Canadian Internet Marketers

[MaxSteve]

Well this was irking me so I called CRA and to their understanding of the business model I do need to charge GST....yay more paper work, douche bags.

Actually, if you use an accounting package like QuickBooks, GST is fully supported and overall handling the GST takes almost no time at all.

If you aren't using a package like that for invoicing and you are big enough that you should be collecting the GST, I'd strongly recommend you spend the $300 for it. Well worth the investment.

 

[DirSP]

You'd only charge GST to the Canadian companies you work with. Canadian companies are legally required to pay GST when (legitimately) asked. As a Canadian, transactions with companies that are American are not subject to GST.

MaxBounty pays GST to Canadian publishers if we are provided with an invoice showing the full contact info for the publisher, their GST number and the pre-tax amount, the GST amount and the total amount. We also charge GST to companies that we deal with who are Canadian.

So basically now I need to dig up all previous months of earnings and invoice MaxBounty and Neverblue for the GST that I should be getting? I hate shit like this. Now I have to collect GST from Canadian networks and remit them to the government. Net gain = 0, but time wasted.

 

[crazyfish]

It doesn't make much sense, what do you charge GST on then? The amount of money you spent on ads? Or the sales the aff gets from your traffic, which will have already been charged GST to the buyer. Really this doesn't make much sense.

 

[MaxSteve]

It doesn't make much sense, what do you charge GST on then? The amount of money you spent on ads? Or the sales the aff gets from your traffic, which will have already been charged GST to the buyer. Really this doesn't make much sense.

GST is charged on the full amount of your earnings. In the simplest sense, you are providing the service of delivering leads for the network.

 

[MiKiMe]

The stupid thing is that you have to collect G.S.T. on the income that was derived from providing a service to citizens of Canada. "If you only run U.S. offers and are geotargeting the U.S. you are not providing a service to Canadians you are providing it to non-citizens". That is verbatim what the G.S.T ruling officer told me on the phone the other day. The annoying thing is the government doesn't give a shit and they just want their money. When it comes down to it affiliates are responsible for knowing if they should charge G.S.T. If you get audited and they find out you should charge G.S.T you are in the shit not the networks. For those of you who would like to call and find out for yourself the number is 1-800-959-8281 or 1-800-959-5525. You will have to listen to the annoying options but if you press * on your phone they will connect you will a person.

 

[backdraft]

ahhh screw taxes

jk jk I LOVE TAXES haha

 

[DirSP]

GST is charged on the full amount of your earnings. In the simplest sense, you are providing the service of delivering leads for the network.

In saying so, the network is a customer of you, the affiliate. GST is charged on the final customer which, under what you said, is the affiliate network. This is where it gets weird because the affiliate network is not necessary the final customer, since they get commision (profit) from the leads itself. So the network need to charge the GST on advertiser which is the absolute final customer. Now most of the advertisers are from the US so you can't charge GST. The network then need to claim GST credits from the government for the GST they paid to affiliates.

Yes this is confusing and also dumb. Affiliates get GST from network, and network reclaim that GST from the government if the advertiser is based in US. If a network can confirm this is true, then lets start the GST revolution (what a waste of time)!

 

[MaxSteve]

In saying so, the network is a customer of you, the affiliate. GST is charged on the final customer which, under what you said, is the affiliate network. This is where it gets weird because the affiliate network is not necessary the final customer, since they get commision (profit) from the leads itself. So the network need to charge the GST on advertiser which is the absolute final customer. Now most of the advertisers are from the US so you can't charge GST. The network then need to claim GST credits from the government for the GST they paid to affiliates.

Yes this is confusing and also dumb. Affiliates get GST from network, and network reclaim that GST from the government if the advertiser is based in US. If a network can confirm this is true, then lets start the GST revolution (what a waste of time)!

I'm with a network and I can confirm this is true.

GST is charged to the direct customer, and not the final customer. I'll give you an off-line example. You hire a plumber to fix your toilet. He comes in, does the work and charges you for labour, parts, and GST on both. He bought the parts from Home Depot and paid GST for it. Home Depot charged the plumber (the direct customer) not you as the final customer.

In any case, the GST sucks, but there isn't much we can do about it. As a business, you never really have to pay GST - you just shuffle it around. GST is shuffled around until it winds up in the hands of the consumer, who cannot claim it back.

 

[DirSP]

I'm with a network and I can confirm this is true.

GST is charged to the direct customer, and not the final customer. I'll give you an off-line example. You hire a plumber to fix your toilet. He comes in, does the work and charges you for labour, parts, and GST on both. He bought the parts from Home Depot and paid GST for it. Home Depot charged the plumber (the direct customer) not you as the final customer.

In any case, the GST sucks, but there isn't much we can do about it. As a business, you never really have to pay GST - you just shuffle it around. GST is shuffled around until it winds up in the hands of the consumer, who cannot claim it back.

If I do not have a GST account but I get one now, do I need to claim back past GST?

 

[Aequitas]

If you are a registered business and you make more than $30K per year, you have to register for a GST account and charge the GST to any Canadian companies that you do business with.

This is 100% true, anything below 30K for that year and you don't have to charge GST.

Also you never have to charge PST in canada while doing online marketing because by law PST strictly refers to tangible items only.

GST/HST - Sole Proprietors - Mandatory registration