BC Tax Advice - PST charges from out of Province

"someoneatacura" (someoneatacura) 08/16/2019 at 12:59 • Filed to: None

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Hey Everyone,

This might only apply to the fellow Canadians on the site, but I need some advice on how to proceed with a situation regarding PST charges that were never initially charged .

In 2016 I purchased my c amera body from a website based in Ontario (I live in British Columbia). Ontario doesn’t not charge the 7% PST on Camera bodies to residents in Ontario as they don’t have this tax. Even though I input my address and shipping information, the website did not add on the PST tax, which was re-introduced back in 2013 (we used to have a HST before that which was removed). I received an email from the website with a PDF quote for the PST t ha t was not charged this past week, stating that they were under Audit from the BC government, and asking for me to pay the tax they failed to collect at the time of purchase. They sent a follow up email a couple days later - after what I can only assume is a massive backlash from their customers - stating that it is the responsibility of the customer to pay the tax.

“ The BC Tax office states; All residents of BC should be aware that they are responsible for paying PST on retail goods acquired or brought into British Columbia , unless exempt. If they made the purchase and did not pay the BC PST, they are responsible for paying the tax.”

While I agree that during the transaction the customer needs to pay the taxes that are applied to the invoice, the Business is responsible for setting up their POS system to charge the applicable taxes during that transaction. I work in an industry with Customers that are PST exempt and we have procedures in place to handle that.

The BC government website states under the Taxes page that...

“ If your business is required to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , you must !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! at the time the tax is payable, unless a specific !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! applies. You !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! the PST you collect as well as the PST you may owe on items you use in your business. “

Am I wrong in thinking that while I should have paid those taxes during the purchase, that this isn`t the fault of myself, the customer, but rather the fault of the business, and that I should not be responsible for nearly $200 in taxes, 3 years after the fact?

Any advice from those with experience or information in this are is greatly appreciated. Please note, I am able to pay these taxes, and understand why you pay taxes, but I don’t agree that they should be pursuing customers after this much time has lapsed.

Thanks again!

Wacko > someoneatacura 08/16/2019 at 13:34

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I would say it’s all on them to pay them, they are in the bad since they didn’t charge you them at the time of the purchase.

The government is after them not you, unless the government sends you a bill tell them shove it where the sun don’t shine. 

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > someoneatacura 08/16/2019 at 13:39

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3 years seems a long time, though in the states the irs  can follow up for 7?

Do Canadian tax forms have a line for entering items purchased out of state, without tax collected?

diplodicus forgot his password > someoneatacura 08/16/2019 at 13:48

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How does the BC government have any authority over the Ontario Government? For me living in Michigan I am only taxed by websites that have a physical presence in the state of Michigan. All other websites do not charge sales tax to me. It is my responsibility to report those purchases when I do my state taxes. So I’m going to side with the camera store in this case, why would they charge you sales tax for BC when they only operate in Ontario? Although I see here that it is legally the responsibility of the website you purchased the lens from to collect sales tax https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/sales-taxes/pst/register  Which is weird

someoneatacura > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 08/16/2019 at 13:51

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I would need to double check, to be honest this is not a common thing for me or most C anadians , so I haven’t had to look into it before.

someoneatacura > diplodicus forgot his password 08/16/2019 at 13:57

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That’s why I’m confused. The website has the ability to assign the appropriate taxes during the transaction, as you have to set your billing address during the purchase. Each Province has it’s own taxes, and they’re not all the same. they should be fully aware of these differences and setup their POS system accordingly . The BC Gov site states it’s the responsibility of the Business to charge and collect the taxes, which is confusing me as to who is really at fault? Even if I paid the taxes, the government would still audit the business, as they’re not collecting it themselves even though they are registered to collect it.

diplodicus forgot his password > someoneatacura 08/16/2019 at 14:04

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Right but they would take your money and give it to the BC government, which is what would have happened if they had set up their system right in the first place. It’s just really strange to me as an American, that BC impose that law on other provinces. The online sales tax law in America is actually a federal thing. https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/self-employment-taxes/sales-tax-101-for-online-sellers/L4uTQCaIx  

eng_shooter > someoneatacura 08/16/2019 at 14:19

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I’m sorry if this is a double post, I joined the community because I had news regarding this post but don’t see my original post anywhere.

I too received these emails and had red flags. I called a PST information officer and she confirmed that they’re receiving a lot of calls about this company. She told me that while Vistek is indeed allowed to ask for us to voluntarily pay the PST that is owed, if the items were purchased by an individual and not a company it is not the purchaser’s responsibility to pay the back taxes. If it was purchased by a business, you’re supposed to self remit and should have caught the error. She condemned the language in the letter sent this morning as being ‘salesman like ’ and ‘ coming off as a collections letter’.

I won’t be paying Vistek a cent, and after this experience would not choose to do business with them in the future.

someoneatacura > diplodicus forgot his password 08/16/2019 at 14:25

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Yeah, there is 2 taxes you pay, depending on the item. GST (Government Sales Tax) - which is Federal, and PST (Provincial Sales Tax) - which is p rovincial . Certain goods are exempt from PST, and Businesses buying items to then re-sell to customers do not pay PST on the item, as it will be charged when it is re-sold. We have a PST number at the dealership that exempts us from paying the PST in these instances. For a Website to not charge one of the taxes to the general public, when everything they sell is not PST exempt is really puzzling, a pretty glaring error on their part. It will be more than just BC where they would have this issue as well, as not all provinces have the same taxes.

someoneatacura > eng_shooter 08/16/2019 at 14:28

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Thank you! I will sav e my ~$180 dollars and give it to one of the Local camera stores like Henry’s or Beau Photo instead.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > someoneatacura 08/16/2019 at 14:29

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Forget the taxes, I would simply make this a customer service issue. Put it this way: I bought something, paid what was asked, and now three years later you’re asking for more fucking money?

I’d tell the company tough shit and to shove it up their ass, in a nice way since customer service reps are probably taking a lot of flak for this.

What a total crock of shit.

eng_shooter > someoneatacura 08/16/2019 at 14:36

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Glad to save you some cash! They wanted $300 from me. I emailed them and said I politely decline their offer.

someoneatacura > eng_shooter 08/16/2019 at 14:45

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Damn, was that from one invoice or multiple?

someoneatacura > gin-san - shitpost specialist 08/16/2019 at 14:53

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You know what’s the funniest part ? If they had stated that it was Voluntary, and that they would not force me to pay it, it would have made me want to do more business with them. How businesses don’t understand the simplest things regarding customer service and how to handle fucks ups like this is baffling to me. There is n o way in hell our dealership would force an issue like this, on to our customers, when it is not their fault in the slightest.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > someoneatacura 08/16/2019 at 14:54

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I’m the last person to same that dumb shit about the customer always being right, but in this case, the customer is 100% right.

Guess what? Company fucks up, company has to deal with the fucking consequences.

diplodicus forgot his password > someoneatacura 08/16/2019 at 15:15

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Right every state in America sets their own sales tax as well. Sales and use tax exemption is the same as well. I just don’t understand why one province has power over another province. IMO BC shouldn’t be able to have any control over a business that operates solely in Ontario. If you lived in Ontario, you wouldn’t be subject to BC laws, so why should a business be just because someone purchased something from their website? The end user should be responsible for paying that tax, that’s the whole point of the sales use tax exemption anyways.

someoneatacura > diplodicus forgot his password 08/16/2019 at 15:22

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Well they don’t operate solely in Ontario, they are just headquartered and warehoused there . They sell online to customers across the country, and the billing address and end user is in that province, so those taxes need to be applied. The “transaction” was conducted in the Province of BC from an end user perspective, and it’s not fair to Businesses operating in that province if a customer c an skip a tax by buying from outside the province. It helps protect the local businesses that are forced to comply with the provinces tax rates. The same would go for a customer buying from a company in BC that lives in Ontario, they are exempt from the PST charged in BC.

diplodicus forgot his password > someoneatacura 08/16/2019 at 15:41

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If they don’t have a physical location in BC then they don’t operate in BC.

I understand why BC want s there tax money. I think how they are doing it is wrong, and that the business is not responsible for this and you should pay the taxes. 

someoneatacura > diplodicus forgot his password 08/16/2019 at 15:52

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I understand your point if that we’re the case, but the province puts the onus on the business, and expects them to collect the taxes to keep the market fair. As stated in another post,  the BC government does not allow a business to force a customer to pay the taxes if they neglected to charge them during the transaction.