School me on starting a small online business
 

My friend's looking into starting an online business selling miscellaneous goods in Canada from HK. She won't be physically in Canada and she'll either ship it directly to the seller from HK or have a friend here that distributes the goods to the buyers in Vancouver.

She'll probably have the money directly deposited into her HK account after each purchase or would it be better for her to visit Vancouver and open a CDN account instead?

If it matters, shes not a Canadian citizen and she doesn't live here.

A few basic questions she brought up was, does she have to pay taxes in Canada? And how much revenue can she make before taxes become heavy?

I told her it was 30k after all credits and deductions but I'm not sure if that number is right or not.

What should she look into before starting this venture? And what should she be aware of?

If anyone has any advice or insight. She would love to hear it.

I know CA and CGA's can probably answer my questions better but they'd probably charge me a fee for consulting :okay: Maybe some accounting major students can help me out?

Why are you advising your friend why you clearly don't have any common sense?

She isn't Canadian...
She lives in HK...
...and you're asking about paying canadian taxes?

The business your friend is proposing isn't rocket science.

- Take money
- Put in bank account
- Ship product

Lol

A) I'm not advising my friend, I'm asking for advice for her as I'm just a Finance student not a business owner.

B) I have no stake in this, so I'm not advising her anything.

C) Once again I'm not her adviser, accountant or am I taking part in any of her business.

D) So if she makes 50k and since it's in her HK bank account, she can bring it over to Canada and use it without getting taxed? Just trying to get that clear and isn't the 10k max she can bring over per visit? Because eventually I think she wants to bring the money here to invest and do other things in Canada.

Edit: Regarding the last part, just like she and I thought. Just making sure she isn't doing anything illegal.

as a non resident, she has no canadian tax obligations

the $10K thing is just bringing $10K cash into country on you crossing a border

selling HK stuff in vancouver - i hope she's selling at A MAJOR mark up b/c it'll be low volume sales.

you know, this likely won't work as you can buy almost anything from asia nowadays (assuming these are small things that ppl from HK miss) - you will want to consider duties for the person receiving hte item, if they have to pay brokerage & duties/taxes once it reaches canada, she won't get many repeat customers

i love people being entrepreneurial - but this just sounds like a bad idea, especially considering you are asking these types of questions and she's been asking you!!!

me = CA, by the way.. and don't ever speak of CAs and CGAs in the same sentence, we don't like that

Thanks for clearing it up. It's a HUGE HUGE mark-up. I think she will be fine, wish I didn't have morals, so I could steal her idea :fullofwin: Just kidding of course. lol

Duties will be interesting to say the least. Maybe it's possible to get her to have a distributor here to help her distribute the goods to the buyers? That way she can mark it as "Gift" to just one person and have her friend distribute it individually?

Mr. CA, even if she wants to bring the money over to Canada to use and invest, she'll be fine? She's just scared that shes doing something illegal and tax evasion/fraud.

Any other precautions she should be aware of?

How are you a finance student? This is stuff that can easily be googled

While I'm all for people starting businesses... your friend is too lazy to d her an damn research and has decided to ask you for help? You?
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What do you mean how I am? Well I got good grades in HS, than decide to apply and got into the finance program. Here I am..? :badpokerface:

Yeah she is, but whatever, I'll help her out since shes not from here and she can take me out to a good steak dinner next time she comes :fullofwin: Just trying to help a friend out and she thanks both of you for answering.

Doing the gift thing is illegal and immoral - I'm not going to help anymore when u bring those douche bag ideas here - I have no respect for them or the ppl that do them

Is she gonna give you head too or does she not realize you wanna sleep with her?
Posted via RS Mobile

Ughh DaFonz and 4444,

Pretty sure you guys are wrong..Unless the CRA is lying.

Non-residents of Canada

As long as income source is from within Canada, it needs to be reported..

Any income generated in canada = tax obligation

Oh RS, how not even the Business sub-section of the forum can't get away from these remarks lol

The income isn't generated in Canada, it's generated in Hong Kong. If she were to sell to every country in the world, would she have to report taxes to every country in the world?

You're thinking like a student. Use your head! :)

Also a tip: Limiting your market to one relatively tiny country is not a great idea. My wife does exactly what you're doing, and Canada is the smallest market out of all the English speaking countries she sells to.

Too lazy too look up.. Whats the main difference?

The wording from the CRA link is "you pay tax on income you receive from sources in Canada."

So her original source = CDN Citizens = Within Canada but I guess if you interpret it as she receives the income from her company(Based in HK) then she wouldn't have to file the taxes and they were right.

Are you serious? Do you need people to literally write the information down on your milk bottle so you can read it easier?

She holds no ties to Canada and her business would be registered in HK. Any profit she makes would be subject to HK profit tax (Profits Tax)

The CRA link you provided is for Canadian citizens who are non residents of Canada, which has nothing to do with your dumb friend.

Why are you guys so hostile LOL well mostly RFlush now, don't reply to my thread if you don't wanna help. It's pretty simple, not every thread needs to end up in a flame war lol

RFlush please grow up? :)

Well good luck to you and your friend. We tried.

Thanks, we got our answer :)

Cheers

I'm pretty sure you don't know how to read.

lol, props to honesttea for not losing his shit when everyone attacked him hahaha

CGA has more letters than CA, it is obviously better :troll:

Actually, we are all going to be branded under "CPA" soon anyways, it's kind of moot at this point.

Mark (CMA)

CA = public sector
CGA = private (usually)

typical CA attitude :fuckthatshit:

OP, the reason you're getting flamed and attacked is because the basic nature of your questions are very basic, and you don't seem to know a lot of what you're talking about...that's the only reason for this "hostility." Especially when you ask about opening a business.

Perhaps not the same, but it's like going to the relationship section and asking "I want to get married, and I have some questions. Girls don't have penises, right?"

In any case, good luck.