Canadians, watch out for CCRA.
 

If you are Canadian and you are running a paysite, be carefull because the CCRA (Canada Custom Revenu Agency) might knock on your door and want to collect GST on all sales you generated to your paysites.

ALL transactions are subject to this, you have to charge GST to all your customers whether they are from Canada, USA or whatever.

Even if you don't directly process the transactions yourself and you go thru a IPSP - you have to charge GST on those transactions.

This is also retroactive, so if you get audited - it can hurt bad.

Also, apparently you'll have to charge GST on your affiliate income. I.E. : If you are sending traffic to an affiliate program, you'll have to charge GST on the commision you receive. Let's say you recieved $50k from ARS last month - well, you'll have to invoice them for GST.

Some people already got audited and appealed of these decisions and lost. This is very serious and scary. You should contact your accountants or tax lawyer ASAP to clear this up.

Good Luck! :-)

GST tried me on for this a while ago. My accountant handled them and everything was fine.

GST is not charged to US based consumers or businesses. They can't force you to collect it on those sales. However if they want to be pricks they can audit your sponsors to find out which sales came from Canada. but that's too hard for them.

When americans come here to shop they get the GST back @ the border. The Gov't would be stupid to make us charge GST or any taxes to US based customers. Canada can't survive without US money. If we started hitting thhem up for tax they wouldn't shop here or deal with Can businesses.

Another good reason to say fuck you Canada and go offshore.

I heard the same from my Tax lawyers, but they told me I'd have to charge GST only to affiliate programs located in Canada.

The affiliate programs in Canada that would pay GST to webmasters could then claim it back quartely.

great way to promote Canadian Business to Business practices. Idiots @ CCRA.

And pay a departure tax? are you nuts!

unless you don't care about coming back to canada....

isn't there a certain ammount of income you have to excced before you have problems with GST?

I believe ( and I might be VERy wrong ) that if your income is over $35 000 a year for a single person and more for a couple , especially if it is a self owned business.

You are absolutely right. I have a document to that effect somewhere. Will find it and post the link.I do not care how good your accountant or lawyer are, they are there to hunt you down and tax you ... On top of it, porn.... you are fucked. and personally responsible so they go after you if your company has no assets.

When the visa shit happened, I decided that was another reason to want to establish a "US presence". Now, I am an employee of my US company, sales been made in the US.

Well, this is what I thought too - our accounting firm told us that the administration of the law and the law itself is very different. If the person who audit you wants to get some good stats in his records, he can be a pain in the ass and force you to pay GST on that.

The law state that you have to charge EVERY consumer or business the GST. But most likely the CCRA weren't enforcing this.
But now they are... Recently they actually enforced this to some people I know and some that I heard about.


Here is a part of our accounting firm letter they presented to us:
--
"A GST/HST registrant operates an interactive Web site. Subscribers pay a fee to access the site, which features digitized content, including music, videos, games, and other activities. The subscribers are not able to download permanent copies of the content to their computers, but can interact with it while on-line. They are provided with a password to enter the site, and can access it at any time from any location.

This is a supply of intangible personal property, which is made in Canada as there are no restrictions as to where the intangible personal property may be used. The registrant will be required to charge its non-resident subscribers tax at the rate of 7%, as the supply is not a supply of intellectual property, and therefore is not zero-rated under the provisions of section 10 of Part V of Schedule VI."
--

If you are an independant contractor and you generate less than $30k (Canadian) per year - you do not have to register to obtain a GST number.

If you generate less than $30k per year but you already have a GST number, you have to pay.

Be carefull with your US presence. If you move your sites, intelectual property (domain names, design or whatever) to the US without paying a departure tax to CCRA - you might be in trouble as well.

I know there is a lot of people who transfered their site to the US for the Visa Regs - but legally it's not that simple.

-------------------------

Yo Brad.
I am having problems with Gst,
I would like to talk with you if you have a moment.
Please hook me up with your icq ok?
my icq - 17257843
My name is Rene.

gotta charge gst on traffic i send to paysites? thats crazy. how is a canadian business suppose to compete in a global economy under conditions like those? the more money a business from canada can bring in the higher gdp will be which helps the canadian economy.

Since there is not GST in Alberta can you register a company there? How about becoming a resident of Alberta somehow?

uh, there's gst in Alberta. lol.

i believe there's no pst in alberta. gst is national

Canada sucks for people doing well.

Does someone know if the same rule applies to the provincial tax in Quebec as well? I would like to know if someone in Quebec has had to deal with this.

As an affiliate only, what if I were to promote a new sponsor, and opt to receive direct bank deposits to a bank in, oh, say the Caymen Islands? So, let's say the sponsor is based in Florida for example, and every two weeks they wire transfer my money to a foreign bank....

What can the Canadian gov't say about it? I don't even see how they could even find out about, let alone do anything to me.

ya i went to accountent yesterday too... he toled me i need to register for gst and pay... but you can write off many things like computers, gas, all the toys like digi cam, routers, cable bill, etc,etc....

A departure tax?

Start a brand new offshore corporation and "sell" your currents canadian sites to your "new" offshore corporation... open a Swiss bank account and send wire payment to it.

Instead of "the sky is falling" approach, I have a couple of simple questions:

a) Has anyone from Canada been audited and been served with notice that you had to pay GST on affiliate income. IMPORTANT .."Affiliate" income and not sales from your own site. And I don't mean, does anyone think they will be audited and "may" need to pay GST. The question is "Has" anyone been audited and "HAVE" been forced to pay GST on affiliate income?

b) If you HAVE paid gst on affiliate income, what was the ruling handed down by CCRA?

Instead of guessing on possible outcomes, lets' hear real life scenarios.

No

this thread was started on the premise of paysite owners. and in terms of paysite owners, the answer is YES.

Quiet...and your contribution is what?..shit man...why did idiots like you insist on adding POINTLESS!! posts that muddy the questions. Let people answer. As you will see in the first post that I have quoted...this was brought up in the very first part of this thread.

So, if you have something to contribute...great...if not..fuck off!!

can you not read you cheap, surfer loving bastard?

how did that great deal go with love match. 50 bucks for 20K images. then crying when you didn't get them. you are fucking joke.

kids these days.

.

O.K. This post has gone to shit. Thank you Quiet. So do you have a point now? I am still interested in hearing responses from "real" business men out there...

And can YOU Read...here it is again...from the first paragraph...

QUOTE!! Also, apparently you'll have to charge GST on your affiliate income. I.E. : If you are sending traffic to an affiliate program, you'll have to charge GST on the commision you receive. Let's say you recieved $50k from ARS last month - well, you'll have to invoice them for GST.

Some people already got audited and appealed of these decisions and lost. This is very serious and scary. You should contact your accountants or tax lawyer ASAP to clear this up
END QUOTE!!

When it comes down to it...your post is still POINTLESS!!! I don't like you, you don't like me...so get over it princess...but at least try and say something useful.

real business men - ah, you mean those who attempt to buy 20K images for 50 bucks (l fucking ol), then cry about it on message boards?

i make more in one day than you make in months, kid.

obviously you have trouble read the first couple of sentences in a thread. typical illogical rant - my post is pointless. indeed.

what are you worried about anyway - your 100 hits a day isn't going to generate enough for you to ever become a target of Rev Can's.

:glugglug

Nay, honesty in business is my creed...if I had been ripped off of 25 cents ..you still would of heard of it... Get your facts straight...and why the hell would you assume I was a kid...flattering yes, but based on what...damn don't you know how to make a point using real intellect...

yes, your attempt to purchase 20K+ images for 50 bucks, is a definite sign of intergrity for us all. is that what you value content at?

also a sign of experience in this business. intelligence as well.

giving you the benefit of the doubt. if you are not a kid - your posts are even more pathetic.

Ahhh...this must be some kind of "new" english that I haven't heard about...where only the first sentence in a paragraph has any bearing..the rest of the paragraph is simply fluff and filler...well, this certainly will save time writing and speaking...thanks, I guess...

And yes, if a content supplier wants to sell me 50,000 pics for $1.00..sure I would jump on that too..that is what THEY value their product at...their fire sale is my lucky day...

let me spell it out for you:

me: paysite owners situation with regards to gst is pertainent to this thread. proof - it's mentioned by the topic starter.
you: your post is pointless.

conclusion: you're an idiot.

i never said the affiliate view was pointless to the discuss. it's been you saying that the paysite view was 'pointless'.

and you still think that the paysite owner's views on this situation are pointless? you can't be that stupid.

thank you for that ultimate admission of stupidity. you can buy rolexes in times square for 20 bucks.

fuck, I bought 2 in mexico for $60 a piece - and it took me an hour to get that price.

umm, no........(this is one of the FEW times I have to disagree with you) - on THIS thread the initial post talks about both paysite and affiliate people.

i never once said that the affiliate point of view was not pertainent to the conversation.

i said "this thread was started on the premise of paysite owners"

and it was. look at the first paragraph.

quiet is right. I called CCRA and a tax lawyer. If you are an affiliate and your sponsors are US based and NOT registered with CCRA in Canada (GST number) you dont' pay GST.

If you own a paysite and sell memberships you pay GST no matter where you host, how you sell blah. Read their new guidelines on ecommerce on their site. ccra-whatever.gc.ca

just because one point is mentioned before the other doesn't make it the premise of the thread. One could have been used to set the stage for the other.....

i pay over 25K a month gst...

And my contribution was to get the "affiliate" side of the issue...and my clarifiers were to ensure that others choosing to respond to my post knew that I was asking for the "affiliate" side, and not the paysite side.

Your post added nothing, except a jab at my "apparent" inability to properly interpret the premise of this post. It had no value...hense the ensuing exchange between the 2 of us...

what's scarry about this is that most canadian paysites had tax lawyers and CAs tell them they didn't need to charge GST - and it seems they were wrong. mine told me that on my affiliate income, but looking at what happened to paysites I'm still worried.

u really don't have a clue do you?

the thread was started on that premise. absolutely it was. other premises were added, but that was the starting premise. which is all i stated.

showing that the paysite owners view was pertinent to the situation. is it not?

49 said it was. several times told me my posts were 'pointless'. they obviously are not.

Please, enlighten me...

And Quiet, you are taking credit where credit is not due...you simply replied "yes". Others have given you credit for statements that can not be in any way gathered from your one word response..

very true. i touched on this in another thread a while back.

uh, it's not my problem you are an idiot. which you've proven in this thread several times. and continue to do so.

pathetic.

dude, I'm not questioning that your posts were 'pointless' at all - they had a lot of metit and value. Some of the guys questioning you are fools.

I'm not questioning the paysite owner view being pertnant to the situation either.

I am questioning that you say it was started on the paysite premise, that's just your personal situation clouding the fact that it was pointing out both sides, affiliate and paysite.
Many threads have been started on the paysite premise, this is the first one to even suggest with some proper legal background that affiliate income may be GSTable. That being said and since this is the first one I know of to address that point intelligently, the premise may actually been enlightening us to potential tax liability on affilaite income.

Possible??

you can't light an oil lantern that has no fuel in it.