Yarcofin:  He's right. There may be additional customs charges if you are shipping outside of Canada, depends what you are selling
2009-01-31 12:37:20

Serafina:  If you are located in Ontario, Canada, you only have to charge people tax when they are also located in Ontario. Also, if the person purchases from you in Ontario (say if you are selling from your home or a booth in a store etc. in Ontario, even if they happen to live out of province, you are still required to charge them pst (retails sales tax). If you mail outside of the province, you don't have to charge tax. Nor do you have to charge tax if you ship items to the States. http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/resources/smallbusiness/remit_rst.html "If you make a sale to a customer and deliver, or arrange for delivery of, the goods to a place outside Ontario, you do not charge your customer RST. In this case, you must keep all shipping documents and bills of lading to support the tax-exempt sale. If a customer takes delivery of the goods in Ontario, then you must charge RST." My understanding though is that you would only have to collect PST on sales. I was told this by the Ministry of Finance. Unless you are signed up for GST, you don't need to collect it. I would verify this pertaining to your particular business though because there are certain rules that apply depending on if you are offering both sales and providing a service etc. So it's best to tell them exactly what you're doing and follow their advice. If you charge customers PST, then you have to submit the funds that you collected to the Ministry of Finance. They will send you out a statement, with a due date and you have to issue them a cheque for that amount. Not everyone has to sign up for GST. It's only required when your sales hit around $30,000.00 a year. Any annual salary under that - it's optional to sign up for GST. If you're not signed up for the GST, you don't have to collect or submit it. You would have to look into whether it's worth it for you to sign up for that for your business. If you order a large amount of stock in from the States or large expensive machinery (from the States), you might want to sign up for GST as well because you will get charged GST on these items when they cross the border. if they are over a certain value. I've heard from some business owners to avoid signing up for GST for as long as possible because it creates a lot more paperwork but people have different opinions on that. You'd have to look into whether it's suitable for your own business. I find this number very helpful for all kinds of questions like this: 1-800-O-Canada They are really good for finding the right source for both business and personal issues where you need to find the right government department. They will direct you to the right source. Also, Ministry of Finance offers small business workshops on these subjects. http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/events/pst-gst/index.html
2009-02-01 22:28:25