Shopify vows to fight CRA request to hand over records from more than 121,000 Canadian businesses

By Melissa Lopez-Martinez

Click here for updates on this story

    Toronto (CTV Network) — Shopify’s CEO Tobias Lutke is ready to put up a fight with the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) over a move by the tax agency he says is an ‘overreach’ to the e-commerce company.

In a tweet, Lutke said the Ottawa-based e-commerce company was asked to hand over tax records of more than 121,000 Canadian stores from the last six years.

“I don’t particularly want a fight with the CRA (Canada’s tax authority)- but we got asked to backchannel them 6 years of records for all Canadian Shopify stores,” Lutke tweeted on Friday.

“This feels like low-key overreach to me. We will fight this.”

CTVNews.ca has reached out to the CRA and Shopify but they did not reach out for comment in time for publication.

While there are no details yet on why the CRA is inquiring on Shopify’s records, it’s not unheard of for the agency to go after e-commerce platforms over tax evasion concerns, like it did to Paypal. eBay was also subject to an inquiry over its high-earning sellers on the website, requiring their earnings be reported to the agency.

The news also comes as the company reported it would be reducing its workforce by 20 per cent after 1,000 employees were laid off last summer. The company’s first quarter earnings report also stated the company will be selling its merchants tool, Shopify Logistics, to supply chain management company Flexaport.

Shopify’s Q1 report revealed the company earned US$68 million in its first quarter of the year ending on March 31, 2023. In comparison to same quarter period last year, revenue is up 25 per cent by US$1.5 billion.

With files from the Canadian Press.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

ctvnews.caproducers@bellmedia.ca