The most well liked commodity in Toronto this Halloween weekend wasn’t a Labubu costume however coveted
World Sequence tickets. That is the primary time the Jays have made it to the World Sequence since 1993.
As I write this column, the most cost effective seats within the Rogers Centre for Friday’s Sport Six, manner up within the 500 stage, in deep, deep proper area, have been happening on-line vendor StubHub for slightly below $3,000 a bit, with costs anticipated to climb as gametime approaches. The face worth on these tickets, nonetheless, is considerably much less, that means that fortunate ticketholders who secured tickets to the autumn basic can probably promote their tickets for a considerable revenue.
Which begs the query: How is the revenue on the sale of Jays tickets taxed? For me, this query just isn’t merely educational, however private as I’ve World Sequence tickets. Let me clarify.
As a lifelong Blue Jays fan, I’ve fond recollections of attending video games as a teen at Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium, sitting within the $2 bleachers’ benches on a Sunday afternoon, the place our seats, which confronted the incorrect route, have been so distant we might barely see the diamond.
In 1992, when the Jays first received the World Sequence, I used to be a budding younger accountant, recent out of college and beginning my first job at a big worldwide accounting agency on
Neither I nor any of my mates might afford playoff tickets, so we gathered across the 20-inch color TV in my bachelor pad to look at the Jays win the World Sequence. We did the identical factor in 1993.
Quick ahead to 2015, after I determined to make the leap and purchased Jays season tickets within the higher deck. It allowed me to take my youngsters to the legendary 2015 Bautista bat flip sport and attend the Jays’ playoff run once more in 2016. I’ve held on to my season tickets ever since, upgrading my seat places a couple of instances over the previous decade. So, when the Jays lastly made the World Sequence this 12 months for the primary time in 32 years, the chance to attend a World Sequence sport in individual, slightly than promote my tickets, was, as Mastercard put it, “Priceless.”
However, what if I did promote my tickets for a revenue, how would it not in the end be taxed?
Readers might recall I first tackled this topic final 12 months within the context of
, so right here’s a fast refresher. For most individuals, apart from skilled ticket-resellers who make it their enterprise to purchase and promote tickets at a revenue, Jays tickets are prone to be thought-about capital property, that means that the revenue from a resale of tickets could be handled as a capital acquire. That’s, the proceeds obtained from the sale, much less the price of the tickets (the adjusted price base or ACB) could be a capital acquire. Capital features are 50 per cent taxable, that means that even somebody within the prime tax bracket of 53 per cent in Ontario would pay a most prime fee of about 26 per cent capital features tax on their Jays ticket earnings.
However there are some particular guidelines for the sale of what’s referred to as “personal-use property” (PUP). PUP refers to gadgets that you just personal primarily to your or your loved ones’s private use or enjoyment, reminiscent of private and home items together with furnishings, automobiles, boats, a cottage and different related belongings. One might make the case that Jays tickets are PUP since they’re for the purchaser’s private use.
Underneath the PUP guidelines, if the quantity you paid (your ACB) is lower than $1,000, it’s deemed to be $1,000 for tax functions. Equally, if the money you obtain once you promote PUP is lower than $1,000, your proceeds from the sale for tax functions are additionally handled as being $1,000. The sensible results of these guidelines is that if each the ACB and the money you obtain to your PUP are each beneath $1,000, you don’t must report any acquire or loss in your tax return. Be aware that beneath the Revenue Tax Act, you can not have a capital loss from the sale of most PUP.
In my case, the price of my World Sequence tickets, as a season ticketholder, was $250 every or $500 for the pair. If I might resell them on StubHub for $5,500 complete (after charges), I might internet a $5,000 revenue. For tax functions, the ACB of my tickets could be deemed to be $1,000, and I might notice a capital acquire for tax functions of $4,500. Whereas it could be tempting to say that every ticket is its personal PUP and thus ought to have its personal ACB of $1,000, particular guidelines apply the place the PUP you personal is taken into account to be a part of a set, and also you get rid of the set to 1 individual. If these guidelines apply, the ACB of the 2 tickets collectively are deemed to be $1,000.
A gaggle of things is handled as a set the place the gadgets would ordinarily be disposed of collectively, and are usually considered belonging collectively. Typically their worth as a set is larger than the overall worth of the person items. The set is deemed to be one single PUP, and the $1,000 minimal price and proceeds might be shared by all the properties within the set. This rule is in place to forestall somebody from promoting components of a set in a sequence of transactions to the identical purchaser, after which utilizing the $1,000 minimal price for every transaction to scale back the general acquire for tax functions.
Now, let’s say I had purchased my Jays tickets with no intention of ever going. In case your objective from day one was to revenue from the ticket resale, then your acquire is prone to be thought-about absolutely taxable self-employment enterprise earnings. Whereas it could be arduous for the Canada Income Company to find out your authentic intent retroactively, the CRA might look to see how quickly you listed the tickets for resale after buy, the frequency with which you purchase and promote tickets and whether or not the revenue realized from such gross sales is a major a part of your annual earnings.
Jamie Golombek,
FCPA, FCA, CFP, CLU, TEP, is the managing director, Tax & Property Planning with CIBC Personal Wealth in Toronto.
Jamie.Golombek@cibc.com
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