Is Selling Concert or Playoff Tickets Taxable?

Gone are the days when people used to camp out on the sidewalk overnight. Today, you need quick reflexes, perfect timing, and luck. Beating the official queue to score tickets can feel like winning the lottery. It's no surprise that some look to turn their good fortune into cash by reselling their seats—sometimes for hundreds or thousands more than their face value. During the Toronto Blue Jays' recent World Series run, for example, face-value ticket prices for Rogers Centre games ranged from $300 to $600, but some verified resellers were routinely asking $2,000 to about $12,000, according to media reports. One report even found a pair of seats priced at nearly $113,000 each, which would result in a significant gain if someone paid that price.

But at what point does ticket reselling become more of a side hustle than a hobby—and is that money taxable?

What do you report to the CRA?

If you resell concert tickets, you may have to report the income to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). First things first: the CRA considers concert tickets personal-use property, or PUP, meaning items you own primarily for the personal use or enjoyment of your family and yourself.

“Think of personal-use property as anything you buy mainly for your own enjoyment—not as an investment,” says Shilpa Banda, a tax expert at TurboTax Canada. “That distinction matters because it affects how the CRA looks at any money you make when you sell.”

Whether selling PUP such as concert tickets is taxable depends on two things: the tickets' adjusted cost base (ACB)—what you paid for the tickets plus any expenses incurred to acquire them, such as service fees—and the proceeds of disposition, meaning the difference between what you paid and what you sold them for.

If your ACB and your selling price are both $1,000 or less, you don't need to report the sale to the CRA. But if either your ACB or your proceeds of disposition—or both—were more than $1,000, the amount over $1,000 must be reported on your tax return, on Schedule 3 (Capital Gains or Losses).

That's the simple rule for a one-and-done deal. “But if you routinely resell tickets, in the CRA's eyes, you're considered a sole proprietor running a small business, and any income you make will be taxed as business income at your marginal tax rate,” says Banda.

Keep in mind that if your sales revenue is over $30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters, you will also have to collect and remit GST/HST. And if you incorporate your reselling business, you must report your income on your corporate tax return (T2).

What if you lose money reselling concert tickets?

Say you bought tickets for a show and had to sell them at a loss. If you operate a ticket reselling business, you can deduct your losses on your tax return. “But if it was a one-time resale of personal-use property, you can't claim it,” says Banda. “You also can't use the loss to lower the capital gain from selling other property.”

What's the CRA penalty for unreported income?

Unreported income is any money you earned but didn't tell the CRA about, even by accident. This could be from a range of side hustles, including those common among Gen Z: earning tips, flipping your closet, or, yep, reselling concert tickets.

How much income can go unreported in Canada? Short answer: none. “In Canada, you're legally required to report all your income,” says Banda.

So, what happens if you just…don't? If it's your first time and it looks like an honest mistake, the CRA usually just asks you to fix it by paying the missing taxes plus some interest. But the CRA penalty for unreported income can be more severe if the agency finds a pattern. This usually involves the CRA taking a chunk of the income, plus the taxes owed, plus interest.

Think you'll take your chances? Not a good idea. The CRA can get resellers' data directly from digital platforms, including ticket websites. The agency uses other tools to uncover hidden income, too—from audits and poring over banking data to its full-on Underground Economy Strategy, designed to spot, stop, and deal with unreported (and underreported) economic transactions in goods and services. These can include hidden activities, like a supplier accepting payment in cash to avoid reporting the income and charging sales tax; informal activities, such as earning income from a short-term rental apartment but not registering a business or reporting the income; and illegal activities, such as fraud, theft, and drug trafficking.

If you realize you've missed reporting income, don't wait for the CRA to figure it out. You can either refile your tax return for the year or years in which you earned the income or, if you think you owe a substantial amount of tax, apply to the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP). It grants relief to taxpayers, on a case-by-case basis, if they come forward to fix errors or omissions. If your application is accepted, you'll likely avoid penalties and legal trouble. The CRA recently made changes to the VDP to make it easier to apply.

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