Etsy has asked me to update my information but is holding my funds until I give them my SIN ( Social Insurance Number).
This is very private information and potentially could be a door opener for a fraudster to access my bank and credit card financials.
Would be interested to learn if any other sellers have been asked for this information .Etsy is telling me that my available funds will not be released to my bank account and my shop will not be allowed to operate unless I give them that SIN number.
It's a new requirement by the CRA. Etsy is required to report your income if you reach 30+ sales or $2,800 in revenue to ensure you pay the appropriate taxes on your income.
Since adding my SIN number Etsy has started charging me a Regulatory Fee which they were not charging me prior. I've ALWAYS reported my Etsy earnings to the CRA.
You should've also got an email about it from Etsy back in August. The SIN number is different from that. One is because Etsy doesn't want to pay THEIR taxes and have pushed that onto us sellers, and the other is because sellers in all sorts of "gig" type economies don't pay their taxes, which is a fact, so one way the CRA can make sure everyone does, is to have the marketplace report income, rather than relying on people to be honest.
Tessie; I have been waiting for 40 days to confirm an ID, and have seen your name previously. My position is that SIN # is between you and RevCan and noone else. If you have a gst# and a bus.# that should be enough, although for small, self-employed vendors under gst thresholds, that may not work. Seek an accountant's counsel. Giving SIN# out is an invitation to scammers and identity theft.
To the seller who says they have given their GST # you dont need to give your SIN, gst should be enough. To Cornish MAid, i meant you should not see the number, only the encrypted with maybe the last digits, not the whole number. OF course one doesn't give their password out, but when I am in my account, I can only see the last four digits of my banking info, but can see the whole ID number. You can be in your own home and acct hacked, or have the app open when out etc. Even on my bank acct that info is not visible . Etsy should be doing the same
To Cornish Maids I have always paid all my taxes with an acct and we have different laws for that reporting for small sellers under 30K in Canada than in UK with many provinces etc. my issue is with the Etsy security of SIN. Our SIN is only to be used for employers, banks etc. The bank accts Canadians use require SIN so it is already available to CRA.
SIN number is our most personal ID. here. If stolen or hacked it can alter your whole life as anyone will tell you. When i look at my payment info on etsy, I cannot see my full bank acct info, only four digits & astericks, the SIN & other id should be the same.
It is the Canadian governments laws, that say you have to provide a HST/GST, or SIN to etsy, it's their laws, take it up with them.
We have different laws for reporting under £90,000, and not reporting under £1,000 at all,
But this is new, and ADDITIONAL legislation, for Canada, UK, and the EU - who have all decided to implement the OECD regulations into their own laws, for online selling on platforms.
"If you do not provide your tax identification number to your platform operator(s), the CRA may assess you a penalty of $500 for each failure to provide it."
Reporting platform operators must report identification and activity information on each reportable seller.
Identification information
Name of seller
Seller’s primary address
Date of birth, where applicable
Seller’s tax identification number including the jurisdiction of issuance
Seller’s financial account identifiers
"If you do not provide your tax identification number to your platform operator(s), the CRA may assess you a penalty of $500 for each failure to provide it."
