Toronto Photography Meetup Group

first i would question the legit operation of the sale?, if in fact he was absorbing the tax, he could still issue a receipt legally... the fact that he does not want to issue a record of the transaction would make me question it all.

how do you know the gear is not stolen?, perhaps its fine but what is know as grey market, in that case if it is canon gear, you might have an issue getting any repair done here in canada under warranty. i am not sure about how nikon would treat the warranty. Yes they will fix the camera without a receipt, they do not care where you buy it, but, beware they will check the serial number and if anything comes up fishy, good luck.

as for a return, would think since no record of a transaction you might have an issue, unless you know the person and have his 'word' that he
would take back product... remember the old saying, buyer beware!

from your business standpoint, you can deduct anything you want, any
good accountant would let you know the limits anyway, the problem arises when or if you are subject to an audit, you better have a legit receipt for the amount claimed or forget it, even a used purchase can be claimed no problem, just have a receipt.

and last but not least important, why would you want to save the tax to risk getting yourself into something that could be an issue? - if you are running a business that is making a profit, just incorporate the extra cost into your business model... want a hit, adjust your rates to absorb the extra costs of paying tax on equipment each year, it's called budgeting and is easy to do, you are booked up six months in advance with your contracts anyway right, if not than i suggest you don't quit your day job!

... stay tuned for my upcoming seminar, photography & business - how to charge top rates and get more work...

Don't do it! Not only it won't do if you'll ever be audited, you also won't have any warranty as a receipt from an AUTHORIZED dealer is necessary.

I agree with two other replies.

The only receipt you may have if you are audited is email correspondence, and that may not be enough.

Warranty wise consider it like buying used out of warranty equipment.

I would also question where is the equipment coming from? Is it stolen?

BTW, there is a dude on kijiji selling new equipent with no tax, prices are usually (not always) pretty good, is this the guy you are talking about?

Also, if you wanted to take the equipment out of the country and wanted to register it first, I don't think you could without a receipt.

If you are running a business, HST is an ITC - you claim it all back against the HST you collect anyways - so why are you worried about it?

As a business - I would want to collect HST - at least until I offset all my HST expenses...so I would really question what's in it for him. Businesses love the HST - they pay it and claim it back when they file their HST returns.

Proof of purchase - receipts are required if you are audited.

Kiteguy?

HST has to do with what you pay out to what you take in... if your business brings in more HST than it pays out, than you have to pay quarterly back to the government that excess, for a successful business this would be the case, again, if it is not, don't quit your day job because your spending more than you bring in!

there used to be GST exempt, to limited business, but there is no HST exemption.

hope this helps!

HST and GST are applied pretty much the same, there was a PST excemption for many service busineses (ie accountants would only charge gst but not pst, now they charge hst). I am not sure what you mean by GST excempt but no HST excemption.

should have read PST exemption!

The point is HST is a passthru for businesses. Businesses don't pay HST, any HST that is due to the government is paid for by your customers.

So why would someone running a business care about getting a break on HST?

You are thinking like a consumer not a business. Only the end consumer pays for HST - not businesses.

... aahh that's what i said!

yes you should.

Businesses still have to pay HST if they are buying something for their use or consumption. They HST exempt from a purchase if they are reselling goods AKA an SLR.

Not correct.

If you buy something for resale you still pay HST, you just claim it back on your return.

Prior to HST such business could get PST excemptions though for resale items.

It is actually very simple.

You collect $3000 of hst from your clients, you pay $2000 hst on your expenses or purchases, you pay the difference of $1000 to the government. That's all there is to it.

For small business with little expenses quick method of reporting hst may be advisable.

We're saying the same thing, as that is what I meant by exempt. You're just more detailed about the process.

You got it, you charge clients hst on anything you sell to them, from that you deduct hst on any business expenses (travel, office supplies, photo supplies and on), as welll as capital asset purchases (lenses, cameras), the difference goes to the government.

If your expenses are higher than your revenues then yes, you will get hst refund (assuming all your expenses are hst taxable), just don't get married to this idea, CRA may be interested in you if your business doesn't bring profit past initial couple of years or so, photographers are especially prone to audits since many hobbyst are trying to claim personal expenses to reduce taxable income from other sources.