Selling online in Canada: what platforms now report to the CRA

Since 1 January 2024, digital platforms report their sellers to the CRA. Canada's reporting rules for digital platform operators require marketplaces and apps that let people sell goods, provide services or rent out property to collect information about their sellers and report it to the CRA for each calendar year.

What platforms report, and when#

• The first reportable period was the 2024 calendar year.
• Reports are due by 31 January of the following year.
• Each reported seller gets a copy of the information reported about them by the same date.

A platform based in Canada reports. So, generally, does one based abroad that lets sellers sell goods or offer services, including property rentals, in Canada.

Who is excluded#

A seller of goods is an excluded seller, and isn't reported, if they had fewer than 30 sales totalling $2,800 or less in the year.

Hobby, clear-out or business?#

The CRA describes business income as income from "a profession, a trade, a manufacture or undertaking of any kind, an adventure or concern in the nature of trade, or any other activity you carry on for profit and there is evidence to support that intention". Clearing out a cupboard — a sofa, old clothes, a bike you've outgrown — isn't usually that. Buying things to resell, making goods to sell, or selling regularly to make money usually is, and the CRA expects peer-to-peer sellers to report that income as self-employment income on Form T2125.

The platform's report shows the CRA your sales. It doesn't show your costs, and the costs are what bring the taxable profit down. That's where your receipts come in.

The records that back up your expenses#

For every business expense — stock, packaging, postage, platform fees — keep a supporting document that shows the date, the seller, and what you bought. The CRA expects them to be kept for six years from the end of the tax year. Postage, platform fees and payment processing charges often arrive as emails and statements rather than paper, so a way of catching those matters as much as a shoebox for till receipts.

GST/HST on what you sell#

Once your taxable supplies go over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter, or over the last four consecutive quarters, you must register for GST/HST and charge it. After registering you can claim back the GST/HST on your business purchases, provided the receipts show what the CRA requires — see GST/HST receipt rules.