Ecommerce Accounting
Multi-jurisdiction sales tax, platform reconciliations and inventory accounting for online businesses.
E-commerce tax is decided by where your customer is and where your inventory sits. Place-of-supply rules set which rate you charge across provinces, and inventory held in another jurisdiction can create a filing obligation there.
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Key facts
| Rate charged | Set by the destination province under place-of-supply rules |
|---|---|
| One registration | A single GST/HST registration covers all provinces; QST is separate |
| Marketplaces | Platforms may collect and remit on your behalf — but the reconciliation is still yours |
| Inventory abroad | Stock held in a foreign warehouse can create a filing obligation in that jurisdiction |
| Authorities | Canada Revenue Agency and Revenu Québec |
Selling online means sales-tax obligations that cross provincial and national borders. A&S Financials helps Montréal ecommerce businesses handle multi-jurisdiction sales tax, reconcile marketplace and payment-processor payouts, and account for inventory and cost of goods. We turn messy platform data into clean books and reliable filings.
Book a consultationHow we help
- Multi-jurisdiction sales-tax compliance
- Marketplace and processor reconciliations
- Inventory and cost-of-goods accounting
- GST/QST and cross-border reporting
- Cash-flow and margin analysis
- Corporate tax preparation
One registration, several rates
A single GST/HST registration covers every province — what changes is the rate, set by where the supply is made rather than where you are. For goods, that generally follows delivery; for digital products and services it usually follows the recipient's address obtained in the ordinary course of business. That makes a properly captured billing address a compliance record, not just a shipping field. A store configured once and never revisited will quietly charge the wrong rate on thousands of orders, and the shortfall comes out of margin. QST is administered separately by Revenu Québec, so a Québec seller is running two regimes side by side even though they file one combined return.
Platform statements are net, and your books should not be
Marketplace and payment processor statements net commissions, refunds, advertising, chargebacks and sales tax against gross sales. Booking the net deposit as revenue understates both sales and expenses, and it misstates the tax collected. Where a marketplace collects and remits tax on your behalf, your books still have to show what was collected and by whom, because the reconciliation between platform reports and your filed returns is what an auditor asks for. Inventory adds the third dimension. Stock held in a fulfilment warehouse in another province or country can create nexus, registration or filing obligations in that jurisdiction independent of where your business is based — worth checking before expanding fulfilment rather than after.
Frequently asked questions
I sell across Canada. Do I register in every province?
The marketplace says it collects tax for me. Am I done?
How should I record Shopify or Amazon deposits?
Do I owe tax in the US if I use a US fulfilment centre?
Speak with a Montréal CPA
Contact us to discuss your accounting and tax needs — in the language you prefer.