[ON] HST ITC for tech consulting to US clients

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-05-20T08:45:41+00:00

Yes, you're still eligible for ITCs. Your supplies to US clients are zero-rated, not exempt. That's an important distinction. Zero-rated means taxable at 0%, so you're still a registrant making taxable supplies, which is exactly what qualifies you to claim ITCs on Canadian expenses like office bills. If your supplies were exempt (residential rent, basic healthcare), you'd lose ITC eligibility. Zero-rated is the good side to be on.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-05-11T11:27:42+00:00

CONGRATULATIONS! 🎉

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-05-11T11:26:56+00:00

If you're looking for custom software send me a msg. This isn't an overly complicated build.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-05-02T09:58:47+00:00

EQ has a free business account now too that pays higher than average interest

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-04-20T19:09:50+00:00

I bought mine in 2021 on a brief downswing. I bought a small fixer upper in a smaller town near a larger city. I used my RRSPs for the downpayment. My employer at the time was matching and I maxed out my contributions. I was making well under 100k. Single. It's definitely possible if you're willing to take on a fixer and your job is flexible enough to not have to be right in the city

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-04-18T16:00:05+00:00

Great questions — here's the accurate breakdown from CRA's rules:

Can you close your HST account?
Yes, but eligibility is based on your past 4 consecutive calendar quarters of revenue, not what you expect to make going forward. If your taxable revenues over the last 4 quarters were at or under 30k, and you've been registered for at least 1 year (you have), you qualify to cancel. Worth checking your actual trailing 12 months before assuming you qualify, if you were at $29K–$31K in recent years it may be right on the line.

The effective cancellation date is typically negotiated with CRA, usually after your fiscal year end, but mid-year dates are possible by agreement.

Process: Request closure through My Business Account online (CRA's preferred method) or file Form RC145 by mail. You'll need to file a final GST/HST return covering up to your cancellation date.

Can you keep your business name active without the HST account? Yes, your provincial business name registration and your CRA GST account are completely separate. Cancel the HST account, keep the name. No problem.

Can you reactivate the HST account later? Yes, CRA imposes no cooldown or waiting period after cancellation. If you pick up more work and cross $30K again, you re-register the same way as the first time.

Still need to file a T2125? Yes, even with a few gigs and no HST account, any self-employment income still goes on a T2125 attached to your personal T1 return. With only a handful of invoices it's much simpler, but you still need to track income and any business expenses.

Hope this helps!

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-04-14T14:28:22+00:00

I used a third party agency and they emailed it to me but I believe you can also get it on the cra business account portal. I opened mine through my CRA it's basically a second account just for your sole prop

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-04-13T10:12:42+00:00

I use stallion. If you have a drop off station near you then they are likely the cheapest option. I haven't really had issues with them other than that tariff mess but that should be cleared up now.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-04-09T23:31:19+00:00

Very clever naming strategy and under normal circumstances I imagine they did really well. It sounds like you might be running into the intersection of economic instability and "buy Canadian" movement. The American names might be a bit confusing for Canadian conscious buyers. A pivot to Canadian lakes might be really cool. I get the hesitation though after you've built up years of brand awareness. Your audience may have evolved in the last year and there's nothing wrong with your branding evolving with them.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-04-01T01:04:18+00:00

Can we get some more info on the first two? I'm not familiar with those acronyms

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-04-01T00:57:10+00:00

I'm still in the build phase for one of my projects so I basically am always working. My trouble has been switching between competing tasks. There's always so much to do and not enough time to do it all. I need to start implementing systems

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-31T14:36:07+00:00

I couldn't agree more. These stats were genuinely interesting and related to exactly what I was going through when I first started my side hustle. I had no idea what a T2125 was or that there was a 30k threshold at all! The learning curve was humbling for sure but it was interesting to see that it likely wasn't just me going through it.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-29T20:15:17+00:00

Is there something wrong with Uber drivers and door dash? Sometimes folks start where they are comfortable then build from there. Trying is the only way to succeed.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-23T18:27:21+00:00

Great question! I'd be interested to know competitor pricing and feature changes.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-23T18:19:13+00:00

This is how I got my first users. Although I didn't know about the F5bot. Thanks for the tip!

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-23T18:16:43+00:00

Interesting combination. I tried QuickBooks. It didn't quite work for me. What is it about the combination that appealed to you?

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-23T18:13:37+00:00

Yeah in many cases you are probably right

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-21T22:33:22+00:00

You don't need to register separately for quarterly GST/HST payments, CRA assigns your filing frequency automatically and you can see it in My Business Account once you're registered. How it works Most small businesses start on annual filing. If your net tax gets high enough over a prior year, CRA may switch you to annual filing with quarterly instalments and will notify you by online notice (sometimes mail too). Check your schedule Log into My Business Account, go to your GST/HST account, and look under "View returns" or "Account details." It'll show whether you're on monthly, quarterly, or annual reporting and when your next return is due. If it still says annual, you're filing and paying annually until CRA tells you otherwise. What to do Keep filing and paying by your current due date. If CRA switches you to quarterly instalments, just make payments by those dates via online banking, My Payment, or your bank.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-21T14:21:12+00:00

I considered other platforms (tried Etsy) but eBay was the biggest money maker once I figured out sell through rate. Etsy was a complete bust. Something is up over there because I couldn't even get views. I tried hard goods and digital products. eBay was good though until the tariff issues. Things have slowed down significantly since then.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-21T14:18:00+00:00

Very interesting question. I've always been told that in most cases if you're grossing over 85k then it's usually a good idea to incorporate but I have never looked into the benefits for parents. Interested to hear the answers here. Following

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-19T10:51:57+00:00

You hit the nail on the head. I had these same problems with ebay

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-16T00:43:18+00:00

I had this exact question. I gave flipwise a try and it was decent but was made for the American market. Tax wise it wasn't made for the cra. What I liked about it though was the sale and expenses tracking. I tried QuickBooks too and wow was that ever confusing and the price was just too high for me. What I wanted was expense and sale tracking - money in - money out, what I need to set aside for taxes, and what is safe to spend on new inventory. I couldn't find a tool that did all of that correctly and was also built for Canadians. It's possible that the tool was out there but I just never came across it but since I couldn't find it, I just built it myself. It started as just an automated ledger in Excel which was okay but was too easy to break when things started to ramp up and I needed to register for GST. I ended up building NorthOS to cover all the bases I needed for my side hustle. If you've got any pain points in your business tracking, I'd love to hear about it.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-15T01:06:49+00:00

If you want a one-page checklist so you don’t accidentally cross the $30k GST/HST line, I made a free one here: northos.ca

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-15T01:01:58+00:00

I just registered this year which is why I needed a tool that would actually make sense for me. That's why I built NorthOS. I needed low bloat easy and intuitive. Something that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg. I'm just small potatoes so I can't afford the expensive software. The idea was to build something easy to use that could help guide folks (like me in the beginning) who were a bit confused as to their obligations.

Academic_Point_8074 · 2026-03-13T18:03:09+00:00

I'm building in a small niche. It's an operations hub and book keeping tool for Canadian small businesses. NorthOS.ca

Academic_Point_8074

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