Do I have to pay taxes when selling US goods over the internet to Canadians?

Hi morgan_g_jones,

Briefly, no, you don't have to collect sales tax from your Canadian customers. 

"The obligation to pay sales tax is determined by the location of the
buyer, not the seller. If a business does not have a physical presence
in a particular state, such as a store or warehouse, it is not
required to collect sales tax for sales from customers in that state."
http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/ency/article.cfm/ObjectID/87F6DD43-E6F2-4DFE-BCDB8E2E85DFF80B/catID/806B7BA0-4CDF-4221-9230A3135E2DF07A

Q: Do I have to charge sales tax on orders placed on my Web site? What
if I have international customers?
A: "Online companies with a physical presence, or nexus, in a state
are required to collect and report taxes on sales made to customers
living within that same state. For example, if your online business is
based in California, you must collect and report sales tax derived
from fellow Californians making purchases on your site."
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,307444,00.html

Additional Link of Interest:

Tax-Free Online Shopping May End:
http://pcworld.about.com/news/Nov142002id106965.htm

I hope this helps. If you have any questions or if I misunderstood
your question, please post a clarification request *before*
closing/rating my answer and I'll be happy to reply.

Thank you,
hummer

Google Search Terms Used:

internet sales "sales tax" physical presence
internet sales "sales tax"
"internet sales tax"
"internet sales tax" canada

---

Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 13 Oct 2004 14:26 PDT

Hi morgan_g_jones,

I wish you had posted a clarification request before closing this.

Since you are not in Canada, you do not have to collect sales tax from
Canadian customers, just as you do not collect sales tax from
out-of-state customers. The long arm of the tax collector does not
extend across international borders unless you maintain a business in
the other country.

Regards,
hummer

---

Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 13 Oct 2004 14:29 PDT

There is no "US to Canada sales tax info" because no such thing exists. hummer

---

Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 13 Oct 2004 14:49 PDT

Hi again, morgan_g_jones,

When I posted my answer, I thought you asking if you had to charge
[your state] sales tax for a Canadian order and then send that on to
your state. However, my brain just flipped and now I'm wondering if
you were wondering if you needed to charge "Canadian GST tax" and send
it to the Canadian government?  In either case, the answer is "no".

Cheers,
hummer

Lots of info on state-to-state sales tax info, but I was looking for
US to Canada sales tax info.