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Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Keywords

e-commerce, gst/hst, consumption tax

Abstract

In February 2001, the OECD issued a draft report on ‘‘Consumption Tax Aspects of Electronic Commerce’’. The purpose of this report was to seek comments on Working Party No. 9’s conclusions and recommendations in respect of the approach to be taken on the application of consumption taxes to e-commerce in light of the Ottawa Taxation Framework Conditions. The 1998 Conditions called for the taxation principles that applied to traditional commerce to be the guide for the taxation of e-commerce, to ensure non-discriminatory tax treatment of electronic commerce transactions. In November 2001, the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (‘‘CCRA’’) issued its own discussion paper in respect of the application of GST/HST to electronic commerce. By July 2002, the CCRA was able to issue its formal views on this issue, with the publication of its GST/HST Technical Information Bulletin. The purpose of this article is to review the position taken by the CCRA in the GST Bulletin insofar as it relates to the application of the GST/HST to cross-border electronic commerce transactions, and to assess how the position taken by Canada stacks up to the principles set out in the OECD Draft and the position being formulated by certain other major OECD members.

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