Question
- How much tax do I need to charge based on my country of business?
- Should I apply VAT or GST to my course price?
Solution
If you use Thinkific Payments, Thinkific will automatically calculate, collect, and remit taxes on all qualifying student purchases made in the United States and Canada.
New tax laws required by states and provinces in the United States and Canada obligate Thinkific and other web platforms like ours to take on the responsibility of ensuring the collection and remittance of sales tax to the relevant tax authority on behalf of marketplace sellers (in our case, Creators). As a result, Thinkific is required by law to ensure that sales tax is collected and remitted on behalf of our Creators for sales made in these jurisdictions.
The main reason for this requirement is to promote fair competition in the online marketplace, simplify the sales tax collection process for all parties involved including sellers like you. By taking on the responsibility of collecting and remitting sales taxes on your behalf, Thinkific helps ensure compliance with tax regulations and reduces the administrative burden on you, the Creator, so you no longer have to worry about managing sales tax yourself. You can focus instead on growing your business and engaging your students, while we handle sales taxes for you.
Learn more about it here: TCommerce: Sales Tax Solution.
As taxing regulations and standards differ in other countries, we cannot provide a definite answer for each individual case. We suggest reaching out to a local tax expert in order to determine what regulations and practices are currently in place for online businesses in your location.
Quaderno, a third-party tax integration, has a fantastic article about charging sales tax for online courses and the different types of sales tax around the world.
Click here for more information about how to charge tax with Thinkific.