Charging PST and GST for small business owners in BC, Canada - USA customers vs Canadian clients

So for BC small business owners dealing with US customers, you generally don't charge GST/PST on goods or services provided to them. This is because these are considered exports, and exports are typically zero-rated for GST/HST and exempt from PST. For your Canadian customers outside BC, you need to charge GST/HST based on the rate in their province, but not BC PST. Each province has its own rules - some have HST (harmonized), others have GST + their own provincial tax. If your revenue is under $30,000 annually though, you might qualify as a small supplier and not need to register for GST/HST at all. Keep good records of where your customers are located since that determines which taxes apply. The CRA has decent resources on their website that explain this in more detail.

I was in the exact same situation last year with my ecommerce business! After tons of research and a frustrating call with CRA, I found this tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that literally saved me hours of confusion. It analyzes all your sales by location and tells you exactly what taxes you need to charge and file. The best part is you can upload your sales data and it'll tell you if you've been doing it wrong. I discovered I wasn't charging HST correctly to my Nova Scotia customers but didn't need to worry about my US sales at all. The tool also helped me understand that I needed to file zero-rated exports for proper documentation even though I wasn't collecting GST on those sales.

Just wanted to follow up about taxr.ai that was mentioned earlier. I decided to try it for my consulting business and it was seriously eye-opening! I uploaded my client list with their locations and the types of services I provide, and within minutes I had a complete breakdown of what taxes I should be charging. Turns out I was overcharging some clients in Manitoba and undercharging others in Quebec. The tool explained that for my type of consulting, the place of supply rules were different than I thought. It also helped me understand that my US clients were indeed zero-rated for GST/HST purposes and gave me the proper documentation language to include on invoices. Definitely worth checking out if you're confused about Canadian tax rules!

After spending 3 hours on hold with CRA trying to get answers about GST/HST for my BC business, I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to a real CRA agent in under 15 minutes. There's a demo video here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c that shows how it works. I was about to give up after my third attempt waiting on hold, but Claimyr kept my place in line and called me when an agent was ready. The CRA agent cleared up my confusion about zero-rated exports to US customers and confirmed I didn't need to charge PST to clients outside BC. They also helped me understand my reporting requirements even for sales where I don't collect tax.

Well I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway because I was desperate for answers about my cross-border sales. I was absolutely shocked when I got a call back in about 25 minutes saying they had a CRA agent on the line! The agent was incredibly helpful and explained that I don't need to charge GST/HST on services provided to US clients as they're zero-rated exports. They also clarified that for my Canadian clients outside BC, I need to charge the GST/HST rate applicable to their province, but not BC PST. For BC clients, I charge both GST and PST. What would have been days of research or weeks waiting for an email response was solved in one phone call. Definitely using this service again during tax season when it's impossible to get through!

One thing nobody's mentioned yet is PST registration. Even if your revenue is under the $30k threshold for GST/HST, BC doesn't have a small supplier threshold for PST - you need to register for PST if you sell taxable goods or provide taxable services in BC. I learned this the hard way and had to backpay a bunch of PST I should have been collecting from my BC customers. Check out the BC gov website for the list of taxable services - it's not comprehensive like GST, only specific services require PST.

Don't forget about filing requirements! Even for your zero-rated exports to US customers, you still need to report these sales on your GST/HST return (if you're registered). They go on a separate line as zero-rated exports. I use SimpleTax for my personal taxes but found TaxCycle works better for my business with all these different provincial requirements. Anyone have other software recommendations specifically for handling cross-border sales from BC?

Just wanted to add another perspective on the BC PST situation. I run a digital marketing agency in Vancouver and had to navigate this maze last year. One thing that really caught me off guard was that PST applies to many services that aren't subject to GST/HST. For example, if you're providing marketing services, web design, or consulting to BC customers, you need to charge PST even though these services might be GST/HST exempt under certain thresholds. The BC government has a specific list of taxable services, and it's worth checking because it's not intuitive. Also, for record-keeping purposes, I found it helpful to set up separate tracking for US sales vs Canadian provincial sales right from the start. Makes filing so much easier when you can clearly show CRA your export sales versus domestic sales. The documentation requirements for zero-rated exports aren't too burdensome, but you do need to maintain proof of where your customers are located.

This is such a helpful thread! As someone just starting out with a BC-based online business, I'm saving all these resources. One question I haven't seen addressed yet - what happens if you accidentally charge the wrong tax rates to customers? I'm worried I might mess up the provincial rates since they seem to change and I have clients scattered across Canada. Is there a way to correct this after the fact, or do you just have to eat the difference? Also, if you overcharged a customer on taxes, do you refund them directly or does it go through some official process with CRA/BC? The taxr.ai tool mentioned earlier sounds promising for preventing these mistakes, but I'm curious about the cleanup process if you've already been doing it wrong for a few months.

This thread has been incredibly informative! I'm a freelance graphic designer in BC and was completely lost on the tax requirements. Based on what everyone's shared, it sounds like I need to: 1. Register for GST/HST if my total revenue (including US clients) exceeds $30k 2. Register for BC PST regardless of revenue since design services are taxable in BC 3. Not charge any taxes to my US clients (zero-rated exports) 4. Charge appropriate GST/HST rates for Canadian clients based on their province 5. Only charge BC PST to BC clients The mention of taxr.ai and Claimyr is really helpful - I've been dreading calling CRA but knowing there are tools to help navigate this makes it feel less overwhelming. I think I'll start with the tax calculation tool to make sure I understand what I should be charging, then use the CRA callback service to confirm my specific situation. One follow-up question: for creative services like graphic design, are there any special considerations for determining where the "place of supply" is? Some of my clients are corporations with offices in multiple provinces, and I'm not sure which address to use for tax purposes.