Canadian Taxes Contribution

I was asked to place a support thread for Canadian Taxes even though it is pretty simple but here is the link to the mod:

http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1440

If there are any questions let me know.

Ah, to be clear. My client lives in Alberta so we only have to do the Alberta sql no matter who he sells to in Canada? We had the taxes set up correctly I thought but we just had a situation where they didn't all apply correctly and also weren't added into the total so thinking this is the better way to go.

Correct. Just use the Alberta SQL and all the taxes will be setup according to a business running in Alberta.

Thanks, what would I do without you? Have a good day.

A nice, quick contribution that installed beautifully - but the problem is, merchants shipping to other provinces, do have to collect the customer's provincial taxes (ie: BC HST, etc). See http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/page/2651/#toc-_charging_sales_tax_to_out-of-province_customers - but this contrib is only charging the originating store's taxes no matter where it is being shipped to.

I am not sure if you are understanding it. Everything is as it should be. If you live in any HST province you charge HST for any other HST provinces as well. IF you live in a GST only province like Alberta, you DO NOT charge HST or PST for any other provinces.

As you may elect voluntarily to charge the taxes regardless, there is no legal requirement to do so.

The guide that you sited above applies to HST provinces charging other HST provinces taxes and this is already incorporated in the SQLs.

I forgot to mention, this contrib is assuming that you have a store in only one province and not a chain store running in multiple provinces.

The golden rule is, if you have a actual store, office or company owned warehouse location in any province, you will need to charge the taxes for that province because you are doing said business WITHIN that province.

For example lets say I have a business in Ontario and a sales office Quebec... I would need to charge all taxes for Ontario and Quebec customers. If I only have a business in Ontario and I am shipping to Quebec, I charge only GST because I do not charge QST as that is the responsibility of the receiver to pay that. ( QST is NOT HST)

Before posting this contrib, it was approved by my Accountant, Lawyer and Revenue Canada.

This is what I read and understand on the website: "When you sell and ship or deliver taxable goods and services to out-of-province/territory customers, the sales tax that applies in your customer's province or territory is generally applicable.
When you ship to harmonized sales tax (HST)-participating provinces (British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Ontario), you are required to collect HST in the amount applicable to the province and include it in your GST/HST return. In this case, since you are already registered for GST, you are automatically registered for HST, even if you do not operate in an HST-participating province."

So the way I read it, an Albertan store shipping to a British Columbia customer, must collect BC's HST.

I'm sorry if I sound argumentative, but the quoted website is the Fed's site... and any time I have purchased anything from a major company online from another province, they charge me tax based on my shipping address in BC - ie: Alberta companies charge me BC HST even though the product is shipped from AB.

Sounds like you are seeking official tax advice. The right place to get such advice is via your Tax Accountant or your local tax office.

Any advice you receive here on this site is only opinion. You REALLY need to consult your local tax office, ideally the same place where you remit all the taxes you collect. And if you're not registered to collect and remit taxes, then you need to take care of that before you start collecting taxes in the first place ... and part of they'll be happy to explain to you exactly what you need to collect and how.

Ok, there is a problem. It seems that I uploaded the WRONG contribution ZIP file after all. I just downloaded the one from the plugins and it is not correct and was old and was never the one that was intended to be uploaded.

I was arguing based on the version I was looking at not realizing needs_a_nap was looking at the old flawed one. The correct version should have a CRA PDF in it. (the old one doesn't and yes the rates are different)

Sorry everyone, my fault. Uploading now.

I have to agree that there is alot of confusion with Revenue Canada. I've had clients all told differently as to the out-of-province tax collection. I myself have called Revenue Canada twice in a row, and been told 2 different things. Accountants seem to vary on their responses as well. When I found that website awhile back, I figured they had finally all come to an agreement! Who knows with them.

So, I'm going to just go with what you've got in the new contrib, thanks again for an easy-to-install mod - your time is appreciated.

Violet

When you get varying opinions from tax professionals, or anyone, ask them to put their recommendations in writing, on letterhead, with their signature, with something in the wording that says they'll back up their opinions in any challenge from CRA. That usually gets them to actually make sure they're certain about their suggestions rather than casually making guesses. Even just asking them if they'd be willing to put it in writing will usually tell you a lot about how confident they are with the information they've been giving you. Helps weed out the guesses from those who know better. You can even do the same with CRA ... and if they're not willing to give concrete information then find someone who is. Better to know before there's a problem, than to go looking for advice after.

Hello,

Information for Quebec store owners:

As per Revenu Quebec http://www.revenuquebec.ca/en/entreprise/taxes/tvq_tps/modifications-regime-tvq.aspx

The QST is now calculated on the selling price not including GST. However, to ensure the total taxes payable remain the same, the QST rate has been increased to 9.975%.

Little question about Quebec taxes...

When I "activate" the tax rate, in the checkout total, it only uses the QST. It doesn't use the GST as it should. How do I get it to work?

What is shown in the checkout page:

Sub-Total: $16.00
Store Pickup (Walk In): $0.00
TPS - 9,975%: $1.60
Total: $17.60

What it should show:

Sub-Total: $16.00
Store Pickup (Walk In): $0.00
GST - 5%: $0.80
TPS - 9,975%: $1.60
Total: $18,40

Sounds like your GST tax rate isn't associated with a tax class that's relevant for that purchase.

How can I do that?

I've got only one tax class (GTS/HST), and my 13 tax rates are linked with it, includind the QST. Do I have to create a new tax class?

I've created a new tax class to put Quebec apart with it's 2 taxes, for the moment. It works, but I'd like to be sure I didn't mess it all for the rest of the Canadian zones...

Just a note to those Canadian Site, it is best to contact the revenue departments of the provinces that you sell to,

they are the best suited to answer any questions you have about sales into their respective provinces.

My observations:
As of now, any business that sells into Manitoba has to register and charge the 8% Retail Sales Tax.

Quebec's rules are quite like the GST rules, you will have to register there after $30,000 in sales for 4 Consecutive quarters or $30,000 in one quarter.

BC also requires you to register from all that I can tell from there PST Documentation since there switch back to GST and PST on April 1, 2013.