Do I need to register for GST/HST with no office in Canada?
Having no office here does not settle it. Registration turns on whether the business is carrying on business in Canada and on the nature of the supply, not on premises. A non-resident supplier, a platform operator or a digital-service business can cross the registration test with nothing in Canada but customers. The analysis is done supply by supply: what is sold, where it is delivered or performed, who the customer is, and whether the platform or the underlying supplier is treated as making the sale.
We sell software subscriptions to Canadian customers, must we register?
Very possibly, and the route matters as much as the answer. Non-resident businesses supplying digital products and services into Canada are within these rules, and the platforms facilitating those sales can be brought in as well. Before anything is filed, establish who is treated as making the supply, whether your customers are consumers or registered businesses, and which registration route fits. Whether a non-resident can recover input tax at all depends on which route it took, so the decision is not a formality to be dealt with last.
Does a marketplace have to register for the sales it facilitates?
Platform operators are within these rules in their own right, not merely as a conduit for the seller. Where a platform facilitates supplies into Canada, the rules can treat the platform rather than the underlying supplier as making the supply, which moves both the registration and the collection obligation. The seller and the platform therefore need to reach the same conclusion about who collects, because a mismatch surfaces as tax charged twice or not at all. Settle it in the contract terms rather than after the first return.
Can I register voluntarily to recover Canadian GST on my costs?
Recovery of input tax is precisely why the route matters. One route is easier to operate and gives no input tax recovery; full registration is more work and opens recovery on Canadian costs. If the business has real Canadian expenditure, such as warehousing, contractors or event spend, the easier route can be the more expensive one. Model the two against the actual cost base before choosing. The choice is made once and is awkward to revisit, so it is worth an hour of arithmetic at the outset.
Does drop shipping goods into Canada create a registration obligation?
It can, because the question is about the supply rather than the seller address. Where goods reach a Canadian customer, the analysis looks at who makes the supply, where it is made, and whether the seller is carrying on business in Canada. The same shipment can sit differently depending on where title passes and who imports the goods. Set out the flow of goods, the flow of invoices and the terms of delivery, and the registration position follows from those rather than from the letterhead.
We registered but may not have needed to, what now?
An unnecessary registration is not harmless. Once registered, returns are due for every reporting period whether or not there is tax to report, and the account stays live until it is dealt with. Work back to the facts, meaning the supplies made, the customers they were made to, and whether the business is carrying on business in Canada, then establish what the correct position was and from when. Either confirm the registration and bring the returns up to date, or deal with the account. The reasoning belongs in writing.
What is an ITIN and how do I get one?
An individual taxpayer identification number, for people who have a US filing or reporting reason but cannot obtain a Social Security number — a non-resident claiming a treaty rate or a refund, a foreign spouse on a joint return, a dependant, a foreign seller of US property. You apply on Form W-7 with certified evidence of identity and foreign status, normally submitted with the return that creates the need. It is a tax number only, and it confers no immigration or work status. See ITIN applications.
When does my Canadian tax residency actually end?
On the day your residential ties are severed, which is a question of fact rather than of the date on the boarding pass. The CRA weighs the significant ties first — a dwelling available to you, a spouse or common-law partner, and dependants in Canada — then secondary ties such as licences, memberships, accounts and provincial coverage. Keeping a home available while your family stays is the pattern that most often means residency never ended at all. See departure tax on leaving Canada.
