST, probably because I don't buy from small time casual sellers very often (hardly ever).

The $30,000 registration requirement means that only really small time sellers were not previously charging GST/HST.

[countyboy01]

So I am a small seller on ebay Canada and definitely below the $30K threshold. My buyers are now being charged GST on their purchases. Small brick-and-mortar vendors are not required to charge GST to buyers. Is the gov't treating on-line transactions differently, requiring buyers to cough up GST regardless of the seller's "size"??

[marnotom!]

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@countyboy01 wrote:

So I am a small seller on ebay Canada and definitely below the $30K threshold. My buyers are now being charged GST on their purchases. Small brick-and-mortar vendors are not required to charge GST to buyers. Is the gov't treating on-line transactions differently, requiring buyers to cough up GST regardless of the seller's "size"??

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Pretty much.  Welcome to the difference between online and brick and mortar sales.  But it's not a matter of the "seller's size" if you're using a digital platform like eBay, but the "size" of the platform.  Remember, it's the platform that's required to collect GST, not the seller using the platform.

[countyboy01]

I get that for the tax eBay collects on their fees. To my knowledge however (limited as it is) there has been no new legislation that discriminates against online sellers below the $30K level.

[marnotom!]

It’s not about the seller. It’s about the platform the seller uses.

[mrdutch1001]

It doesn't matter whether the seller is above or below the $30 K level...it's the buyers that are paying the tax.

[femmefan1946]

Small brick-and-mortar vendors are not required to charge GST to buyers.

What gave you that idea?

Given the costs of having a brick and mortar shop (which we did from 1979 to 2014, and I managed others) it would be foolish to open a shop unless the gross income was $30,000 a month, never mind a year.

$30K  is $15.62 an hour -- and that's before stock procurement,  utilities , municipal taxes, marketing, staffing, garbage pickup and insurance.  Which is a recipe for bankruptcy.

30K a month is still only $182 an hour, which is marginal, but might be doable depending on the rent.

Some shops might try including the cost of GST in their prices, which would be fine in Alberta but a problem in Ontario where the PST (now part of the HST) must be charged and stated on the buyer's receipt. 

Quebec is a little more understanding, I guess. There was an annual Tax-Free Day in Gatineau, just across the river from Ottawa, where most businesses advertised a "we pay the tax " day of sales, usually during the slow sales period of February.

Basically, the business paid the tax that was due. The sale worked because people would rather think they were not paying 15% in taxes than have a 25% discount on their purchases.

[lorecomputers]

So as a seller, I am being charged 13% of my sales yet the buyer is in a province that has no PST. How can that be correct ?

[marnotom!]

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@lorecomputers wrote:

So as a seller, I am being charged 13% of my sales yet the buyer is in a province that has no PST. How can that be correct ?

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Do you mean the 13% HST charge on your final value fees?

Your final value fees are your final value fees.  They're based on your location.  Since you're in Ontario, you pay 13% HST on 'em.  Same as before the change to having eBay apply sales taxes to the transaction for the buyer to pay was enacted.

[rdwhynott-6]

I'm a seller and have been deducted gst, pst on my sale. If I read this correctly the buyer also gets charged the taxes as well. Is this true. That works out to over 29% for western Canada.

[rdwhynott-6]

While that is true to some extent businesses in Canada charge the consumer the taxes after the sale. Deducting the purchases taxes from the selling taxes leaves the govt with the taxes on profit.
That doesnt appear to be the case here. Am I correct on this.?

[mrdutch1001]

The way I understand it, the simple translation for taxation here at eBay is this:

The buyer is charged taxes on the total amount of their purchase.

The seller is charged taxes on their incurred fees which will include tax on any applicable source of fee such as the FVF, Insertion fee,shipping fee,International fees, etc,etc