Having no experience with Uber, I don’t feel I can properly answer your question. I might suggest that since you voluntarily registered, you could also voluntarily withdraw your HST registration. You would however need to repay any ITC claimed on capital assets purchased under the HST registration.
The $45.50 is the HST on $350 of Fees charged to you. You claim the $45.50 as ITC on the HST remittance.
Therefore you only owe the CRA $84.50 ($130 - $45.50). Maybe I am looking at this too simply.
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@owais.ahmed
I have not had experience with Uber, etc, but what @tim1 explained seems similar to what I’ve seen with AirBNB - they charge the housing provider a fee, including GST - be careful not to confuse that with GST charged to the end customer.
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Thanks @nezzer (and @tim1). The whole UberEats reporting/invoicing system seems so opaque to me. Hopefully, it will clear up with time. (This is my first tax year with them.)
My gut feeling is that Uber does not collect GST/HST on the fees they charge to you. Nowhere in any of the Uber literature, including the Uber Handbook that goes into some detail about how to register and account for GST/HST does it mention anything about claiming the HST on their fees. Since their fees would be the largest expense of an Uber driver or Uber Eats partner, the fact that they provide examples of what you may claim Input Tax Credits on but do not list their fees there, leads me to believe they are not remitting anything to the CRA on their cut. If Uber were charging you HST on their service fee it would be charged regardless of whether you as the driver were registered for HST or not, so the amount of their fee should not change regardless of whether they were collecting HST on your behalf from the customer.
Example:An Uber partner/driver in Ontario has total (gross) fares during the reporting period of $10,000.The GST/HST rate in Ontario is 13%, so $1,300 was charged and collected from riders duringthe reporting period. After reviewing receipts, the partner/driver calculates he paid $300 inGST/HST on ride-share expenses for gas, vehicle lease, registration fees, and car washes.The total net tax due for the GST/HST reporting period is $1,000. These figures are reported onthe GST/HST return and $1,000 must be remitted.$1,300 – $300 = $1,000
Here is a link to the Handbook
The fact there is no reference whatsoever to HST being charged or not being charged on the Uber service fee and the confusion surrounding the issue strongly suggests this is done intentionally. The only way to really know is to email Uber and ask if they collect tax (GST or HST) on their fees. I suspect if you get a reply from Uber they will skirt around the issue and not provide a straight answer either. Once again, I doubt they are collecting GST or HST on their service fee charged to the driver… and their requirement to collect GST or HST would have nothing to do with whether a driver was registered for GST/HST. They are either required to collect HST on their fees or they are not, and whether one of their drivers was registered for tax would make absolutely no difference to what their tax collecting obligations are.
Hey, signed up just to post this. This thread has helped me and after further research I found some info that I think could help as well.
I found this in Intuit that was posted/updated December 2020:
They categorized Eats delivery as “Interline freight services” which is a zero rated service. They give examples of cases where you do Uber Eats or both delivery and Uber rideshare. All that being said, it seems we do not need to collect taxes for our deliveries, though in practice it seems to be a confusing mess with many contradictions. I’m far from an expert, hope an expert can chime in on the link above
Some contradictions from Uber documents:
They say here that if we submit our tax numbers, they manage them and remit them to us at the end of the year
As a restaurant, sales tax on the delivery fee is collected by the restaurant, not by Uber
https://help.uber.com/merchants-and-restaurants/article/canada-tax-faqs-for-restaurant-partners?nodeId=c9ea4516-83d0-426b-a3d8-d88c40f8d5f2
I feel that TurboTax is getting mixed up or is misleading the reader (probably unintentionally).
Yes, drivers working for a “delivery company” are considered interline freight carriers and their service is zero rated for HST. Uber Eats drivers do not work for a delivery company… they are the delivery company… and freight and delivery attracts HST.
Just like Uber claims it is not in the people moving business, Uber Eats claims it is NOT a delivery service. They hold themselves out to be a “Technology Company” that connects restaurants with customers (people who eat food) and delivery partners (Uber Eats Drivers). In their opinion, the delivery partner (Uber Eats Driver) is the delivery service. Therefore the Uber Eats Driver is not interlining… they are in the business of delivery.
The self employed tow truck driver may not charge the towing company HST but the towing company certainly charges the customer HST. If Uber was involved with the towing industry Uber would consider the Uber Eats driver or delivery partner the Towing Company… as Uber Eats are not in the delivery business.
WHY AM I RECEIVING TAX ON THE DELIVERY FEE IF I DIDN’T COLLECT THE DELIVERY FEE?
Uber Eats is a marketplace that connects you with a network of customers and delivery partners who purchase your food and delivery services.Though Uber Eats facilitates the collection of the delivery fee from customers and the payment to delivery partners, it is the restaurant that provides the delivery, and therefore charges and collects this fee and any applicable taxes.
DOES UBER EATS CHARGE TAX ON THE COMMISSION/SERVICE FEE?
Uber Portier BV does not charge sales tax to you on its Service Fee.
When you sign up with Uber Eats, you agree to a Service Fee. This is the agreed percentage of the Meal Payment that Uber Eats deducts from the Meal Payment collected from your customer.