eCommerce in Canada: Charging Provincial Sales Taxes on Online Sales

Last updated: 11 Aug 2014

I found this link very interesting on what is expected of business regarding taxes. Sellers beware, do your homework.

I just found another interesting website regarding charging taxes. Click here.

Click here to read the entire article, which I strongly recommend, or read the excerpt below:

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Online Sales: Which Taxes Do You Collect for Each Province?

In sum, as an online retailer accepting and shipping orders across Canada, the list of taxes you should be collecting and remitting on your online sales currently looks like this:

BC – HST 12% (Note that BC will return to a PST system of 5% GST and 7% PST April 1, 2013: see the BC Government’s Return to PST website for more information.)
Alberta – GST 5%
Saskatchewan – GST 5% & PST 5% voluntarily (unless is home province)
Manitoba – GST 5% & PST 7%
Ontario – HST – 13%
Quebec – GST 5% & QST (Quebec Sales Tax) 9.5% (Note that as of January 1, 2013, the QST rate will be 9.975%, but will no longer be charged on GST. This results in no change to the total tax.)
New Brunswick – HST 13%
Nova Scotia – HST 15%
Newfoundland & Labrador – HST 13%
Prince Edward Island – GST 5% & PST 10% voluntarily (unless is home province)
Northwest Territories – GST 5%
Nunavut – GST 5%
Yukon – GST 5%

B.C. – HST
Alberta – GST
Saskatchewan – GST & PST voluntarily (unless is home province)
Manitoba – GST & PST
Ontario – HST
Quebec – QST
New Brunswick – HST
Nova Scotia – HST
Newfoundland & Labrador – HST
Prince Edward Island – GST & PST voluntarily (unless is home province)
Northwest Territories – GST
Nunavut – GST
Yukon – GST
(*In your home province, registration for PST/RST is mandatory if you are selling taxable goods and/or services.)

This means that you should register as a Provincial Sales Tax Vendor with each of the provinces you will be doing business with and will be expected to collect and remit the sales tax accordingly.

What can you do to get around all this additional paperwork and bookkeeping related to your online sales? Not much. Some Canadian-based online businesses limit the areas they ship to. An Ontario based business, for instance, might only accept orders from and ship to customers in Ontario. Others only sell non-taxable goods and/or services.

The online sales picture is further complicated by the fact that goods and/or services that may be tax-exempt in one province may be treated differently in another. So take all the information above as a guide only and be sure to check with the Finance/Revenue Ministries of the individual provinces to ascertain whether or not you have to collect and remit provincial tax when you are shipping to customers who reside there. There are links to these in the Provincial Sales Tax section of this website. When it comes to taxes, you can’t afford to be wrong.

Gmail Tips

Finally a somewhat simple website with Gmail Tips. Click here for the link.

Maps of various things

These are  really neat.

 

This map shows what is on the other side of the world from where you are standing.  For the most part it will probably be water.

This map shows the world divided into 7 sections (each with a distinct color) with each section containing 1 billion people.

This map shows the most photographed places in the world.

This map shows the longest straight line you can sail.  It goes from Pakistan all the way to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia for a total of 20,000 miles.

This map shows the countries that heavily restricted Internet access in 2013.

This map shows the countries (in blue) where people drive on the left side of the road.

This map shows how much space the United States would occupy on the moon.

This map shows countries (in white) that England has never invaded.  There are only 22 of them.

This map shows (in white) where 98 percent of Australia’s population lives.

This map shows (in red, orange, and yellow) the world’s largest donors of foreign aid with red being the biggest donor.

This map shows (in blue) places where Google street view is available.

This map highlights the countries (in red and orange) with the most skyscrapers.

This is a map of the highest paid public employees in the United States.

This is a map of the all the rivers in the United States.

This is a map of 19th century shipping lanes that outlines the continents.

These are all the rivers that feed into the Mississippi River.

The line in this map shows all of the world’s Internet connections in 1969.

It may not come as a surprise but more people live inside the circle than outside of it.

Apparently you can’t get Big Macs everywhere.  This map shows (in red) the countries that have McDonalds.

And this map shows all the places where you can get eaten by a Great White shark!

And this is what the world would look like if all the countries with coast lines sank.

Personal Selling

Found a neat website on selling techniques. Click here for the article.

Red Hood Project

More and better protection is required to protect children and individuals from being preyed on and stalked through online websites and media. Its everyone’s responsibility to talk with our children to make them aware of the hazards to stop another young child from committing suicide like Amanda Todd. My hat goes off to her Mom for trying to get her and her daughter’s message out to spare other children. Learn and join the Red Hood Project movement. Thanks, MB.

Canada: Sale of kava extract in some health food stores

I find this article very interesting and scarry in light of the trust I place in people and businesses to do the right thing, especially health food stores and practicioners. If businesses don’t follow health advisories and stop selling products that could be bad for our health then its buyer beware. This is an erosion of our values and is simply wrong. Click here to read the entire article or an excerpt below. Click here to see related article. I found this website where they actually grade the studies behind the studies with an Evidence Table.

IN JANUARY 2002, HEALTH CANADA ISSUED AN ADVISORY, followed by a ban in August 2002, on the sale of herbal kava. One month after the advisory, 22 (67%) of 33 health food stores approached were selling kava. Two months after the ban, 17 (57%) of 30 stores continued to sell kava. These findings demonstrate that health food stores may need to be better informed about the sale of restricted natural health products.

Some herbal products are used to treat mild psychiatric symptoms, including kava extract for anxiety.1 In January 2002, Health Canada issued a health advisory about the potential for fatal liver toxicity associated with kava use,2 followed by a ban on its sale issued in August 2002.3 We examined whether health food stores continued to recommend or sell kava following the federal health advisory and subsequent ban.

We identified all health food stores centrally located within a single large Canadian city, using the local business telephone directory and personal contacts. Thirty-four stores were identified as retail natural health product sales outlets.

In February 2002, 1 month after the federal advisory, 8 trained simulated customers (6 women and 2 men) were instructed to browse around the assigned health food store until approached by an employee. Each then declared that he or she was experiencing anxiety and asked the employee for a treatment recommendation. The simulated customer inquired about the possibility of interactions between the recommended treatment and other drugs. The customer was to disclose that he or she was taking a benzodiazepine only if asked about current medication use. Case reports indicate that kava may enhance the effects of benzodiazepine use.4 The simulated customer also inquired about the employee’s training in complementary and alternative medicine.

In November 2002, more than 2 months after the federal ban, the 8 simulated customers revisited their respective health food stores to determine whether kava could still be purchased. They then asked employees if they knew about the product’s safety record.

After the advisory stage of the study, a letter was sent to each health food store owner informing him or her about the study, and each was given the opportunity to request exclusion from the study. This study was conducted in accord with the Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement5 and was approved by the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine Research Ethics Board.

One of the 34 stores contacted asked to be excluded. Among 33 store employees queried, 10 (30%) had received training in complementary and alternative medicine, of whom 7 (21%) had some formal education in complementary and alternative medicine at the community college or university level. Other sources of education included suppliers, books and in-store training.

In the 33 stores that were sampled following the federal advisory, 22 employees (67%) recommended kava for the treatment of anxiety. Eight of the 22 employees (36%) inquired about the customer’s prescription drug use, 9 (41%) mentioned potential adverse effects of kava, and 5 (15%) discussed the potential for kava–drug interactions.

After the federal ban, 30 stores were included in the analysis; 3 stores had closed. Seventeen stores (57%) continued selling kava, placing it directly on the shelf (11 stores) or behind the counter (6 stores). Six (35%) of the 17 employees at stores that continued to sell kava said that they knew about the federal ban.

We used a participant-as-observer method to best simulate the real-life interaction between a customer and store employee,6 but could not be certain that every simulated customer interacted with, or perceived the advice of, each employee in a consistent manner. Our selection of a limited number of stores from within a single city might affect the applicability of these data to other Canadian centres. We also acknowledge that 1 or 2 months may have been insufficient time to allow health food stores to respond to the advisory or ban.

More than 35% of Canadians take nutrient supplements, and 15% use herbal products.7 Health food store employees are often the only source of information about health products, especially because many people do not inform their physician about herbal product use.8 However, in our study, most health food store employees did not have formal postsecondary training in complementary and alternative medicine.

Despite a federal health advisory and ban, many health food stores appeared to continue to sell kava in Canada. Natural health products share with prescription drugs the potential to cause harm.9 In our study, health food stores in a large Canadian city continued to sell a product that had been documented to cause harm. In the face of clear evidence supporting a change in policy toward the sale of kava, the product remained on the shelves of some health food stores.

The 15 Best Websites, According to Redditors

I am familiar with some of these sites but I have never even heard of others. Click here for the list.

The 50 Free Apps We’re Most Thankful For

I know and like most of the apps mentioned in this article so I’m sure the ones that I don’t know about must be good too! Click here to read the article. Cheers!

Facebook No Longer Lets Users Hide Their Profiles in Search Box

I value my privacy if you haven’t figured that out yet and I have strong reasons for it. Facebook annoys me. Their latest business decision infuriates me to the point that I want to delete my account. I do not appreciate having my personal information publicized with anyone and my position on this has not changed since I first started learning about the internet and privacy. I tolerated their tactics thinking they didn’t know any better but they have finally shown their true colors and I am mad. I’m also insulted by their comment that only a small percentage had enabled the setting to who could find your profile photo and basic information when your name was entered in the search bar – perhaps I didn’t know about this change much like all the other changes they have done over the years. Privacy is something that should be cherished because you never know who or how someone can use your personal information maliciously. Consider all the young people that have committed suicide because of one wrong innocent mistake – well their business decision has raised the bar to a whole new unacceptable level. Click here to read the latest article regarding this matter or read an excerpt below. Click here if you want to learn how to permanently delete your Facebook account.

Facebook announced Thursday its plans to finalize the removal of the privacy setting that allows users to control who can search their name on the social-media site.

The company first rolled out its plans to eliminate the service in December 2012, PC Mag reports. Last year’s privacy-policy update ditched the security setting for members who were not using it, but now those who have the filter enabled have nowhere to hide.

The “Who can look up your Timeline by name” feature formerly allowed you to limit who could find your profile photo and basic information when they entered your name in the search bar. In an online post about removing the service, Facebook said only a “small percentage” of its almost 1.2 billion active users had enabled the setting. Members can now protect their presence primarily by limiting the audience for each specific item they post about themselves in their timeline. They can also still block specific users from contacting them and report abuse to the service.

The move is part of a greater effort to enhance its search feature, which included an upgrade to the Social Graph to allow users to search almost anything. Facebook will notify those still using the setting through a warning post, and from now on will feature a reminder notice when a user is posting something publicly.

Google Stuff

Google alternatives just in case you’re not up on the latest and greatest….. Click here for the entire article or read an excerpt below.

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While it seems like nothing will ever replace one of the few Google legacy products that people still use to this day, there are several iGoogle alternatives to help users cope with the loss:

igHome, which mirrors iGoogle’s layout, was meant “to create a site that looked and worked like iGoogle as much as possible to make the transition easy for users,” said igHome developer Mike Sutton. Like iGoogle, users can also add gadgets and quick-access links to Google services such as Gmail, Calendar, Drive and more.
Netvibes, a more advanced version of iGoogle, has nearly 100,000 apps and thousands of themes to personalize your iGoogle-like homepage. It also includes social media integration and all types of widgets, such as RSS feeds, bookmarklets and more. Personal accounts are free, but enterprise accounts are also available for $499 a month.
My Yahoo, Yahoo’s customizable home page, lets users “Get your headlines, email, quotes and more — all in one page.” Much like iGoogle, My Yahoo offers personalized widgets, from weather apps to recommended newsfeeds, RSS feeds from your favorite websites, sports scoreboards and more. Although Google products are not accessible through My Yahoo, the service does allow users to import iGoogle data and settings.
my msn, Microsoft’s take on iGoogle, also does not integrate with Google products, but will do the job if all you need is a content-based home page. After signing in with a Microsoft account, users can add RSS feeds and up to four recommended content categories, such as health, technology, entertainment, news, sports, money, lifestyle and videos.

Postini alternative

Postini is one of the most popular spam-filtering and email-archiving tools. It was founded in 1999 and acquired by Google in 2007. By the end of 2013, however, Postini’s 26 million users will have to say goodbye to the program forever and make one of two choices: transition to Google Apps — Google’s paid, cloud-based productivity suite, which will take over Postini — or migrate to a different provider.

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“Depending on your budget and the size of your business, it may benefit from or need additional services, such as email continuity and encryption, neither of which are included in either of Google Apps’ new services,” May said. “The key is to ask yourself if you are using the right technology for your business’ needs.”

As an alternative to Google Apps, May recommended AppRiver and McAfee. “We’ve seen these products stand out and perform well,” she said.

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As alternatives to Google Reader, the company suggested several apps, such as Feedly, Digg Reader, InoReader, NewsBlur, Flipboard and the Pulse mobile app. Feedly quickly became the top choice amongst former Google Reader users, primarily due to its simple interface, which most resembles the Google Reader of yore.

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In addition to RSS aggregation, Feedly also offers modern upgrades lacking in Google Reader.

“[Feedly] is actually faster, cleaner and better designed than Google Reader, along with [offering] more integrations to popular sharing tools, like Buffer and Pinterest,” Kulp said.

Google Adwords Keyword Tool alternatives

Much to the dismay of most website owners, bloggers and search engine optimization (SEO) pros, Google recently pulled the plug on the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. The service, which enabled anyone to research keywords for free, has now been replaced by the Keyword Planner.

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VivioSoft then tried to find the best Keywords Tool replacements. “We suggest that all smart business owners and marketers alike should add the following to their arsenal of resources and research tools: SEO Book, Ubersuggest, WordPot and Wordtracker.”

Google Alerts alternatives

Want to receive an email every time you and your company are mentioned on the Web? Need to keep tabs on your competitors online? Google Alerts used to effectively cater to these needs. All users had to do was enter a keyword or search query, and Google Alerts would send a notification whenever a new story citing those words was published. Google Alerts proved to be a great online monitoring tool for all types of users, particularly entrepreneurs and marketing professionals.

Granted, Google Alerts is still up and running. But with several reports that the service is losing its steam, with no signs of any fixes, many speculate that Google Alerts is next in line to be axed.

“Google hasn’t retired Google Alerts, but many have reported that it’s not as useful as it once was,” said Janet Thaeler, an Internet marketer and author of “I Need a Killer Press Release — Now What???: A Guide to Online PR” (Happy About, 2009). “So I started using either Mention or Talkwalker.”

Other Google Alerts alternatives include Social Mention, Meltwater News, Colabo, IQalerts, ContentGems and Yotify.

Picnik alternatives

Once upon a time, Picnik was Flickr’s default photo editor. In 2010, Google acquired the editor; two years later, the search giant added Picnik to its growing list of Google Graveyard residents.

“The Picnik photo editing tool was bought by Google and then discontinued,” said Thaeler. “Thankfully, some former employees from the company started my favorite replacement — PicMonkey.”

Other popular Picnik alternatives include Ribbet, iPiccy, befunky, pixlr, and Sumopaint. Flickr also replaced Picnik with Aviary for its Web app and with GhostBird for iOS.

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