Quote:
Originally Posted by Thead
I know. Actually my accountant doesn't seem to have the answer either. I got a phone call from him today asking me about the GST. I was just asking here on GFY before going to a tax office. I'll try to get an answer about this on paper. I'm sure they will have a hard time understanding what I do for a living and if GST is applicable in my case. I got lots of confilicting answers about this so far.
I read the following quote on a web page but I'm not sure I fully understand. English is not my first language. Anyway, I appreciate your help WG.
"Say you sold a membership for accessing digitized content (from various sources) on your Canadian website to a customer in the United States. Since there are no restrictions as to where the intangible personal property may be used, and the property is not considered intellectual property (nor the provision of a service), the American customer is subject to G.S.T., even if he never comes to Canada."
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Never listen to what the tax office says. They work for the CCRA and of course will say you should pay GST. Ask a chartered accountant who works for you and if he feels you should, then you should. Don't take the advice of the CCRA based on what they think you should do...
I never saw that quote before but its also not clear if we're talking about an affiliate or a paysite owner. And their definition of Canadian website isn't clear either, are we talking about the development of the site, the hosting of the site? If its an affiliate site, then technically its an American site since its hosted in the USA and belongs to a USA company. There's a lot of arguments that can be made about this. Your best bet is to get the opinion of a C.A. because it can widely vary.
WG