Disclaimer: We enjoy light-hearted professionalism, but are dead serious about getting your filings right.
You might have read our article on Do I have to charge GST?, and maybe even our post on HST. You鈥檝e been wondering if you should charge your customers GST, and are doing some quick math to see if you鈥檙e nearing the $30,000 threshold. Let me give you a few more reasons that you should bite the bullet, and start charging GST without delay.
- Registering your business for a GST account allows you to put that super official looking multi-digit number at the bottom, breaking up some of the white space on your invoice, and giving you something to add between 鈥榯his is how much you owe me鈥 and 鈥榩lease pay soon鈥. Not compelling enough? How about:
- Having an invoice with a GST number at the bottom makes you and your business seem that much more legit. No?
- Opening a GST account with the CRA triggers a periodic filing deadline, adding needed structure and routine to your life. We all appreciate the constancy of circumstances and rules that AREN鈥橳 changing every week these days, amirite?
- While no one LIKES paying tax, it is what keeps our standard of living here in Canada as good as it is 鈥 keeping roads paved, keeping healthcare free(ish), etc. Doing your part and contributing to the taxation of transactions keeps the wheels churning 鈥 it鈥檚 the Canadian way.
- People truly are accustomed to paying GST 鈥 they won鈥檛 be terribly surprised to begin paying tax on your products too.
- Charging GST will allow you to start marketing campaigns like 鈥淲e Pay The GST!!鈥 which people love, notwithstanding points 4&5, above.
- When you charge GST (or HST), you need to pass that money on (accounting lingo: remit) to the government, and you know what we鈥檝e been told since we were children: 鈥楾is better to give than to receive鈥 <= Woohoo! Yay you!
- You don鈥檛 actually have to give the government ALL of the GST you collect from your customers: You鈥檙e allowed to add up any tax you鈥檝e paid on your business expenses, and only send the government the difference. That鈥檚 sort of the same as getting some of your expenses recouped 鈥 which you couldn鈥檛 do before you began charging tax. (Circle back to point #5 鈥 if your customers are businesses, they will get the tax they pay you back as their ITCs, helping them offset their GST remittances)
- If you鈥檝e been spending a lot of money on purchases to grow your business, this could mean that you actually have already paid more GST than you鈥檝e collected from your customers, which means A REFUND! Thanks Gov!!
- GST Filings are something we do at 香港金光佛论坛 in our sleep* - and we鈥檙e happy to do them for you, or help you do them, if you鈥檙e looking to work out your math muscles. We鈥檙e awfully nice people, so we wouldn鈥檛 fault you for wanting to spend more time with us!
On a more serious note, if you are really on the fence about registering for GST, just do it. The 30K threshold might be subconsciously holding you back from growing your business. If it鈥檚 fear of how to do your bookkeeping that鈥檚 causing you stress, . It covers all of the basics on how to keep your records in order, including your GST. You got this!
* We do not condone accounting while sleeping 鈥 at least not on client files. We are, however, well-versed in dreams consisting of accounting for your closet contents, counting the uncounted sheep, or reconciling who ate which doughnuts yesterday.
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