Yes. Reselling, gig-app payouts, and other platform income in Canada are taxable when they are business income, and a gain on personal-use property can be taxable when the proceeds are over the $1,000 rule on Schedule 3. A platform report to the CRA does not create a new tax, and it does not mean the tax was already paid. Since 2024, many digital platforms have had to report seller information under Part XX of the Income Tax Act. You still report the income yourself.
This is general information, not tax advice. Talk to an accountant if you are unsure whether a sale is inventory or personal-use property. That label changes the return. Confirm the capital gains inclusion rate for the year of the sale in Guide T4037 before you do the math. A proposed increase from one-half to two-thirds was deferred and, on the CRA’s what’s new for corporations page, was later described as cancelled. The small-business what’s-new page says the CRA went back to administering the enacted one-half rate for gains realized before January 1, 2026. This guide does not calculate a two-thirds gain. Check T4037 for the year you sell.
How business income is filed is how to report side hustle income. The $30,000 GST/HST test, if the activity is a business, is GST/HST registration.
Do you pay tax on reselling and gig apps in Canada?
You pay tax on reselling and gig-app income in Canada when the activity is a source of income, which for an ongoing buy-and-sell or a driving app is usually business income on Form T2125. Business income is fully included. It is not a capital gain. Tips, bonuses, and payouts are part of what you earned. A missing slip does not remove them.
A one-time sale of something you bought to use, and later sold, can be personal-use property instead of a business. The CRA’s personal-use property page covers cars, boats, and similar belongings. Most of those sales do not produce a gain, because the things fall in value. If there is a gain, you report it. A loss on ordinary personal-use property is generally not deductible.
Buying goods to resell is the business pattern. Selling a jacket you wore is the personal-use pattern. A sourcing list every weekend is hard to call a closet clean-out. The reselling side hustle guide is written for the business pattern.
| Activity | Usual place on the return | What people skip |
|---|---|---|
| Ongoing reselling | T2125 business income | Cost of the goods, which is part of the calculation |
| One-off sale of a personal item above the $1,000 rule | Schedule 3 | The deemed $1,000 amounts |
| Rideshare, delivery, task apps | Usually T2125 if you are self-employed | Tips and the vehicle log |
| Employment wages from an app that issues a T4 | Employment income | Reporting the same dollars again on a T2125 |
Whether you are self-employed or an employee is the working relationship, not the app’s word. The CRA employment status page says the facts decide it. Most gig driving on this site is described as self-employment. If your facts are employment, use the T4.
When is a sale a hobby, and when is it a business in Canada?
A hobby in ordinary speech is not a line on the return. The income-tax question is whether you are carrying on a business. Where an activity looks like a personal endeavour, the CRA and the courts look at whether it is carried on in a commercial way. A personal element, such as collecting for pleasure with no real commercial intent, can mean there is no business source. A pattern of buying stock, listing it, and repeating the process points the other way.
You do not need a logo or a profit for the activity to be a business. Profits are not optional to report because you call the work a hobby. Inventory you bought to flip is not personal-use property, so the $1,000 rule below does not shelter it. GST/HST can still apply under the $30,000 small-supplier test.
How does the $1,000 personal-use property rule work in Canada?
When you dispose of personal-use property, the CRA’s Schedule 3 instructions use these rules. If the adjusted cost base is less than $1,000, it is considered to be $1,000. If the proceeds are less than $1,000, the proceeds are considered to be $1,000. If both the adjusted cost base and the proceeds are $1,000 or less, there is no capital gain or loss, and you do not report the sale on Schedule 3.
The CRA’s own examples on that page: a china cabinet sold for $900 with a cost of $500 is reported as neither gain nor loss, because both amounts are under $1,000 and each is treated as $1,000. A boat sold for $1,200 with a cost of $850 and selling costs of $50 uses a $1,000 cost, so the gain in the example is $1,200 − ($1,000 + $50) = $150. A personal computer sold for $1,500 that cost $3,200 shows a loss, and that loss is not deductible against other gains.
Those are the CRA’s figures for the method. They are not your listings.
Listed personal property, such as certain art, jewellery, rare books, stamps, and coins, has its own loss rules on Schedule 3. Use Guide T4037 for those lines. If you buy and sell them as a business, you may be on a T2125 instead.
A taxable capital gain is only part of the gain. The CRA’s what’s-new pages, linked above, describe a return to the enacted one-half rate for gains before January 1, 2026, unless an exemption applies. For a later sale, open Guide T4037 for that year before you multiply. A business profit on reselling is not cut by the inclusion rate. It is business income. A weekly flipping habit is usually that business, not capital.
What do digital platform reporting rules require from 2024?
The CRA’s reporting rules for digital platform operators apply from calendar 2024. Part XX requires certain operators to report sellers. Relevant activities include sales of goods and relevant services: rental of real property, personal services, rental of a means of transport, and prescribed services. The CRA’s seller examples include goods, property rental, and rideshare and delivery.
The first reportable period was the 2024 calendar year. Information returns for that year were due January 31, 2025. Later years are due by the end of January after the calendar year, with the usual weekend rule. The filing page says that if you only buy on platforms, the rules do not report you. If you provide the activities, your role is to give the platform the information it asks for.
The who is affected page lists excluded sellers. One exclusion is a seller with fewer than 30 relevant activities for the sale of goods, where the total consideration paid or credited did not exceed $2,800 in the reportable period. Both parts of that goods exclusion sit together on the page: under 30 activities and not over $2,800. It is an exclusion from platform reporting for those small goods sellers. It is not a rule that the income is tax-free. It is not described on that page as the exclusion for rideshare, delivery, or other personal services.
Large accommodation providers, governments, and publicly traded entities have their own exclusions. Read the page if you think you are in one. A typical side hustle is not a public company.
Keep any copy the platform sends, with your own records, for the six years in record keeping. Fees, refunds, and sales on another site are why the copy and your total can differ. Write down the difference. Do not ignore the copy.
Does a platform report mean the tax is already paid?
No. Reporting gives the CRA information. It does not withhold your income tax, and it does not pay your CPP. You still file. You still pay any balance by the payment deadline, which for the 2025 return is April 30, 2026, even if you file later because you are self-employed. That deadline is on the reporting guide’s sibling page, how to report side hustle income.
Some platforms collect GST/HST under separate digital-economy rules. That collection is not Part XX, and it does not decide your small-supplier test. Rideshare still registers from the first passenger fare. Delivery uses the $30,000 test unless you also carry passengers. See the GST/HST guide and the vehicle guide.
What does an illustrative resale look like under both labels?
Illustrative example, personal-use. Suppose you sell a bicycle you bought to ride, not to flip, for $700, and it cost $1,100. Proceeds under $1,000 are treated as $1,000. A loss on ordinary personal-use property is generally not deductible, and the original purchase was personal, so it is not a business expense. This applies the CRA method to assumed prices. It is not a CRA example. Confirm Schedule 3 if your numbers differ.
Illustrative example, business. Suppose you buy three used phones for $80 each to resell, sell them for $150 each, and pay $15 of shipping you can tie to the sales. Cost is $240. Shipping is $15. Proceeds are $450. Net in the sketch is $450 − $240 − $15 = $195 of business income, before other expenses and before tax and CPP. You do not run the $195 through the $1,000 personal-use rule. You do not multiply it by one-half. It goes toward a T2125 if this is a business. The $195 is an assumption. It is not a typical flip and not a reason to start buying phones.
| Label | Assumed facts | Sketch result |
|---|---|---|
| Personal bicycle | Sold $700, cost $1,100 | No deductible loss under the personal-use rules |
| Three phones bought to resell | Proceeds $450, cost $240, shipping $15 | $195 business income, not a capital gain |
A gig-app week is the business column. Suppose a delivery app paid $400 and tips were $40. Income in the sketch is $440, before the vehicle percentage and before fees the report already netted. If the platform’s Part XX copy says $440, your return should be able to show $440 or explain the gap. The vehicle costs are not subtracted inside the platform’s seller total. They are your expenses, with a log.
Listings and payouts multiply. FreshBooks TODO-AFFILIATE can hold a simple income-and-cost list for a reseller who has outgrown a notes app. It will not decide whether a jacket was personal-use property.
At filing, Wealthsimple Tax TODO-AFFILIATE and TurboTax Canada TODO-AFFILIATE can prepare a T2125 or Schedule 3 from the numbers you enter. Pick the form that matches the label. Check the price. The software will not reclassify a business as a hobby because that produces a smaller bill.
Shipping supplies are a real cost when the activity is a business. A poly mailer pack TODO-AFFILIATE is a supply, deducted when it is used for the sales, not when you hope to sell someday and then use the mailers for personal parcels. Keep the receipt. Record keeping is the six-year rule.
What do people assume that the CRA pages do not say?
The $2,800 figure is a reporting exclusion for goods sellers who also had fewer than 30 relevant activities. It is not an income-tax exemption. A hobby is not a line on the return. Personal-use losses generally do not reduce wages. The inclusion rate does not cut a reseller’s business profit in half. A platform report does not finish the return. Employment status is still the facts on the CRA status page, and ride-sharing does not share reselling’s GST/HST rule.
Which hustle guides use these labels?
Reselling and the first resale are the business pattern, with startup costs for mailers and a scale. Rideshare, food delivery, and odd-job apps are platform services. A Shopify store is business income, not a closet. The set-aside on business net is how much tax to set aside. Expenses that reduce that net are side hustle expenses.
What are the common questions?
Do I pay tax if I resell my own clothes in Canada?
A sale of personal-use property is not business income by itself. If both the cost and the proceeds are $1,000 or less, Schedule 3 says you do not report a gain or a loss. If you bought the clothes to resell, the activity can be a business and the $1,000 rule does not apply. This is not tax advice.
Are gig-app earnings taxable if the app does not send a slip?
Yes, if they are income. Report them from your payout records. A T4A is a check. Digital platform reporting since 2024 can also put a seller total in the CRA's hands. That report does not pay the tax for you.
Does the $2,800 platform threshold mean I do not owe tax?
No. The CRA who-is-affected page uses $2,800 and fewer than 30 goods transactions as a reason a seller can be excluded from platform reporting. It is not an exemption from income tax. Personal services such as rideshare are not given that goods exclusion on the page.
Is reselling profit a capital gain in Canada?
Profit from buying goods to resell is generally business income, fully included, on Form T2125. A capital gain is for capital property, including many personal-use sales. The inclusion rate is a capital-gains concept. Confirm the rate for your sale year in Guide T4037. This is not tax advice.
When did platforms start reporting sellers to the CRA?
The reporting rules for digital platform operators apply from the 2024 calendar year. The first information returns were due January 31, 2025. Later years are due by the end of the following January. Buyers who only purchase are not reported under those rules.
Do delivery and rideshare follow the same GST/HST rule?
No. Commercial ride-sharing must register for GST/HST from the first passenger fare. Food and parcel delivery use the $30,000 small-supplier test unless you also carry passengers. Income tax on the payouts can still apply in both cases.
Which sources support this guide?
The rules, rates, and platform requirements in this guide are checked against these primary sources. Retail price ranges are labelled as ranges to verify locally, and they are not quotes.
- Completing Schedule 3, including personal-use property — Canada Revenue Agency
- Personal-use property — Canada Revenue Agency
- Guide T4037, Capital Gains — Canada Revenue Agency
- What's new for corporations (capital gains inclusion rate note) — Canada Revenue Agency
- What's new for small businesses and self-employed — Canada Revenue Agency
- Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities — Canada Revenue Agency
- Reporting Rules for Digital Platform Operators — Canada Revenue Agency
- Who is affected by the reporting rules for digital platforms — Canada Revenue Agency
- Filing information returns for digital platform operators — Canada Revenue Agency
- Employment status: Employee or self-employed — Canada Revenue Agency
- When to register for and start charging the GST/HST — Canada Revenue Agency