Taxes When You Resell Taylor Swift Tickets

Reselling tickets to The Eras Tour

Taylor Swift recently performed multiple sold-out shows in Toronto and is scheduled to finish The Eras Tour with performances in Vancouver. With the tour now the highest‑grossing of all time and ticket demand extremely high, many people bought tickets and later resold them at a profit. Whether any profit you made is taxable depends on your intent when you acquired the tickets. There’s an important distinction between buying tickets as a business to resell for profit and purchasing tickets for personal use and later deciding to sell them.

Selling tickets as a business in Canada

People who regularly buy tickets to resell them at higher prices are effectively operating a business. If you’re in that situation, any income from ticket sales is treated as business income and is fully taxable at your marginal tax rate. You should report business income on Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities, as a sole proprietor on your personal tax return. If the ticket resale activity is run through a corporation, the income must be reported on the corporation’s T2 Corporation Income Tax Return.

Additionally, if your taxable supplies exceed $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, you generally must register for and collect Goods and Services Tax (GST) or Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). The specific rate depends on the province or territory where you operate and where the sale takes place. Some provinces also apply provincial sales tax rules that trigger at different revenue thresholds, so make sure you understand the rules that apply in your jurisdiction.

Selling tickets purchased for personal use

If you bought tickets intending to attend the concert and later decided to sell them, the tax treatment is different. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) classifies items bought primarily for personal enjoyment as personal‑use property. When you sell personal‑use property, the sale normally results in a loss or no taxable gain. However, certain exceptions apply—particularly when a sale produces a profit.

The CRA applies three rules to determine whether a sale of personal‑use property creates a taxable capital gain:

1. If the adjusted cost base (ACB) of the property is less than $1,000, the ACB is deemed to be $1,000.
2. If the proceeds of disposition (the sale price) are less than $1,000, the proceeds are deemed to be $1,000.
3. If both the ACB and the proceeds are $1,000 or less, no capital gain or loss arises and you do not report the transaction.

Adjusted cost base refers to the amount you originally paid for the tickets plus any expenses you incurred to acquire them. Many people who resold Taylor Swift tickets received more than $1,000 or both paid and received over $1,000, so the sale could trigger a reporting requirement. If your primary intention at purchase was to resell the tickets for profit, the CRA may treat the proceeds as business income. If the transaction is treated as a disposition of personal‑use property and the proceeds exceed the $1,000 threshold, you may need to report a capital gain on Schedule 3 of your tax return.

When tickets are sold as a group that forms a set—where individual items together make up a whole—the $1,000 rule may apply to the set as a unit. For example, a block of four tickets sold to a single buyer could be treated as one disposition. But if you split that block and sell parts to unrelated buyers, each separate sale could be assessed independently for the $1,000 limit.

What if you missed reporting taxable income?

If you resold tickets in previous years and didn’t report the income, or if you reported it incorrectly (for example, reporting business income as a capital gain), the CRA’s Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) may provide a route to correct your returns. The VDP allows taxpayers to come forward voluntarily to correct omissions or errors and seek relief from penalties and, in some cases, interest. Acceptance and relief are determined by the CRA on a case‑by‑case basis, so it’s important to review the program’s eligibility criteria before applying.

Should you report your ticket profits on your tax return?

The Eras Tour created significant resale opportunities for ticket holders. Whether you must report profits depends on why you bought the tickets and how you sold them. If you were actively buying to resell, report the income as business income and comply with sales tax obligations where required. If the tickets were purchased for personal use and later sold, apply the CRA’s personal‑use property rules to determine whether a capital gain needs reporting. If you’re unsure, consider seeking tax advice or using the Voluntary Disclosures Program to correct past filings and become compliant.

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