The Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) has temporarily suspended all activities relating to non-resident goods and services tax (“GST”) and harmonized sales tax (“HST”) accounts. The CRA Non-Resident Tax Services Offices (TSO) are closed.
In the last week, I have had to tell four U.S.-based businesses that the CRA is effectively closed to non-resident businesses and
Direct sellers (also known as network sellers) enter the lucrative Canadian market, often without asking questions about whether there are any Canadian laws they should know about. Canadians sign up as independent sales contractors and start to build their sales networks before all questions are asked and answers are received about compliance with Canadian laws.
At midnight, the United States increased tariff rates on many goods from China from 10% to 25% (referred to as the “U.S. Trump Tariffs”). The U.S. Trump Tariffs are a form of customs duty that is payable by the importer and is passed on to U.S. consumers.
As a result of the new higher U.S.
Non-resident companies doing business in Canada who have registered for Canadian sales taxes often ask us to provide a chart that contains Canada’s sales tax rates. There isn’t a single sales tax rate for all of Canada. There are differences across the country and non-resident businesses need to ensure that they are following the sales
On April 23, 2019, the CRA launched public consultations to find out how it can change and what improvements it can make. In the April 23rd announcement, the CRA stated:
“Today, as part of its ongoing efforts to improve the client experience for individuals who interact with us, the CRA launched public consultations
This is a common problem – too common. The people in the company responsible for customs and trade compliance do not work closely with the computer programmers as software is being developed — and mistakes are made. The computer programmer does his or her job in preparing the code, but does not have any
Many U.S. and foreign companies that sell goods on Internet-based retail platforms (both in-house platforms and Amazon-type platforms) should ask more questions as they access Canada’s consumer market. Often, the first question asked by the foreign company is how to access the Canadian market (as they see dollar signs). After they foreign company figures out
The Internet enables foreign companies to market and sell to Canadian consumers without setting up in Canada. A common question of foreign sellers with opportunities to sell to Canadians is “Should I sell into Canada as a non-resident importer?” Before answering this question, we must go back to the basics.
What is an importer?
The
Wouldn’t you like to know what is in the Canada Revenue Agency’s (“CRA”) files concerning your GST/HST audit? This information is very valuable in finding out where the CRA made a mistake or what is the basis for the misunderstanding about your taxes. We recommend obtaining this information as soon as possible after an assessment
When a business sells its assets by way for a sale in bulk (or the Bulk Sales Act applies), it does not do so in the normal course of its business. Usually, one of the preconditions to closing a transaction (one of the vendor closing documents in an asset purchase) is a certification from the