QUEBEC – Back in May, 2019, the province of Quebec reported it had collected from 102 suppliers of digital goods based outside of Québec – operators of “specified digital platforms” – $15.5 million in Quebec sales taxes.
As of August 31, the province announced that amount has now increased to $38 million being added to the coffers of the Government of Quebec. The number of contributors has increased to 108 companies and contributors pay on a quarterly basis. While forcing foreign digital companies to collect sales tax is spread across industries, readers will be well aware this issue has often been boiled down to being called a "Netflix tax".
The list of course includes the FAANG companies (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google), as well as Spotify, but also quite a few dating sites and even adult web cam services. However, most are in the areas of programming and digital services., but also additional companies from the U.S., Ireland and the Netherlands.
Clearly, not every applicable company has contributed but implementation apparently went rather smoothly. It should be noted Quebec’s government has no deficit and, knowing Revenu Québec, it is likely to go after those who remain unaware, and so the list will grow as well as revenues.
Back in May, the government had indicated the $15.5 million was double the amount they expected to collect. So, they must be quite happy.
