How to eliminate the unexpected 5% shipping tax in British Columbia?

[jonnyymiller]

Hello, we are setting up a shopify powered grocery delivery business in British Columbia. Try as we might we can't seem to get rid of a mysterious 5% tax that is being charged to shipping. This is after making sure all four of the boxes are unchecked in the Tax Calculations section, on this page: /admin/settings/taxes

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you 🙂

[Helen · Accepted solution]

Hello, @jonnyymiller! The mysterious tax that you speak of is most likely automatically included, due to where your store is located. 

Taxes are required to be charged on shipping in certain regions, such as Canada, the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. Therefore, stores based in those regions that are using the automatic tax calculation, will have the applicable taxes automatically charged to their shipping rates. 

There’s a Help Doc on Canadian Taxes that goes into more detail about the taxes in your region; For example, in British Columbia specifically, the tax requirements on shipping are as seen below: 

That being said, if you’ve spoken to a tax professional and they’ve advised that you are not required to collect the 5% tax on your shipping rates, then it may be possible to override that amount. Take a look at the Help Doc for Tax overrides and exemptions for more info about this. 

All the best!

[jonnyymiller]

Hi Helen,

Thank you very much for enlightening me! We are learning as we go 🙂

Taxes have always been complex, why would they be any different here? 😄

I will mark this as an accepted solution, and if we have anymore questions, I know who to ask!

Cheers,

- J

[Helen]

My pleasure, @jonnyymiller. I’m glad I was able to offer some clarification. 

I agree, taxes certainly can be confusing and complex. But we’re here to help connect the dots for you as best we can, so reach out again anytime. Always happy to help.