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New 'HST' for PUTM = Hefty Sales Tax?
Message
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05/03/2005 17:35:57
 
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Forum:
Level Extreme
Catégorie:
Autre
Divers
Thread ID:
00992783
Message ID:
00993046
Vues:
30
>>>Did you obtain this information from an attorney, or is there perhaps some reference you can point me to that makes this interpretation clear?
>>
>>We have received the official ruling on paper which states the affirmation. For us, this is causing a big problem as it doesn't make any sense. This is lowering our sales and we have to answer to a lot of complains since the change. You can do a search on GST Ruling for Canada and you will be able to obtain some reference phone numbers. I don't know the URL. But, a search on Google will probably be easy to find it.
>
>If it were easy to find on Google, I wouldn't have asked. No doubt this is harder for me than it would be for someone vaguely familiar with Canadian laws, which I am not, but I would certainly hope that one could do better than to come up with a phone number! I can see how this would be negatively impacting your business, and I'm sorry for that, because I've long regarded UT as the single most valuable online resource for VFP.
>
>I think it would be in your best interest to be very up front about this HST tax, rather than surprising the prospective purchaser with a cryptic reference late in the the ordering process. To me, the only familiar meaning of the HST acronym is "Hubble Space Telescope". (If I thought the money was going toward that, I'd be happy to pay it!) Not only should people be forewarned about this onerous charge, but they should be given a link to a clear explanation of its applicability to your services, since it is not the least bit obvious why it would apply. My brief attempts to search on the subject only added to my confusion about it.

Canadian GST/HST overview at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/business/topics/gsthst/menu-e.html

I went through this issue with Michel last November. Some relevant information I dug up at the time:

http://www.fin.gc.ca/hst/hst4a-e.html#BASIC4 . Specifically, memberships are discussed surrounding Example 4-21 near the bottom.

I went as far as phoning the CCRA (Canada Customs and Revenue Agency) GST/HST Ruling number at 1.800.959.8287 and outlining the situation to them. They agreed that on the face of it I should not be charged full HST (only federal GST since I'm Canadian) but they were careful to say that the final authority is an official, written ruling from CCRA for the business in question, if that exists.

Apparently Michel has such a written ruling, that his business somehow does not constitute "memberships" as per 4-21 cited above. Or, that the product is somehow "consumed" in New Brunswick rather than the subscriber's location. This has far-reaching tax implications - not only must he charge full HST Canada-wide, but world-wide as well. It puts him at an 8% disadvantage for other jurisdictions in Canada (all Canadians still have to pay at least 7% GST) and 15% for the US (discounting the difference in currency). Getting it changed would take either a massive and costly legal challenge, or a change to legislation (which is what I think Michel was alluding to).

I don't know how you can get a refund. The closest info on international residents I found was http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/nonresidents/menu-e.html

A faint possibility might be http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/nonresidents/visitors/vrpqa-e.html
Regards. Al

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