GST/HST on FBA Fees (Storage, LTSF, Inbound Shipping) – How are you determining the tax rate?
Hi everyone,
I’m trying to properly account for GST/HST Input Tax Credits (ITCs) on various Amazon.ca FBA fees, including:
- Storage fees
- Long-term storage fees
- Inbound shipping
- Sales tax service fees
- Possibly others
The issue I’m running into is that Amazon does not provide a tax breakdown or tax rate for these fees.
For example, a typical transaction looks like this:
FBA storage fee
-2,286.72
There is:
no GST/HST amount shown
no tax rate (5% vs 13% vs 15%)
no province or place of supply
no invoice supporting the charge
Amazon guidance suggests using settlement reports and “calculating the GST/HST component,” but there is no indication of which tax rate applies to each fee, especially since fulfillment can occur across multiple provinces.
From an accounting perspective (and for CRA compliance), this creates a problem:
We cannot determine whether GST (5%) or HST (13%/15%) applies
We cannot reliably calculate ITCs
There is no proper tax invoice supporting these charges
Questions for other Canadian sellers:
Are you claiming ITCs on these fees?
If so, how are you determining the applicable tax rate?
Are you using a blended rate based on FC distribution, or taking a conservative approach (e.g., 5% only)?
Has anyone received clear guidance or documentation from Amazon on this?
This seems like a systemic reporting gap, so I’m curious how others are handling it in practice.
Appreciate any insight.
GST/HST on FBA Fees (Storage, LTSF, Inbound Shipping) – How are you determining the tax rate?
Hi everyone,
I’m trying to properly account for GST/HST Input Tax Credits (ITCs) on various Amazon.ca FBA fees, including:
- Storage fees
- Long-term storage fees
- Inbound shipping
- Sales tax service fees
- Possibly others
The issue I’m running into is that Amazon does not provide a tax breakdown or tax rate for these fees.
For example, a typical transaction looks like this:
FBA storage fee
-2,286.72
There is:
no GST/HST amount shown
no tax rate (5% vs 13% vs 15%)
no province or place of supply
no invoice supporting the charge
Amazon guidance suggests using settlement reports and “calculating the GST/HST component,” but there is no indication of which tax rate applies to each fee, especially since fulfillment can occur across multiple provinces.
From an accounting perspective (and for CRA compliance), this creates a problem:
We cannot determine whether GST (5%) or HST (13%/15%) applies
We cannot reliably calculate ITCs
There is no proper tax invoice supporting these charges
Questions for other Canadian sellers:
Are you claiming ITCs on these fees?
If so, how are you determining the applicable tax rate?
Are you using a blended rate based on FC distribution, or taking a conservative approach (e.g., 5% only)?
Has anyone received clear guidance or documentation from Amazon on this?
This seems like a systemic reporting gap, so I’m curious how others are handling it in practice.
Appreciate any insight.
15 replies
Seller_1JtWN7OO6rhPF
@Jurgen_Amazon you posted last year the following comment on a thread similar to the one I just posted:
3. Accessing the GST/HST Amounts:
To view the GST/HST amounts charged on these other fees, you can refer to your monthly Amazon settlement reports.
In the settlement reports, you will see the individual fees listed, and the GST/HST component will be included in the total amount charged.
If you need to obtain the specific GST/HST amount for any of these fees, you can use the report data to calculate it based on the fee amount and the applicable GST/HST rate.
BUT
How do we determine the GST/HST rate? Is it GST? Or is it HST? That is clearly a huge difference in the amount of tax collected.
Presumably storage fees for items sitting in an HST province will charge HST... and GST if sitting in a GST province... but without this breakdown, how on earth are we supposed to determine this, let alone demonstrate it to the CRA? All you provide us is a single consoldiated number for these fees
So please - advise - how do we determine whether you charged us GST, or HST, or what combination of both on these other fees? These fees include, in the annual summary:
- Other Transaction Fees (mostly sales tax service fees)
- Storage Fees + Long Term Storage Fees
- Inbound Fees
- Liquidation / Removal Fees
- Refund Admin Fees
- Adjustments - what does that even include?
* brain explodes *
Can you imagine how foolish we look trying to explain this to our accountant / bookkeeper? What is this fly-by-night kind of reporting you furnish sellers with. Insane.
