eBay Updates Announcement On Canadian Tax Collection
eBay first announced they would be collecting and remitting applicable taxes for Canada in May, with an effective date of July 1st.
Liz Morton ~ Founder
Now that the new tax requirements are in effect, eBay has published the following update about Canadian sales tax to address some issues and concerns that have popped up since July 1st - including the collection of tax on bullion and precious metals that many seller said was illegal.
Liz Morton ~ Founder
Pursuant to the guidelines announced in Canada's 2021 Federal Budget and recent provincial sales tax amendments, eBay Canada Limited ("eBay") is now collecting Canadian sales taxes (GST/HST/QST/PST) on applicable sales to Canada-based buyers.
As of July 1, 2022, for all sales of tangible goods sold within Canada, eBay has been collecting the Canadian sales taxes (GST/HST/QST/ PST) from Canada-based buyers on behalf of Canada-based sellers (irrespective of registration status) and remitting the tax to the appropriate tax authorities. eBay will remit all taxes collected to the appropriate taxing authorities as legally required.
Detailed seller reporting information will be provided monthly indicating the eBay collected tax. This will indicate the Federal and Provincial taxes collected from buyers on your sales and will include the tax that will be remitted by eBay directly to the appropriate taxing authorities. There are no new requirements for sellers who were not previously required to collect and remit. For those sellers who were required to be registered and collecting, this does represent a mid-year change; however, the administrative burden has been on eBay since July 1, 2022.
Your eBay sales information won’t be shared with any provincial and federal jurisdictions.
A few things we would like to highlight after receiving your comments and emails:
- There have been requests from members to receive a confirmation email that your Billing Agent Authorization form was received. We are reviewing all the forms received to ensure that they were properly filled out. Thank you for your patience as we go through all of them, we will reply back to everyone. Please note that this form needs to be filled out only for GST/HST and/or QST registered sellers. Please email CanadaGST/PST@ebay.com to request this form if you have not received it.
- The requirement for taxation is based on the transaction, not the item. So this applies to both new and used items. The buyer in each individual transaction separately pays the GST/HST/QST/PST as applicable.
- We know that the Bullions category should be exempted from being taxed and we apologize for this technical error for those of you who were taxed. eBay will refund the buyer any tax over-collected and will be responsible for any tax under-collected. eBay is utilizing third party software and taxability rules to ensure the proper tax treatment of all items listed on the site.
- eBay cannot provide any tax guidance on filing in your tax returns, please contact an accountant or tax professional.
- The seller tax tables were disabled for intra-Canada transactions on July 1, 2022. eBay will be collecting the GST/HST/PST/QST on all intra-Canada transactions beginning on this date and remitting the tax collected to the relevant government or taxation agency.
With this change in sales tax collection responsibilities, eBay aims to alleviate our sellers of the administrative burden to accurately charge and collect sales taxes on taxable sales made through the platform and comply with all applicable legislation. eBay is taking over this responsibility for all sellers – not just those that are not registered – in an effort to simplify the experience for our community. Any questions or concerns about tax collection will be handled by eBay Customer Service. You can also visit our Tax Information page here.
eBay will also be responsible for the collection of the Canadian sales taxes on supplies to Canada-based buyers of digitally downloaded goods, including sales from non-Canadian sellers. eBay's User Agreement has been updated to implement these changes and provide information to outline compliance with applicable laws.
Additional information about the federal measures can be found at the CRA site or by calling their hotline: Contact us: GST/HST for digital economy businesses - Canada.ca.
Please consult with your tax advisor if you have specific questions or concerns about these changes.
