Managing Canadian Taxes

This guide is for merchants who sell in Canada. It's your responsibility to consult with local tax authorities or a tax professional to verify that you charge your customers the correct tax rates, and to ensure you file and remit your taxes correctly.

Before you start selling, you need to determine whether you should charge sales tax. You might need to register with various tax agencies. After that, you can set up your taxes in ShipEarly to help ensure that you charge the correct rates wherever you sell in Canada.

Determine whether you need to charge sales tax

You need to determine whether you should charge sales tax. If you're not sure, then consult with a local tax accountant or other tax specialist, as well as your provincial and federal tax agencies.

In general, in Canada you need to register for a GST/HST account if you sell products or services that are taxable and your worldwide revenue is more than $30,000 CAD over the past 12 months. You then need to collect taxes on your sales, and remit those taxes to the appropriate tax authority. You also need to file regular reports with the tax authority.

If your sales are lower than the threshold, then you don't need to register for a GST/HST account, and you don't need to collect or remit taxes.

Register with your tax agencies

If you need to charge sales tax in one or more Canadian jurisdictions, then you need to contact each of the relevant agencies and register with them. The process varies depending on where your business is based and where you sell, and on the individual government requirements.

Set up the regions in which you're registered

After you've registered with the tax agencies and have your registration numbers, you can set up your taxes. You do these steps once.

Steps:

1. Go to Settings > Taxes.
2. In the Tax regions section, beside Canada, click Edit.
3. In the Registered tax accounts section, click Add tax account.
4. Select a region in which you are registered.
5. In Registration number, enter your account number.
6. Click Save.
7. (Optional) Add more regions and account numbers by clicking Add tax account.

Note: GST is applied on every transaction automatically in Canada. You are responsible for selecting the correct Provinces in which you must remit to. These taxes are automatically stored in ShipEarly and applied on transactions.