So I decided to finally just fill out the form and snail-mail it into the government. Filling out the form was very painless...good directions on which pieces to fill out for which aspect of a business account (GST, payroll, etc.) you were applying for.
But as seems to be the case with my government interactions lately, there of course is a snag: The form doesn't say WHERE I need to send this thing to. Ok, that's alright. I mean, maybe there are different offices or something. Luckily, they suggest to review "The Business Number and Your Canada Revenue Agency Accounts" brochure to get all the answers to any questions you might have.
Great...I download the pdf...and look...and look...no address. I search. No address. I HAVE NO F'N CLUE WHERE TO SEND THIS!!!
So let's recap:
- Tried unsuccessfully to enter my information through the government website THREE TIMES and was even told by tech support that they were sure it was working fine and to try again.
- Tried to call it in but wait times were UNREAL. Any time at a client's (which is where I am during the hours the gov's office is open) and am doing personal stuff, its time I'm not billing the client for...which means I'm losing money...which means phone calls are NOT an option.
- Tried to manually fill out a paper-based form and the wonderful government website couldn't tell me where to send the form to!
Luckily with a bit of snooping, I finally found this page which gives you a link to a listing of all the government tax offices accross Canada.
So what's the lesson in all of this kids? Don't wait until you hit your $30k to get your GST number. Get it right out of the gate. Sure you charge your clients GST up front, but you also get to write off your own GST on purchases for the company (or something like that...I still don't have my GST number so I'm not sure what the details are, but there's a benefit).
Now let's see how long before I actually get my number in the mail.
CC
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