I am having a problem with the accuracy of eBay's 2025 tax reporting to the CRA. It was identified when my accounting system would not reconcile my true net income to the "consideration" earned according to the figures contained in the eBay CRA submission. From what I see from the detailed Digital Sales Report I have downloaded, eBay is applying marketplace-collected GST/HST incorrectly. I see that Column K of the spreadsheet headed "Gross Transaction Amount" is excluding GST (so should really be headed "Gross Transaction Amount excluding GST"), while GST collected is separately shown in Column N headed "eBay collected tax" and shown again in Column T headed "eBay collected tax in payout currency". Then Column U headed "Net consideration" has deducted the GST from the net pre-GST consideration shown in Column K, even though no GST has been included in the calculation. This means Column U (the actual consideration reported the to CRA) understates true consideration by the amount of GST paid on each transaction, and suggests the seller rather than buyer paid the GST. I found the easiest way to identify and try to reconcile the discrepancy was to choose one transaction from the spreadsheet and go back to the original transaction report eBay generates at the time of sale, showing net earnings after all fees and taxes have been applied. Then I checked these same numbers across the report, and could see my net earnings were understated. It has been surprisingly difficult to get eBay to deal with it. The automated chat is hopeless in answering questions about the issue. Online chat staff are little better. I have now raised the issue four times with eBay. Each time I am told an answer will be provided within 48 hours. So far "crickets" is all I have heard and I keep chasing them up. So I am getting the impression it's a widespread problem that will require eBay to resubmit 2025 tax data to the CRA, at least for all customers where eBay collects and remits GST on behalf of the seller. I did see that Ebay has a Canada digital sales reporting help feature that I feel is very poorly worded. It even says "the amount eBay reports may differ from the total amount of payments you actually received from eBay". My response on reading that is "What?" Does that mean eBay will send numbers to the CRA that may, or may not, reflect the reality of what a seller actually earned? If so, why bother reporting numbers to the CRA if you cannot report what the seller actually earned? eBay's poorly worded full description of consideration states: "Your total consideration for the year is calculated based on the full amount received for your sales transactions, excluding*: Shipping amounts paid to eBay Sales tax (GST/HST/PST/QST) collected and remitted by eBay Sales tax (GST/HST/PST/QST) charged on fees Amounts deducted by eBay for fees, coupons, cancelled or deleted orders Returns * Consequently, the amount eBay reports may differ from the total amount of payments you actually received from eBay." The error here is the net consideration reported doesn't exclude Sales tax remitted by eBay, but it should. It's a simple error that eBay should be able to correct easily, but for some reason they have failed so far, and continue to be very coy about explaining what they will do about it to correct the discrepancy in their tax reporting to the CRA. Hopefully they will resolve it within the next 48 hours, like they said to me... but I am more than skeptical they will deliver. Perhaps if others have the same issue and escalate the problem, the more likely it will get resolved faster. In the meantime, thanks to eBay, I have understated my taxable income to the CRA. I wonder if eBay will be responsible for any penalties or interest I receive from the CRA as a result?
