If you sell stuff at a loss on ebay (for less than the cost price) can you get a GST refund?

Question

I have a video camera for which I had paid 900 dollars a couple of months ago. GST and PST account for a 100 dollars of that amount. I want to sell the video camera on ebay , I think I will get only about 400 dollars. Can I get a refund of the GST and PST paid on the excess amount? (900 - 400 = 500 dollars , 15% of 500 is 75 dollars)

Answer 1

Unfortunately these taxes are not recoverable. Based on the wording of your question it is fairly apparent that this is a casual sale and not part of an on going commercial activity aimed at earning an income.

Persons engaged in a commercial activity that are registered under the Excise Tax Act and the Ontario Retail Sales Tax Act would be entilted to recover these taxes.

The GST would be claimed as an input tax credit and the PST would not be payable in the first instance since the camera (for example) would have been purchased for the purpose of resale. Goods purchased by a registered vendor for the purpose of resale are exempt from Ontario PST.

In both cases however the vendor would be required to charge and collect GST and PST on the price of the goods sold.

Answer 2

No, you cannot get a refund, GST, PST refund or examption only apply to business. If you are a tourist, you could also get a refund. But not in your case. If you turn your ebay sales into a business venture, then you still have to apply for the GST, PST number in order to claim your refunds.

Answer 3

....only if you are willing to claim all your eBay sales as taxable income earned from self employment when you prepare your income tax.. revenue Canada would not consider selling one item at a loss a viable business venture and would likely disallow it. All GST and PST rebates are deducted from a balance owing from gst on reported sales.

Sorry, the answer is no, Canadians are not eligible for personal rebates.

Answer 4

No you can't.