CRA publishes 3 new Memoranda on the ETA place-of-supply rules

CRA has published three GST/HST Memoranda on the provincial place-of-supply rules, partially supplanting parts of Technical Information Bulletin B-103 (draft).

CRA provides some helpful illustrations of its view of the operation (or non-operation) of ETA Sched. IX, Pt. II, s. 3(a), which departs from the usual rule of the place of supply being that of legal delivery where the vendor (say, in PEI) delivers the goods onto a common carrier which it has retained on behalf of the purchaser (say, in Manitoba), so that the place of supply is the location of the ultimate delivery in Manitoba rather than of the legal delivery of the goods to the carrier in PEI. A CRA example indicates that where the common carrier was retained by the Manitoba purchaser, this rule will not apply so that the place of supply is the place of legal delivery (to the purchaser’s common carrier) in PEI, even if the purchaser instructed the vendor to directly contact the carrier when the goods were ready to be picked up.

A second example illustrates the CRA view that a consignment sale entails two supplies. Where the Manitoba supplier personally delivers goods to the consignee in Ontario, who sells the goods to a Quebec purchaser and sends the goods by courier to Quebec, there are two supplies: in Ontario (the place of delivery to the consignee); and Quebec (by virtue of the courier rule in Sched. IX, Pt. II, s. 3(b).)

CRA illustrates the “reasonably attributable” apportionment rule in ETA s. 136.2 with an example of the proration of single option to buy two real estate properties in two different provinces based on the properties’ relative values.

Neal Armstrong. Summaries of GST/HST Memorandum 3-3-2, Place of Supply in a Province – Overview, August 2024 under New Harmonized Value-added Tax System Regulations. s. 8, GST/HST Memorandum 3-3-4, Place of Supply in a Province – Real Property, August 2024 under ETA, s. 136.2 and s. 136.1(1) and GST/HST Memorandum 3-3-3, Place of Supply in a Province – Tangible Personal Property, August 2024, ETA Sched. IX, Pt. II, s.1 and s. 3.