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Re:Alright, some Aussie, tell us.. by ergo98 · 2005-05-25 00:29 · Score: 1 · on eBay sellers Told to Include GST

Most people wouldn't bother below $50, however note that PST, at least in Ontario, is also refunded.

http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/E/pbg/gf/gst176/gst176- 03e.pdf

Re:May be that will teach you by shepd · 2004-06-04 06:13 · Score: 0, Troll · on Royal Bank of Canada Software Upgrade Goes Awry

>How the hell is suggesting that you save a little bit of money make me a Troll?

Because it's nearly impossible to do?

Let's pretend we managed to put ALL expenses on hold. Saving up 6 months of paycheque in Canada, assuming you have an above average salary, will take about 12 months due to the tax levels in this country (there's more than just those percentages, too - many, many, many Canadians pay more than 50% of their income in tax before they see a dime).

Now, in the real world, you can't live without ANY money. So let's say we managed to cut expenses down to the point where they're half of our disposable income. We now need to wait 29 months (50% of income after tax + 15% sales taxes = 35% disposable).

To put a dollar amount on it, let's say you make $100,000 a year (if only!). You need to save $600,000 to save 6 months of salary.

$100,000 after income taxes (50%) is $50,000.

$50,000 * 12 months = $600,000.

$50,000 - ($25,000 * 1.15) = $21,250

$21,250 * 29 = $616,250

Over 2 years is not reasonable. That's 5% of your working lifetime.

Re:Canada has a department of defense? by Demolition · 2004-03-11 16:31 · Score: 1 · on Did HP Defraud the Canadian Government?

Unless they're using old envelope stock (which they don't), it was still Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (or CCRA - ADRC) as of March 8th.

The CCRA was split into two separate agencies on December 12, 2003 -- the Canada Border Services Agency and the Canada Revenue Agency. The CRA is at the old CCRA URL, but they have nothing to do with Customs anymore.

In the past, it was handy to only visit one office to conduct business that dealt with both taxation and customs, even if the office was ostensibly for revenue matters only. Since January, I've been forced to go to two separate places (the CRA occupies the same old CCRA offices, while anything to do with the customs has been moved down to the border stations). Kind of a pain in the ass, but I'm told that it will streamline operations for both agencies and eventually cut down on the bureacracy that citizens have to deal with. In that case, I guess I'm all for it.

D.

Re:Be Very Careful by CanSpice · 2004-02-26 07:10 · Score: 3, Informative · on Working In and Around the US of A?

I'm a Canadian citizen currently in the US on a TN-1 visa, but getting transferred to an H1-B visa. I've been here just over two years.

Some of your information is just plain wrong.

In all likelihood you are still classed as a permanent resident of Canada, and will still have to report to Revenue Canada. (It takes very little to maintain that status - even one bank account will do it).

Not true. This is why the first time you have to file taxes in either country (the first spring you've spent in the US) you fill out an IT221R3 form and send it in. They determine your residency status. Don't do it yourself, get it done officially. That determines how you pay taxes and to whom.

One Canadian bank account doesn't automatically mean you're classified as a Canadian resident for tax purposes. If you're a landowner in Canada then you're probably a Canadian resident for tax purposes, but you can still have other kinds of ties and be considered a non-resident. I have a Canadian bank account, two Canadian credit cards, and a savings account with ING Canada. The vast majority of my furniture is still in Canada. My family lives in Canada. My girlfriend lives in Canada. I have Canada Savings Bonds. All this and I'm still considered a Canadian non-resident for tax purposes.

That is their choice by rfc1394 · 2002-12-29 14:32 · Score: 1 · on Open Source, Closed Documentation?

This may be one way the vendor has figured a way to release the product as open source but still make money off of it. There is nothing that says they have to create any documentation about it at all.

In fact, some people have suggested to the company that they work for, that in view of how i makes the vast percentage of its revenue charging for configuring, setting up and maintaining the software they develop, that it might be worth it to open source the product and give the software away, but charge for everything else. So if you're really broke you can get it for free, or if you want to look at it before putting it on your machines, you can do that. But if you want anything else, even instructions on how to install or use it, you have to pay something.

Why is this such a problem for you? Is it that you think they should give everything away? They have to eat, too. If you don't like it, don't agree to their terms. Since the source code is available without restrictions, take the time and effort to study the code and learn how it works, pay someone else to do that, or pay them and/or agree to their restrictions.

Has anyone noticed there are no open-source tax preparation or payroll software programs? (If I am wrong, someone e-mail me). Because those aren't very sexy for programmers to work with - which means that people aren't volunteering to do them for free - and because they require constant maintenance. (Not [merely] because of bugs, but because the tax laws and payroll processing rules change every year.)

Someone has to pay for the maintenance since this is not something your average programmer either wants to do for free (in the case of a payroll product) or has the resources to do on his own (in the case of a tax preparation program.)

Now, I know that there is GNU Cash as a workalike for Quicken but I know of no open-source software for mundane apps like payroll or tax preparation, and if there were, I can't see how we could expect them to be kept up to date without significant resources to handle the average of 10,000 tax law changes yearly. And that's just the U.S.

Every country has its own rules and thus a tax package to handle the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules would be worthless for Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) or for the UK's Inland Revenue (IR). Or the other tax authorities in the other 160+ jurisdictions around the world, almost all collecting some form of income tax. Then there's the 30+ states in the U.S. that also impose taxes on income, provinces in Canada (if they do, I'm not sure) and other subdivisions of governments elsewhere.

Now, some of these agencies are providing on-line tax preparation over their websites, but the method to do this is not open source, and would you expect to pay the lowest possible tax by using, or would you really want to trust, a tax package developed by the taxing authority? :)

Historical note: the typical quote "The power to tax is the power to destroy" was originally written by U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall as "That the power of taxing by the States may be exercised so as to destroy..." McCulloch v. Maryland 4 Wheat. 316 (1819), the first case declaring a statute void for violating the constitution.

Paul Robinson <Postmaster@paul.washington.dc.us>
http://paul.washington.dc.us

Re:What surprises me by shepd · 2002-10-28 11:37 · Score: 1 · on Abiword's PayPal Donation Fund Robbed

>Canada has very little in the way of duty or import fees for products from the USA.

That was about 7 years ago.

Here's the new rates, UPS style. And here's basic mail rates.

So, here's the breakdown for a $300 CDN item:

$32 brokerage + duties + PMs import tax + GST = $$$$.

Read it and weep. It costs a hell of a lot to import into Canada unless you're a business. I know, I've done it enough -- it's tough to get good electronics parts in this country. And going with another carrier only shifts the responsibility of paying the brokers to it being part of shipping, rather than an extra amount at the door. $32 is pretty low -- I've seen it as high as $40 for a shipment under $100.

>$200 US is about $300 CDN which would generate about $45 in taxes. What other charges were you hit with, $50 shipping and $50 brokerage?

Well, it was shipped from Michigan to Ontario, and was in a box about the size of a large paperback novel and about the same weight. IIRC shipping was about $25 CDN. Another $25 CDN for brokerage, the rest the PMs special import tax.

This once pointed to a comprehensive set of costs to import. Interesting that now it's close to election time it's gone missing...

>and you cannot really blame the PM for the shipper's charges.

I'm looking hard for this, but the PM specifically instituted an extra tax on import goods, past the GST. And it's huge. About $50 for $100 in goods, and it went up in proportion to that.

Well... look at that. It's near election time and I just found this. The updated version of that form. Looks like they just took off the extra tax for election time. It's better than a Shawinigan slap-in-da-face, I suppose!

Of course, now they choose to limit our freedoms on stuff we can legally buy here...

"You cannot import items such as: pornography; obscene and seditious material;"...

Great... Way to sanitize the country! You go, PM! Nothing but women mounties showing it all for me!

I can assure you I've been hit by these duties multiple times. My favourite was a $70 US box of PCBs that ended up at $130 US... It was still worth it, though, since the only company that seems to sell presensitized PCBs in Canada is MG Chemicals, who charge 2x to 5x the value of any product for some reason.

[Just look on the newsgroups for some info on how bad rates to import into Canada have become since Chretien got into power].

I can try to find you an article on this extra tax if you'd like. A lot of implementing it had to do with keeping internet business and economy in Canada, IIRC. Me, if I can't find something, though, I just don't spend the money rather than find an inferior solution, which is far worse for the economy.

Canada by duke_trinity · 2002-05-15 06:11 · Score: 2, Informative · on Managing a Global Programming Team?

Why go all the way to India when you could move to Toronto or Vancouver and take advantage of the Government of Canada's "scientific and experimental development" tax credit program (see Revenue Canada's SR&ED website for more info). For every dollar you put in, you could get forty cents or more back... with respect to your project, this might mean an extra coder for free.
-Duke

We have an anthem here at my agency... by Stavr0 · 2002-03-27 02:06 · Score: 4, Funny · on Corporate Anthems Go Corporate

Perhaps you've heard it before ...

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah I'm the taxman