GST thread

[canadave]

Hi,

This thread is more or less directed at Tony, but I thought I'd post it publicly so that I wouldn't hold a monopoly on any answers he might provide if I had sent him a PM.

Tony, you posted this in the Announcements section, which unfortunately I don't have permission to reply to there:

"For all Canadian customers we are now collecting GST as we are required by the CRA. There is nothing more to say about this if you're Canadian you'll pay the 5% tax. If you're not then you're not effected by this.

Not much else to say about this we've grown quite a bit in the past year so this is now a requirement for us."

I'm sorry, no offence, but I think there's more "to say about this." First off: when exactly does the GST take effect...does it kick in immediately for existing customers who are signed on to a plan (say, an annual plan)? Or does it only affect new signups?

Also, how is the 5% GST calculated, since the billing is in US dollars? Given the disparity in the Canadian dollar, I'm wondering if it's correct to simply charge 5% on our US dollar amounts and call that a GST collection, as it winds up being a bit more than 5% in Canadian dollars. The GST should only be 5% of the Canadian dollar amount, to satisfy the CRA requirements. Or is it a case of "6 of one, half dozen of the other"? I'm not entirely sure if that works out differently if you calculate it differently.

I realize the amounts we're probably looking at are not huge, and either way, Hawk Host's prices are more than fair--but a penny is a penny, especially in this economy. If you could elaborate on these questions a bit more, I'm sure I'm not the only one here who would appreciate it.

Thanks!

Edited December 26, 2008 by canadave

[Tony]

It'll happen on any invoice paid moving forward. If you already paid it's not going to effect you until you renew.

Now as far as the dollar amount. We charge USD and we'd take 5% on the paid amount. If we charged you the CAD amount on your hosting we'd still take the same amount in GST because your hosting plan is now say $15 instead of $10. I hope I explained this well enough basically the way the math works 5% charged on the CAD amount be the same as the 5% charged on the USD amount once you convert it all to CAD.

[canadave]

Thanks Tony...now that you explain the bit about the 5%, that makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to explain this all further.

Cheers,

Dave