Canadian tax man to monitor eBay incomes

OTTAWA, April 29 (UPI) -- Canada's Federal Court of Appeal has ordered the online auction operator eBay Canada to provide data to the tax man on how much people are earning in sales.

The legal battle began in October 2006 and involves so-called eBay PowerSellers who sell at least $1,000 per month, the Globe and Mail reported Tuesday.

The company resisted turning over data on some 10,000 Canadian PowerSellers to the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency over privacy concerns, but a court ruled Monday in the government's favor, the report said.

One argument the Canadian division raised was that data was not physically present in Canada but is stored on computers in the United States, where the parent company is. However, Justice Roger Hughes ruled the physical location "must be approached from the point of view of the realities of today's world."

The manager of eBay Canada, Andrew Sloss, told the newspaper the company will continue its legal battle.

"We want to protect ... the privacy of our members and we continue to contest the broad information requests (from the CRA) that don't have any specific named individuals in them," he said.