Excess Tax Charge

[vinebearer]

I bought some tires from a canadian seller.  I was only able to afford this item because there was a 20% discount code available. 

The discount was properly applied except for one important thing. The amount of canadian sales tax charged was on the pre discount price which means I paid excess sales tax on a non existent purchase price.  Excess tax charged adds up to about 48.00 CAD.

There's no reason this extra tax should have been charged.  After doing some brief research I don't see any federal or provincial sales tax laws that require sales tax to be charged on the amount of the discount!

Does anyone know how to go about getting the unnecessary extra sales tax charged refunded by ebay canada?  I've heard ebay phone support is US based and pretty basic to put it politely.

[mrdutch1001]

Your purchase would have had applicable GST & PST and/or HST depending on your province, so are you sure about your interpretation and/or calculation of the taxes paid?

[marnotom!]

I would double-check the terms and conditions associated with the coupon before trying to find someone to contact.

The terms and conditions associated with a coupon from a couple of months ago state Coupon discount will be applied either pre or post tax depending on the coupon classification. 

https://pages.ebay.ca/SAVESPRING/

[marnotom!]

Further to my previous answer, what I found out about non-reimbursable coupons suggests that the vendor (eBay would be considered the vendor, not the seller, as this is a sale made through a digital marketplace) has the choice between applying the discount before or after the calculation of sales taxes:

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/charge-col...

[reallynicestamps]

I've worked retail for many years and can assure you that sales tax is normally applied on the pre-discount price.

For example, sellers who have Stores here get a discount "coupon" for branded store supplies and pay sales tax based on the pre-discount price of the goods.

Sorry.

You likely noticed it because you were looking at the best deal and actually saw the line items.

When you buy -- oh, say a Brita water filter for $24.95 less a $5 coupon- you will pay sales taxes on the $25 not the $20. (The difference would be  65c here in BC another reason why you might not notice.)

[flipistics]

I'm not a tax professional, but I THINK coupons effectively work like cash and are considered a part of the payment.

Think of it like a mail in rebate that you don't have to mail in. You don't get tax back on the coupon amount.