About Refunds of Canadian GST for Visitors

Monday, September 04 2006 @ 09:31 PM

Several people have inquired about Canada's GST refund policy for visitors. Aside from information contained in the event pages of the Warpstock site, here is some (hopefully) helpful stuff, straight from the Canada Revenue Agency.

Who May Apply?

You can apply for a GST/HST refund if all of the following conditions apply to you:

• You are not a resident of Canada when you apply for a refund;
• While in Canada, you bought eligible goods for your personal use, and/or you paid for eligible short-term accommodation (e.g., hotels, motels, resorts, bed and breakfasts, hostels, and camping);
• You paid GST/HST on your purchases;
• You have the original receipts that list each item you bought (we do not accept photocopies, debit or credit card slips);
• All of the receipts with eligible goods listed have Proof of Export;
• Each receipt with eligible goods must have a total purchase amount (before taxes are added) of at least $50 CAN (without rounding);
• The total of all of your receipts on eligible goods and eligible short-term accommodation (before taxes are added) must be at least $200 CAN;
• The eligible goods you bought are removed or exported from Canada within 60 days of the date they were delivered to you; and
• We receive your refund application within one year after the date the eligible goods were delivered to you or the tax on the eligible short-term accommodation became payable.

With one application you can apply for a refund of the GST/HST for multiple visits to Canada. To do so, on the Application for Visitor Tax Refund (Form GST176) where it says "Date of Arrival", please enter the date of arrival of your first visit. Where it says "Date of Departure", enter the date of departure of your last visit. On a separate piece of paper, please state the following: "There are several visits on this claim" and list the arrival and departure dates for each visit. By doing so, it will be apparent that this is not an extended visit.

If you have not bought enough eligible goods and eligible short-term accommodation to meet the $200 CAN minimum requirement, you can ask to have your eligible goods receipts stamped for Proof of Export so that you can use them on a future claim, as long as you make the claim within one year after the date the eligible goods were exported or tax on the eligible short-term accommodation became payable.

• Application for Visitor Tax Refund (Form GST176)
• Tax Refund for Visitors to Canada (Pamphlet RC4031)
• GST/HST Info Sheet GI-026, Visitor Rebate Program – Accommodation Rebate for Non-Residents

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