charging tax?
 

Hi, I know many of you have to charge and pay tax because you have a registered business. But are there those that don't? And to your knowledge do I have to pay tax on a wedding that I do as I get started (no registered business) and when I do a wedding for a friend for expenses or something like that?

Any insight would help thanks.

Technically, yes you have to pay taxes even if you are not registered as a business. Now on the other hand, most people who do weddings for friends, do not pay taxes on cash transactions.

Remember that in most states services are not taxable, only goods.

(He's refering to Sales Tax, not claiming income, which is obvious. And if you were doing it at cost, you'd just claim the gain and then write off the expense, leveling it out.)

oh ok thanks for the input, does no tax on service offered apply to ontario?

Not sure about Ontario but in Manitoba I do. I'm sure Patrick or someone who works there would be able to tell you though.

Talk to a government auditor and an accountant before you make any decisions. It's not worth risking fines and fees for doing it wrong.

First of all, you don't "charge" tax, you "collect" tax.

I don't know about where you live, but here in Minnesota we are required to collect tax on goods, not services. Now there is some debate about whether you are selling a product or a service. I had someone at our state department of revenue tell me that I should make a distinction on my invoices as to what is service and what is product - for example, if I'm charging $1,500 and delivering 5 copies on DVD, then the invoice should show a resonable amount per DVD, like $10. In that case, I'd collect tax on $50.

In my state it doesn't matter if you're a registered business: if you sell a product, you need to get a state tax ID and collect sales tax or you'll eventually be in a world of hurt.

In Ontario, you don't collect GST if you make under $30,000 for any four (or five, can't remember of the top of my head) consecutive quarters. Unless you go ahead and register a GST account anyway, which is not required until you hit that $30,000 amount.

PST must be paid regardless of how much money you make.

Here are a couple of good links to get you started.

http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/res...smallbusiness/
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/menu-e.html

in Ohio... you must collect sales tax. :(

David,
Matt is correct, PST must be collected on all work we do in Ontario. However, if you are not planning on making a business out of this you could probably take cash and be done with it. If you take cheques it could be a different story as it will leave a paper trail.

So if I happen to do a wedding and get paid by cheque then is there a way to submit "one of" payments where it's due? or do I have to keep track of all that and take care of it when I fill out my T4?

GST and PST are completely separate returns from your T4. GST gets filed quarterly, don't remember about PST. Talk to an accountant as to what you need to do to get everything set up and rolling, it's not that hard - a consultation would be very inexpensive, probably even free.

Hi David,

If you do not operate as a business and just plan on making this a side venture per se. You could potentially charge no tax and just claim the amount as extra income. Where you charge tax you will then have to submit tax to the government which will require you to register your business in order to get a PST #. If you just want the extra cash, the government will be looking to get their cut alla adding it to your income. The best bet though is to pay $100 and sit down with an accountant and ask him the questions surrounding what your future plans might be.

ok, that basically gets me what I need to know. Thanks Jason and Steve (same city! Awesome) for your specifics offered and everyone else for your input. As I do not have a business yet (not planning on it until I graduate from film school next year) I will claim it as extra income.

You should probably ask a certified accountant though just to cover your a$$ so to speak.