Starting January 2025, Ebay Canada to require SIN number for all sellers with more than 30 sales?

[joycroe_0]

I was reading this article on Ebay and it states that as of January 2025, anyone with over 30 sales will have to provide a SIN number. 
https://www.ebay.ca/help/account/regulatory/sales-reporting/canada-digital-sales-reporting?id=5476#s...

It seems like quite a drastic update and I'm surprised more people haven't been talking about it.

[regs43]

I saw this coming before/just around when the Pandemic happened, when the USA decided to impliment the tax on sales in like 2021. I registered as a Bussiness in early 2020. Just takes Canada longer to follow through on the same things.

This wont affect me as I am well over these $2800/30 numbers but I'll input my SIN when asked. Hopefully that process will be easy and no glitches. I assume we will get something similar to a US 1099 paper at the end of the 2025 year with a nice breakdown of all the info needed for tax time?, that would be nice if so, since digging for it on a downloaded chart is sometimes annoying lol.

[joycroe_0]

Yes, they already charge GST and HST on our 2nd hand used items that we already pay for and now they want us to file if we make a measily 30 sales. This is overkill is definitely going to lead people to utilize more cash based market place services.

[joycroe_0]

Yes, 2800$ is a low threshold, especially considering that shipping is included and we all know the exuberant price of shipping in Canada. What I find more egregious is the 30 sale a year base line. There's a lot of people like myself selling things like old CD's, cheap trading cards, just little items to get some extra pocket money. 

We can start to understand the importance of cash based marketplace trading when the government becomes this overreaching.

[joycroe_0]

I know a lot of hobbyists in the United States who stopped using Ebay because of the regulation changes... You just don't hear about it because they have all left lol.

[joycroe_0]

Well there's a lot of hobby sellers who sell little used knick-knacks for some extra pocket money. Certainly it's probably not worth the time, but it's a way to get a little extra pocket money. Lord knows times are tough right now in this country.

But I agree, with all of the fees, the exuberant price of shipping and now these hoops to jump through, it's only going to be worthwhile for the more serious sellers. 

[joycroe_0]

Yes, Canada always seems to follow behind the United States in lockstep with these kinds of regulations.

[joycroe_0]

Yeah, I wish there more transparency and clarity about these things ahead of time. Time will tell I suppose.

[sin-n-dex]

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@joycroe_0 wrote:

Yeah, I wish there more transparency and clarity about these things ahead of time. Time will tell I suppose.

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When I registered for Managed Payments they asked for my SIN Number.

It was voluntary at the time, but I knew it would later become mandatory when CRA required it. So I supplied the information. I file a T2125 and an HST return, so there's no reason not to provide this.

C.

[fergua3]

Other than privacy concerns,  i don't see providing SIN's as a big deal.    Declare the income you make, if you're supposd to and you have nothing to worry about,  or don't,  at your peril.  But with the hundreds of thousands of small sellers that will be effected by this, there is no way the CRA will be able to 'crack down' on everyone.  They will probably just go  after the biggest fish and a small number of small fish so stories spread to scare everyone 'straight'.  

The only reason i don't like it is i don't want to give my SIN to Ebay....i consider them very hackable.

[joycroe_0]

Yes, correct me if I'm wrong but there's been data breaches with Ebay in the past. A lot of experts have warned that it's best to keep your SIN number off the internet because you could even have your own security concerns with your personal devices. It's not something to hand out willy nilly.

[femmefan1946]

sure, but ebay.com is in the US and not subject to Canadian law.

Ummm.

EBay Canada is a Canadian business, technically, and has headquarters in Canada.

Most multinational companies find it much easier to comply with local laws than to spend a lot of money fighting them.

[found_on_friday]

So i have literally thousands of old cds and dvds, sportscards, etc, how do i prove to the Cra that these were personal use items . Even with an Excell spreadsheet wont it be my word against thiers, no one keeps purchase receipts for items they bought going back 20-30 years.

[marnotom!]

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@joycroe_0 wrote:

Yes, correct me if I'm wrong but there's been data breaches with Ebay in the past. A lot of experts have warned that it's best to keep your SIN number off the internet because you could even have your own security concerns with your personal devices. It's not something to hand out willy nilly.

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Keep in mind that it’s CRA that wants that SIN, not eBay.  eBay is just doing CRA's dirty work.

(BTW, it’s a "SIN" and not a “SIN number” as the N in SIN stands for “number”.)

Even H&R Block and the CRA aren’t immune from hackers, though:

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7363440

cc: @fergua3

[marnotom!]

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@found_on_friday wrote:

So i have literally thousands of old cds and dvds, sportscards, etc, how do i prove to the Cra that these were personal use items .

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Declaring them in the item description as items that were once in your personal collection might be a good start. No guarantees, mind you.

[femmefan1946]

The US brought in a limit of $600 after which eBay has to report to the IRS.

EBay used that limit because that was the one many states chose for their state income taxes.

The dotCOM boards say everthing from $600 to $20,000 but the posters have a tendency to gibber and drool, and come off as unreliable sources.
Not that either eBay or the IRS has been forthcoming.

Then whatever your gross income, you only pay taxes on your TAXABLE income.

Many of those "small sellers" may have finally figured out that their "profitable side hustle" was a "money sucking hobby" all along- even before taxes.

So if you are taking 20% of your gross income in deductible expenses, that $20,000 gross becomes $16,000 taxable and at a 25% tax rate you pay $4,000 in taxes.

And that's only if your total taxable income is over $111,733.

If you taxable income is less than $55,867 including online income, you would pay $2,400 in taxes on that $20K gross.

https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/learn/tax-brackets-canada

In case you ever wonder what your tax bracket actually is.

[found_on_friday]

Seems like the perfect recipe to tax items that were already taxed when purchased.

[marnotom!]

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@found_on_friday wrote:

Seems like the perfect recipe to tax items that were already taxed when purchased.

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It’s already happening on eBay, but the argument is that it’s the transaction being taxed, not the item.  It's a Goods and Service tax, after all.

Used items or the sale of used items also happens with in-person transactions. I don’t know what province you live in, but here in British Columbia, even purchases of used vehicles from private individuals are subject to taxes. You can’t license or insure your vehicle without paying the taxes due first.

And check your receipt next time you buy something from Value Village.

[joycroe_0]

That's precisely the dilemma I'm having too...   And If I buy a 200 dollar box of sports cards, and decide to sell  some of the ones that I don't want at a lower price to recoup some of the cost, why should that be taxable income?

There seems to be a lot of grey area here. From all the research I'm doing, they don't seem to care and are going to want to tax it regardless now that the reporting thresholds are so much lower.

[joycroe_0]

They're already doing that with the new GST and HST law, charging people who are buying our 2nd hand items tax for a 2nd time... And then on top of that, they want tax on the income as well. This government is unrelenting.

[joycroe_0]

Good points, good points. 👍