Date:         Sun, 14 Jan 2007 09:32:44 -0600
Reply-To:     George Thorburn <thorgk@ACCESSCOMM.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         George Thorburn <thorgk@ACCESSCOMM.CA>
Subject:      Re: Canadian taxes
Comments: To: jhecht@alum.mit.edu
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Joy wrote;
>>You get back federal tax on items you bought and on lodging.  BUT - each
>>receipt must be for a minimum amount, $CA 50 I think.  That means if you
>>stayed one night in each of many campgrounds, none of your lodging is likely
>>to qualify.  If you stayed several nights in the same campground it will,
>>because it will be over $50.

>>You can't get refunds on provincial tax.  You can't get refunds on taxes on
>>transportation (e.g. gasoline, ferries).  I'm pretty sure you can't get
>>refunds on food.  Only lodging and items.

>>I don't know how long it takes to get reimbursed.  I sent in my paperwork a
>>month ago, roughly - haven't gotten a refund yet.  What I'm worried about is
>>what to do with a check in Canadian dollars!  And how much my bank will
>>charge me to deposit it.

Most grocery items in Canada will not have any tax (GST), the exceptions are restaurant meals and some cooked items bought in small quantities (if you buy 1 to 5 buns you will pay GST, if you buy 6 you do not)
Don't get me started about waiting for refunds.  It seems like every time you buy computer related items there is some kind of mail in rebate.  I waited from August to January for checks to arrive from HP and Corel for a lap top system we bought for my son.  (We also had to re-mail some items and convince them that we bought the computer at the right time for the rebate to be in effect.  The bill said 06 08 07 which they thought this was June not August)
One of the cheques was in US$.  My regular bank took the cheque, calculated the exchange rate (about 1CDN to .85US) and gave me the money.  The exchange rate may include a percent or two for the bank.
George,
'85 Westfalia