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Canadian GST compliance changes

  • Feb 16, 2014 | Richard Asquith

Canadian GST compliance changes

The new Canadian budget for 2014, published this month, included a range of changes to the Canadian GST (Goods and Services Tax) and HST (Harmonised Sales Tax) regime.  You can read more about the existing Canadian GST system here.

Canadian tax changes included:

  • New powers for the tax authorities to impose GST registration where they believe there may be taxable income or black market activities
  • Extension of the GST exemption on certain health and disability training programmes
  • A new system for the reporting and calculation of GST for joint venture partners. This includes the right to nominate one of the JV participates as the taxable reporting contact
  • A new GST grouping option for related parties.  This will enable separate companies with related, commercial operations to elect to not pay GST on transactions between them – known as a Nil Consideration Election. This will require separate filings and declarations from companies’ existing returns, and all parties can be held separately liable for any undeclared GST or related penalties.. This new option will come into effect from 1 January 2015.

VP Global Indirect Tax
Richard Asquith
VP Global Indirect Tax Richard Asquith
Richard Asquith is the former VP Global Indirect Tax at Avalara