Very likely. Businesses who sell SaaS or downloadable software to customers in Quebec are very likely to be liable for sales tax.
The current sales tax threshold in Quebec is CAD30,000.
Yes. You owe tax for the sale of cloud software subscriptions to customers in Quebec.
Yes. You owe tax for the sale of software downloads to customers in Quebec.
Yes. You owe tax for the sale of eBooks to customers in Quebec.
Yes. You owe tax for the sale of digital downloads to customers in Quebec.
If you sell software or digital products to customers in Quebec, you’ll need to register when your sales exceed CAD30,000 a year.
😐🌶️ It's not that complicated
Filing frequency: Quarterly
The Canadian tax authority has one of the simplest processes for filing sales tax. This is largely because they’re trusting you to do your tax calculations correctly – as such, they only ask you to submit the amount of tax you owe for that period.
This is different from the majority of other tax jurisdictions, where you’d also need to input your total sales and upload documents to back those figures up.
😐🌶️ It stacks up
Penalties for non-compliance with QST regulations in Quebec can seem insignificant at first glance but can quickly stack up, especially if you have a high volume of sales there.
Late filing or late payments can result in a percentage penalty on the amount due, which increases incrementally each month until the payment is made.
Registering for QST in Quebec
😐🌶️ It's not that complicated