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Att: Canadian Marketers - Charging Outside Canada GST question

by roley
5 replies
If your based in canada and you provide a service or product to people OUTSIDE of Canada... do you still have to charge them GST or is that only for people you provide a service or product to that reside in Canada?
#att #canada #canadian #charging #gst #marketers #question
  • Profile picture of the author roley
    Doesn't appear if any Canadians know.
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  • Profile picture of the author SuzanneH
    You really should talk to the Revenue Canada Agency or an accountant. :-)

    Goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST)

    Suzanne
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  • Profile picture of the author Bill D-G
    I like SuzanneH's answer. Check with an accountant.
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    • Profile picture of the author GeorgettaSterling
      A GOOD accountant can help sort it out. Many accountants will just automatically have you charge GST on everything to everywhere in order to cover their own butts (the same way they will have you pay MORE income taxes than you actually owe in order to avoid mistakenly underpaying).

      Reading the GST documents on the CRA website will also help. You will find that generally (not always) GST doesn't apply to goods and services supplied to non-residents, or to most exports.

      For example, see this section in the main guide on zero rated supplies:
      RC4022 - General Information for GST/HST Registrants

      You will find other documents on exempt supplies as well. One update specifically talks about export of non-tangible goods as being zero-rated (this would include intellectual property such as e-books).

      Just be careful. The GST folks sometimes don't follow their own rules, and like to seize money from bank accounts. I could tell you many GST horror stories (basically, extortion stories) but I will spare you for now.

      Best Regards, Georgetta

      PS Oh, and don't register for the GST unless you are billing more than $30K/year of GST eligible sales. You can avoid a lot of headaches, and by law you aren't required to register until you are "bigger."
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim_Carter
    You only charge GST to sales that take place in Canada - regardless of the residence of the buyer.

    IP tacking is required to do this properly.

    ** A little more explanation **

    I mean the buyer. His address may be in the USa and his credit card may have a USA address, but if they are in Canada when they buy you must pay the GST.

    Otherwise you do not charge GST on sales outside of Canada. You do need ip sales tracking.

    Paypal can handle most of the GST by setting up the tax, but the instances mentioned above won't get caught.
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