The taxman isn't smiling as eBay helps the Canadian underground economy thrive

[mandy]

With more and more budding entrepreneurs plying their trades online, Canada's underground economy is soaring through cyberspace in a big way, experts say.

"There's always been an underground economy with some businesses, but the Internet's going to cause a proliferation in the opportunities available," said Rick Broadhead, a Toronto-based expert on electronic commerce. "There's a lot more people running home businesses through EBay than there were 10 years ago."...

Broadhead said e-commerce exacerbates the problem because budding entrepreneurs often won't know their tax obligations, and the government does a poor job educating them.

According to a Canada Revenue Agency website primer, a sole proprietorship must register for the GST if annual taxable revenues top $30,000. Income tax must be paid on all revenue generated through the business...

full article: http://money.canoe.ca/News/Economy/2006/...9-sun.html