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It is learned that as the number of e-commerce players increases, many countries around the world have tightened their scrutiny of the e-commerce market to maintain the compliance and order of the industry development. Under multiple regulatory policies such as changing tariff policies and frequent customs inspections, cross-border sellers are inevitably affected. Recently, a series of measures taken by Canada to tighten scrutiny have clearly warned cross-border sellers that the e-commerce industry has entered a period of healthy development in compliance with regulations, and the previous barbaric growth model is no longer sustainable. Canada is investigating 'fake Amazon reviews'
It is learned that according to foreign media reports, according to Canadian Federal Court records, federal antitrust lawyers are investigating allegations of "Amazon fake reviews." Based on the review of records and information collected during the investigation, one of the investigators suspected that some companies used Facebook to recruit a large number of water armies to provide false reviews for sellers' products on the Amazon platform, which violated the Competition Law and infringed on the rights of consumers. Canada's federal competition bureau is asking a judge to force Facebook to disclose the names and addresses of 641 Canadian users with usernames including "Tiny Tom," "Sexy Booty Shaker" and "Pretty Pretty." Facebook's legal team expressed concern that the initial investigation was too broad because of the large number of Canadian account holders involved in the investigation. Facebook management is understood to have reduced the number of Facebook accounts the bureau requires from 3,000 to 800. So far, Amazon and Facebook itself have not been charged , but because the investigation affects a large number of Facebook users and Amazon has recently launched operations to crack down on false reviews, many sellers are still worried that this review may "follow the clues" and affect sellers on the Amazon platform. It is learned that fake reviews have long been an important issue that Amazon has focused on combating. Recently, Amazon not only filed lawsuits against four review-brushing companies, but also issued a message calling for stronger government-enterprise cooperation to combat fake review service providers. Here , we would also like to remind all sellers that in order to avoid being implicated when Amazon intensifies its review of false reviews, all sellers need to try to conduct a comprehensive check on the compliance status of their accounts in the near future. It is worth noting that in addition to Amazon sellers, independent site sellers operating in Canada also seem to be facing the risk of scrutiny, this time directly targeting tax issues. Canada wants to strictly investigate the tax situation of independent website sellers
It is learned that according to foreign media reports, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recently issued a request to Shopify: Shopify needs to provide six years of records of all its Canadian sellers to verify relevant tax information. It is understood that since the Amazon ban, many cross-border sellers have begun to focus on building their own independent websites in order to reduce business risks and build their own DTC brands. Shopify, as a well-known independent website e-commerce SAAS system, has become the preferred platform for many sellers. According to a report from Store Leads, an e-commerce store database, Shopify currently has 121,651 online stores in Canada , which means that once the Canadian tax audit is officially launched, it may affect more than 120,000 independent site sellers. Some analysts pointed out that with regard to tax issues, the impact of this review on Shopify itself is actually not that big, but there are certain risks for some individual sellers operating on it. However, a few days ago, Shopify’s CEO also responded to this on an overseas social platform: the Canadian Tax Agency’s move seems like a "low-key overstepping of authority" and Shopify does not intend to cooperate with the investigation. The Canada Revenue Agency reportedly asked Shopify to provide seller records in order to verify whether the sellers in question were complying with the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act. Both acts require approval from a federal court judge to obtain such documents through a third party (in this case, Shopify). Court documents show that the CRA has not yet received approval. However, in response to the matter, the tax accounting firm said that the agency may get approval after meeting the necessary requirements. As of now, Shopify and the Canada Revenue Agency are still in a stalemate , and it is difficult to know whether Shopify will provide relevant records to the Canada Revenue Agency. However, it is learned that in recent years, in addition to Canada, many other countries have also introduced new policies on tax issues and tightened tax audits.
As the saying goes: Those who build well will succeed, and those who comply with regulations will win. Under this trend, both sellers on third-party e-commerce platforms and independent website sellers must strengthen their awareness of tax compliance management to ensure tax compliance. What do you think of this? Welcome to discuss in the comments section~
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