FiChai

Very interesting, I didn't expect people would not care about a store/company wrongfully calculated on tax matter (or how about wrongfully calculated on the total bill, tips..etc?).
When you are talking about your own $1 or $2, think of the company sold 1000 or 2000 coupons, then they are grabbing $1000 to $4000 more than they should be! If you are a bank teller, at the end of the day your transaction record sheet is not balance for only 1 cent, you can't get off and walk out the door!

May I give another example, base on the concept some of you folks said above:
The original price of a product was $1000, now with the coupon you only need to pay $10. Therefore, you have to pay tax on $1000 plus the $10, total $130. Is that what you think?

If the company charge it like that, means they have to take out the balance of $900 from their own pocket into the company's draw, then submit the tax to the government, reporting that they have $1000 revenue. They can't report that they charged $120 tax but their actual revenue is only $10. The "missing" $900 is not even exist.

I wish I can run a business like that, in order to grab tons of "false monies" from customers who is not too familiar and care about calculation. I'll be super rich. LOL

FiChai

In Canada, $1 is $1 haha..
If not, why people bother to use coupons in grocery shopping...

From wha ...
吳孟達 發表於 2011-12-1 10:42

Yes, that's my thought.

快樂牛郎

Very interesting, I didn't expect people would not care about a store/company wrongfully calculated  ...
FiChai 發表於 2011/12/1 13:13

it depends on whether you view the coupon as a "gift card" or a price reduction

if a price reduction, then you charge tax on only the reduced amount
if you view it as a "gift card", then the gift card can only be applied after the full tax is charged

there's no clear law that says whether a coupon is a gift card or a price reduction
as long as the company submits whatever tax they charge you to the gov and not keeping it themselves, they are doing the right thing.

快樂牛郎

Very interesting, I didn't expect people would not care about a store/company wrongfully calculated  ...
FiChai 發表於 2011/12/1 13:13

and no, i don't care how they charge as long as I think it's a good deal to me.

how much they make from all other customers is no concern to me.  All I care is whether i am getting a good deal.

FiChai

it depends on whether you view the coupon as a "gift card" or a price reduction

if a price reduct ...
快樂牛郎 發表於 2011-12-1 15:09

It's not how I "view" it, it is its original concept and the way to use. As for "gift card", basically I can use it on whatever available item/product/service in stock, such as I can use it to buy a pack of juice, or a box of chocolate, or a pound of beef. But for a discounted coupon, it's only for the particular item/product/service, it can not be replaced or substitute to any other kind of item/product/service. That means, if the specific item is a pack of coke, I can't redeem it to a load of bread, even their price is the same. I'm surprised people would get it confused.

FiChai

and no, i don't care how they charge as long as I think it's a good deal to me.

how much they mak ...
快樂牛郎 發表於 2011-12-1 15:15

As long as the deal is good, if the restaurant wrongfully charge you a 13% of tax instead of 12%, and the 1% difference is only talking about 50 cents, some people might think it's ok, but sorry, that's not me. It's not about how much the amount is, it's about the principle. Many people may not check every single bill they paid too, that's why many vendors are putting more money into their pockets, hahaha.....!
That's why I see if a thief is only stealing a $1 value item at a dollar store, cops will let him go. Cause they think: "Hey, he's only stealing $1 but not $1 million!".

快樂牛郎

if you go steal a $1 item now i doubt you will get jailed or booked
they will just give you a verbal warning

materiality matters everywhere

FiChai

if you go steal a $1 item now i doubt you will get jailed or booked
they will just give you a verbal ...
快樂牛郎 發表於 2011-12-1 16:55

The spirit of law is, there is no minimum limit that if you steal less than $10 you're not guilty but if you steal more than $10.01 then you're guilty. How to carry out suitable punishment is another story.

I agree to seek for professional accounting assistant for an official answer. But it's not the role of a customer, it should be the vendor to find out and explain to their customers. I will be free of trouble in this matter, it's the vendor needs to submit revenue report to the city/government every fiscal year. It's them to have the problem. If they get into any trouble and need to fold down the business for further investigation, then the unused vouchers still on customers hands will still be valid or not, that part I dunno.

FiChai

Actually my intention is to "warn" our folks to beware of the tax matter they charge differently than usual, because it's not clearly written on the terms nor fine print. In case any folk bought it and didn't notice, then please don't surprise. If any folk is planning to buy any voucher in the future, please check the terms and make sure you understand and satisfy with everything before you make a purchase.

Look4chrisng

Both way of calculating HST could be correct, depending of the type of coupon.

Reimbursable coupons:  full HST before discount  where sellers are reimbursed the discount by manufacturers.

Non-reimbursable coupons:  Sellers are eating the discount difference, so buyers pay HST on price after the discount.

Got it?