Confused Canada buyer charged QST & HST when checking out, I bought item from USA priced at $40.
Summary: rommel999999 is a buyer with over 20 years of experience, located in Montreal, who purchased a $40 US item from Washington State and unexpectedly incurred two Canadian taxes, QST and HST, despite never having been charged these fees on U.S. purchases before. flipistics suggests that the seller might be operating out of Canada using a cross-border shipper, resulting in Canadian taxes. marnotom! explains that such taxes may be applied based on the shipping method and mentions that the item seems to be forwarded through eBay International Shipping, where taxes are sometimes prepaid. Despite the seller confirming they are based in the U.S., rommel999999 remains uncertain about why these taxes were charged and awaits further developments upon delivery.
Hi, I hope someone can help me. I am a buyer of over 20 years here, located in Montreal. Last week, I bought a $40 US clothing item of a seller located in Washington State, USA and there were no duties when I went to pay at checkout...which is fine as the item was not so expensive, but strangely, for the first time ever, I had two charges for taxes, QST and HST. Never happened before when buying items from USA. Also, just to be sure, I checked previously bought items from USA, and I was never charged these taxes. Not one time. I was charged shipping, of course and sometimes duties, clearly marked when you go to pay .....Why am I paying Canadian taxes on an item coming from USA when I never was before? Thank you for helping.
rommel999999
OP1 year agoHi again, the seller just told me they are based in the USA and they find this weird too.
flipistics
·1 year agoInteresting. Let us know if you are charged any taxes by the carrier when it arrives. Maybe the international shipping program is breaking taxes out now or something?
marnotom!
·1 year agoWere you charged QST and HST or QST and GST? The former is a problem, the latter is pretty normal.
Online purchases for items located outside of Canada are just as subject to sales taxes as online purchases for items located within Canada. The issue is that currently, unlike many western nations, Canada doesn't have a formal mechanism to charge and collect the taxes at point of sale, so that responsibility usually falls to Customs/Douaines or a party authorized to do this collection on Customs' behalf.
What you've probably found with your past purchases if they've been sent through the mail is that the item is of such low value that Customs hasn't bothered to assess it for tax charges.
There are some ways to work around this so that the taxes can be charged at Checkout. @flipistics mentions one way that this can be done. Another possibility is that if the item is being forwarded through the "eBay International Shipping" (eIS) system or a carrier other than the postal system, the taxes will be advanced to Customs by the carrier (or someone contracted by the carrier) and you'll actually be paying the carrier back for paying the taxes for you.
Back to my original question, if you were charged HST instead of GST, you may have seen a double-charge of some of the taxes owing on the item unless the term "HST" was used in error on your invoice.
rommel999999
OP1 year agoThank you so much. This is what I was charged:
rommel999999
OP1 year agoAlso, I have bought more expensive designer stuff before from the USA, priced at over $175 US dollars, and was never, ever charged Canadian taxes at checkout. Duty fees, sure, but not these taxes. That's why I found it odd. This item was priced low enough that I was happy I would not owe duty fees on it. Then I got a surprise when I saw that Canadian taxes were charged for an item coming from USA. This is a first for me. Thank you again for helping, but it still does not answer why this happened. I think the seller is perhaps shipping out of Canada since Bellingham, WA is so close to the border, it would make sense. Thank you 😊
marnotom!
·1 year agoIt looks to me as though the item is being forwarded through the eBay International Shipping (eIS) service, which means that both the item price and the shipping price are subject to QST and GST. The charges appear to be correct.
@flipistics, sometimes a sale for an eIS item will have taxes paid at checkout, sometimes they'll be payable upon delivery (or DHL will give the buyer the option of paying for them just before delivery), and sometimes the buyer is offered a choice between the two options. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to suggest what triggers what option.
flipistics
·1 year agoMy guess would be that it's actually a Canadian using a cross border shipper, they probably have a GST/HST number, and they probably have their tax tables (correctly) set up to charge tax. I suspect they'll actually ship it from Canada.
rommel999999
OP1 year agoThat makes sense, and it crossed my mind. Perhaps I will ask the seller if they are based in Canada because that would explain this. I am not even upset about the extra cost, it was around $11 US dollars, but because I was never charged such taxes before, when I bought an item coming from USA, I thought it was weird. Thank you so much, really.