Stealthedeal - Group buy site charges HST on voucher!

[YLSF]

Anyone else buy anything from Stealthedeal? They are the only one that seems to charge HST on the voucher. I e-mailed them about it and they said they are required to by law. I think that is bogus as none of the other sites do. So, you have to pay HST on the voucher, and then pay HST on the end service at the restaurant/wherever. I could see if HST was included in the deal (i.e. like a pita, including all taxes).. but this isn't the case.

Personally I am boycotting Stealthedeal unless someone proves me wrong that they should be doing it like this and all other group buy websites (including RFDs) are doing it wrong. Just a heads up for others so they are surprised when it comes to making a purchase (although, they rarely have any deals that interest me anyway).

[Cas77]

This is going in their pocket. I'd blow the whistle and get in touch with CCRA.

CRA website:
Gift certificates You do not collect GST/HST on the sale of a gift certificate. When a customer gives you a gift certificate towards a purchase, calculate GST/HST on the price of the item and deduct the amount of the gift certificate as if it were cash.

A gift certificate is generally a voucher, receipt, or ticket:

•that has a stated monetary value;
•that can be redeemed on the purchase price of a good or service from a specific supplier (the supplier agrees to accept the gift certificate as money for the purchase);
•for which money or other consideration in the amount of the certificate's face value is given to the issuer of the certificate; and
•that has no intrinsic value. For example, commemorative gold or silver coins have an intrinsic value.


Took me all of 20 seconds to find this. They can't be this stupid...this is an obvious scam.

[stealthedealisbogus]

Steal the deal is just a front to steal your money - they will not refund a voucher if a company goes out of business unless it is within 7 days of purchase. This is just ridiculous, there is no way that is functionally or practically possible. Other deal websites have no problem refunding the money at any time if you have not used the voucher, I have only had problems with Steal the Deal.

This happened to me...they stole my money, and they'll just steal yours! BEWARE of Steal the Deal!

[flafson]

There are two options to HST, both are legit.
Either deal site doesn't charge any HST and then when you redeem you pay the HST on the coupon.
Or, they charge you HST on the spot but then you don't pay HST to the merchant.
Groupon does option 1 and Wagjag does option 2.

[YLSF]

To clarify my original post is old. I contacted the site and they eventually credited me back HST because the merchant didn't give me credit for the HST I paid.

I think the group deal sites are charging HST on the portion they keep from the merchants though which I think they have to do because their "business" service is taxable. (marketing)

[flafson]

They don't, it's a share between two parties.
From the point of view of the merchant, the share they are paying to the deal site is marketing cost, so it's deductible.
From the deal site point of view, they could do the same but i'm not too sure about it.

There isn't really a need to charge HST. Tax suppose to go to the end product not the middle man, if you tax the middle man they will just get it back when filling taxes so it's meaningless.

[bobbybeats90]

Wow! never paid taxes on a daily deal, that doesn't seem right at all, it is basically a gift card and there is no taxes on gift cards

[RobDeal112]

Hi, this other post from the forum has a great explanation of how HST is calculated on daily deals. http://forums.redflagdeals.com/archi...t-1021057.html