QUEBEC CITY – The province of Quebec’s decision to force foreign companies doing business digitally in Canada, its so-called “Netflix tax”, increased revenue coming into provincial coffers by $15.5 million in the first quarter of the 2019 calendar year, the province has announced (it’s the government’s fiscal Q4, however).
This is more than double the revenue which the government originally expected. The QST rate for Québec is 9.975%, applied to the tracked digital revenue sources of $155.4 million in the quarter and is paid by Quebec residents (so this is coming from a lot more companies than just Netflix).
As of April 15th, 102 suppliers from outside Québec and operators of digital platforms for the distribution of property or services were registered for the QST, says the province.
The list of course includes the FAANG companies (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google), as well as Spotify, but also additional companies from the U.S., Ireland and the Netherlands. The Financial Times and Washington Post can be found on the list, but no other online newspapers at this point.
As companies continue to register, those revenues are expected to grow.
