Configuring Taxes for Canadian Sites/Zones

I think its a bit complicated since my business is registered in Ontario and I have GST number and estore will be based on that.

in addition my receiving bank will be Scotiabank and Im assuming Revenue Canada will want GST to be paid and my personal physical location wont matter. also Ill be coming back to canada in a year or so.

of course it'd be easier for me not to meddle with taxes altogether and select "none" to tax rate brackets when adding a product, but I wanted to setup taxes correctly initially.

so Im not sure what to select when adding a product GSt on shipping, GST/HST/PST or there's one default came with zencart Taxable Goods.

Ok, sorry. You're right - if your business is registered in Ontario and you have a GST number then it doesn't matter where you personally are located. Since you already have a GST number you MUST collect and remit GST (where applicable) regardless of the $30,000 rule. Even if you make 10 bucks, you have to charge, collect, and remit the GST on it because you already registered. The $30k rule is only for those that haven't yet CHOSEN to register for GST. Now you're stuck with it.

Still, nothing changes. You have to treat all the goods you sell as though they came from Ontario regardless of where they physically came from. The POSSIBLE exception to that is this:

If your drop shipper is in another Canadian province, say BC for example, then you MAY have to also collect PST from BC residents. This is because you have to collect provincial taxes from customers of ANY AND ALL provinces you have a physical presence in. I'm not sure, but they may consider a drop shipper as being an extension of your business.

But, I am sure that if your drop shipper is outside of Canada you still have to charge GST (and PST in Ontario, HST in Atlantic) to your customers because they did business with YOU and not the foreign company. HOWEVER, what gets very complicated about this is unless your drop shipper does the paperwork right (and sometimes even if they do it right) your customers are going to get double-taxed because once it comes into the country, customs assumes no tax was paid on it. It gets hairy.

If it is really small time, I'd probably suggest NOT collecting the taxes for those items because the PROPER way to do it is so bloody complicated. Or don't drop ship from the US.

As for your question about setting up the shipping... it is explained at the top of this thread.

Best of luck friend.

• Steven

thanks for info.
I just finished talking to GST dept in revenue canada and was told that GST has to pay person receiving inported goods 5%.

and best way to avoiding a client for Double taxing (at your webstore and at the customs) would be to contact ups or fedex or whoever is delivering and identifying and registering yourself as an "importer".

then courier company will pay GST on your behalf and then I'd reimburse the costs to them.

Yes, exactly. Easier said than done :) But that is right. I would recommend FedEx over UPS (and certainly over DHL - easily the worst company on this planet) but they are more expensive. You'll find doing it this way a hassle unless you're doing pretty good volume - then it is worth it. But yes, that is the correct way to go about it.

• Steven

I decided not to charge GST (untill I start making more then 30k in sales) and canceling my GST number.

I setup taxes as in guide, now how do I** remove GST charge**? since clients will pay GST at the door to courier company.

It's always nice to re-vistit old threads with solutions, so here goes.....

If you want to display -
SubTotal $100.00
Shipping: $10.00
GST: $5.50
PST: $8.00
Total $123.50

You need to do the following.

1 - Setup all your taxes as discribed at teh top of this thread, BUT ensure that the Descriptions match for those you wish to group together. So if you have GST on Shipping, and GST, the DESCRIPTION field MUST be the same - so GST (5%)

2 - BACKUP includes/modules/order_totals/ot_tax.php

3 - REPLACE the function process() { and all code down to function check() { with the following code (Leave the function check() { line intact.)

    function process() {
      global $order, $currencies;

      reset($order->info['tax_groups']);
	  $tax_values = array();
      while (list($key, $value) = each($order->info['tax_groups'])) {
        if ($value > 0 or STORE_TAX_DISPLAY_STATUS == 1) {
		  if (strstr($key, ' + ')) {
		    $tax_rates = array();
			$tax_descriptions = explode(' + ', $key);
			foreach($tax_descriptions as $tax_description) {
			  $tax_rate = zen_get_tax_rate_from_desc($tax_description);
			  $tax_rates[$tax_description] = $tax_rate;
			  $total_tax_rate += $tax_rate;
			}
			foreach($tax_rates as $description => $rate) {
			  $tax_values[$description] += ($value / $total_tax_rate) * $rate;
			}
		  } else {
		    $tax_values[$key] += $value;
		  }
        }
      }
	  foreach($tax_values as $description => $tax_value) {
        $this->output[] = array('title' => $description . ':',
                                'text' => $currencies->format($tax_value, true, $order->info['currency'], $order->info['currency_value']),
                                'value' => $tax_value);
 	  }
    }

That's it. It re-works all your taxes, so that rather than showing tax A + Tax B = $xxx.xx, it now shows Tax A = xx.xx and Tax B = xx.xx. No alterations have been made to how the tax is actually calculated, so this should work with any tax rates, and with any modules you have installed.

Absolute

Absolute:

That's it. It re-works all your taxes, so that rather than showing tax A + Tax B = $xxx.xx, it now shows Tax A = xx.xx and Tax B = xx.xx. No alterations have been made to how the tax is actually calculated, so this should work with any tax rates, and with any modules you have installed.

Interesting... I replaced the original ot_tax.php with yours and noticed my SHIPPING GST and PST display 50% of their actual values. The grand total does display correct. I restored the backup of ot_tax.php and the shipping values appear fine.

With original ot_tax.php:

Sub-Total: $155.99
Shipping: $10.48
GST#99999 99999 RT0001 5.0% GST + 8.0% PST: $20.28
5.0% GST on Shipping + 8.0% PST on Shipping: $1.36
Total: $188.11

With modified ot_tax.php:

Sub-Total: $155.99
Shipping: $10.48
GST#99999 99999 RT0001 5.0% GST: $7.80
8.0% PST: $12.48
5.0% GST on Shipping: $0.26 (Should be $.52)
8.0% PST on Shipping: $0.42 (Should be $.84)
Total: $188.11 (Remains correct)

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I looove this tax tutorial and have used it to set up the taxes for my two Leatherman Tools sites, but...

I'm creating a new site for my programming work, and that site need to be setup with the same taxes as the Leatherman sites...

Now I don't really want to go through the entire process of setting them all up by hand.

Is there a way to export/import the settings from my other sites?

Any help would be appreciated!

Ray

Honestly, in the time it takes to figure out and implement an export/import strategy you'd probably have it done manually twice over :)

I could very well be wrong. Someone can probably whip up an SQL query faster than I can type "SQL query"

The only way to do this using SQL is through phpMyAdmin, or similar interface. The Zen Cart SQL patch doesn't return recordsets, only sends the SQL to the server, so you can't use that for exports.

All you would need to do is to export all records from tax_class and tax_rates tables, and if you wanted them, the zones_to_geo_zones and geo_zones tables as well.

Export the data, change databases, and then import into the same tables on the new database.

JUST ENSURE YOU BACKUP FIRST

Absolute

I have a problem with my cart. When I purchase a product and go to the billing of my item, all the amounts show up correctly. However, the label for GST doesn't show up.

What could be wrong and what is the fix ?

I have found the problem and corrected it.

kramerr:

I have found the problem and corrected it.

Would you mind sharing your solution so others may learn from your experience?

kramerr:

I have a problem with my cart. When I purchase a product and go to the billing of my item, all the amounts show up correctly. However, the label for GST doesn't show up.

What could be wrong and what is the fix ?

MojoDaddy:

Would you mind sharing your solution so others may learn from your experience?

They would have simply set a description on their tax rate so that there is something to be displayed.

Oh shoot!

I just noticed that after working properly for some time, the Canadian taxes are no longer being calculated correctly!! I have installed a few new modules lately, but can't think what could be affecting the tax calculation? I've installed userCurrency (not sure yet if it is working), Ty Package Tracker and GoogleAnalytics. I've been messing around with tpl_header but only touched tpl_module_order_totals to implement the bug fix (division by zero).

Here is an example of an incorrect calculation:

Products Model Tax Price (ex) Price (inc) Total (ex) Total (inc)
1 x Snap N' Grow Garment Extenders 3 Pack 5% $6.95 $6.95 $6.95 $6.95
1 x iPlay Flexi Specs Sunglasses - Infant size

• Colour: Lime 13% $10.95 $10.95 $10.95 $10.95
  1 x Munchkin Baby Food Grinder / Hand Mill 13% $13.95 $13.95 $13.95 $13.95
  Sub-Total: $31.85
  Store Pickup (Walk In): $0.00
  5% GST # 86028 4694 RT0001: $3.58
  8% PST in Ontario + 5% GST # 86028 4694 RT0001: $3.58
  Total: $39.02

OH!
And on another transaction, it lists a product as being only GST-taxable. I figured it was my error, but when I checked its settings, it's set to GST/PST/HST!

Its unlikely its a mod. userCurrency (my mod) doesn't touch tax calculations at all... simply determines which currency the user is using and stores that to DB. The others have nothing to do with taxes either.

Probably you have your taxes just set up wrong. It looks like you're charging GST twice and even then its not calculating at the correct rate. You'd have to post your tax setup for us to help.

In a sale from 2-3 days ago, the total taxes are correctly calculated, but displayed funny:

Sub-Total: $25.85
Store Pickup (Walk In): $0.00
8% PST in Ontario + 5% GST # 86028 4694 RT0001: $2.32
5% GST # 86028 4694 RT0001: $0.40
Total: $28.57

Should be GST 1.29, PST 1.43.

Tax Rates
Priority Tax Class Zone Tax Rate Action
1 GST/HST/PST Class Ontario PST Zone 8%
1 GST/HST/PST Class Canada GST Zone 5% Info
1 GST/HST/PST Class Eastern Canada - HST Zone 13% Info
1 GST on Shipping Canada GST Zone 5% Info
1 GST on Shipping Ontario PST Zone 8% Info
1 GST on Shipping Eastern Canada - HST Zone 13% Info
1 GST only Canada GST Zone 5% Info

Here are my tax rates

What is that last one for? You should have only 6