Hi,
I've been self employed for many years now but it was only in 2019 that I surpassed $30,000 in sales. 100% of my sales are made online. I don't charge tax and am not incorporated in any way.
I basically make courses and training videos and sell them online. I sell these courses on online platforms like Udemy and I'm not sure if Udemy charges customers taxes or not but basically they take their cut and fees and then pay me on a monthly basis.
I had no knowledge of what a GST account is or how or if I'm supposed to have one until recently. My question is what should I be doing now?
I know I need to open a GST account but is there anything else I need to do? Also, since I don't charge taxes how would I be claiming GST? Do I just claim nothing? I have no idea how this works. I'd really appreciate some guidance on this.
You should contact the CRA regarding this issue. They will let you know if you need to submit any HST/GST payments for the current year, and if there are any penalties for not collecting sales taxes.
If you are in Canada or the United States, you can call the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) at 1-800-959-8281. If you are elsewhere you can call 613-940-8495. This page has more ways to contact the CRA: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/corporate/contact-information/telephone-numbers.html
You can register for a GST/HST program account here: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/registering-your-business/bro-register.html