Well,
Sleazy had me a little worried about paying GST on my affiliate commissions so I made a call to Rev Canada this morning.
I spoke with Carly and asked her two questions. 1. Do I have to pay GST on money my sponsor pays me. 2. How can Revenue Canada backcharge GST collections past a definitive ruling date.
She took my name and number so she could call me back AFTER she had gone over the business memo.
http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/E/pub/gm/...-090-02-e.html
She called me back about an hour and a half later. Her answers were as follows.
1. If you collect money from a Canadian sponsor and earn over $30,000 you MAY be subject to a 7% GST charge, but you can also claim all your GST expenses. (I'm sure most of us already do)
If your sponsor resides outside of Canada, ANY AND ALL MONIES ARE TAXABLE, BUT AT A RATE OF 0%. (This made me breath a little easier)
2. "I'm not really an e-commerce expert, but my understanding is this has been an ongoing work in progress. As the online industry has grown, we've had to make adjustments and rulings on what is a service or a tangible or intangible product.
I haven't heard of anyone being charged-back GST for longer than the two year period" (which she claims is when a definitive ruling on this subject was made)
"If your associates have a problem, with paying beyond the two year mark, than they should most definetly appeal"
One of the problems I have with this is she stated that the definitive ruling was two years ago, although the memo SHE directed me to is dated July 2002.
Oh, well. Hopefully this has been somewhat helpful to someone. It was helpful to me.
