WINNIPEG – Inside the Manitoba provincial budget released today was a proviso saying those doing business online, no matter where based, will have to collect the 7% provincial sales tax from Manitobans and remit it to the province.
By December 1, 2021, “Online marketplaces will be required to collect and remit sales tax on the sale of taxable goods sold to Manitobans on their electronic platforms,” says the budget document on page 64.
As well, “Online accommodation platforms will be required to collect and remit sales tax on the booking of taxable accommodations in Manitoba,” and “Streaming service providers will be required to collect and remit sales tax on the sale of their audio and video streaming services to Manitobans.” This of course means all platforms, from Netflix and Spotify, to Amazon and Wayfair, to Dropbox and VRBO, must collect and remit the provincial sales tax.
“British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Quebec, and the federal government (GST and HST) have or will be taxing these e-commerce measures by the end of 2021,” notes the document.
Quebec has been requiring such companies to collect sales tax since January 2019 and as of June last year had collected $128 million from Quebecers through 559 such companies.
It’s a virtual certainty this measure will be in the federal budget scheduled to be released April 19th.
