CRA Audits EBay Sellers
CRA will commence auditing EBay sellers this fall. Jean-Pierre Blackburn, the Revenue Minister announced on July 30, 2009 that anyone who has sold products on EBay could avoid audits, penalties, interest and criminal prosecution by doing a voluntary disclosure and declaring the income to the CRA.
Doing business on EBay is no different than regular business and the income should be reported.
CRA won a decision in the Federal Court of Canada against EBay Canada and now has access to EBay sellers’ revenue information. CRA is not interested in individuals who infrequently sell personal items at a loss. You do not pay tax on personal use property at a loss. CRA obtained information from EBay and is now going through a matching process to look for potential audits. They will be matching the information from EBay to GST and tax returns filed. CRA has now put EBay sellers on notice.
Once a voluntary disclosure is made with CRA the taxpayer has 90 days to amend or file the tax or GST returns. During the 90 day period, the taxpayer is protected from prosecution.
