Canadian Tax Question

Legislatively, a commercial vendor is required to collect all exigible taxes, both provincial and federal. Therefore an Alberta vendor will apply the GST to the purchase price. There is no sales tax, yet, in Alberta. If the RV is delivered to you in BC by a division of the Alberta vendor you may then be liable for the BC sales tax. Take delivery in Alberta. For clarity the GST is equivalent to the VAT. In the event you wind up paying the BC sales tax, explore the possibility of having the sales tax refunded as a non-resident. This not a good comparison as it crosses the 49th parallel but, non-residents may apply to Washington State for a refund of state sales tax. The concept does exist.

Our company does sell from Alberta to BC and yes the taxes are charged based on the BC tax system. We are supposed to charge as a retailer based on the point of delivery not the shipping point. Saying that I know there are several small companies that I have heard of that just charge the Alberta way and don't care about the tax at the other end.
They will end up paying it themselves later if they get audited and found but for the few some have they take the chance.

The vender is responsible for collecting the taxes so check with them. You will likely be charged both.

This may help!

Quote: "Beginning April 1, 2013, the 12% harmonized sales tax (HST) will no longer apply on property or services made in British Columbia (B.C.), or to property or services imported or brought into B.C. that are not zero-rated supplies. In its place, the 5% goods and services tax (GST) will apply to these products and importations."

Hi,

If you ordered from Alberta with shipping to BC you, in theory, should pay the extra 7%. However, I believe BC has harmonized tax--so it would be both taxes in the total.

If it is being shipped to a private address, and is a small item I'd not bother.

If it is being delivered to a store in BC you will pay the total tax owed in BC.

If it is being shipped from USA you may have a brokerage fee on top of the BC tax.