Hello Bam_bam02,
Welcome to the community!
@bam_bam02 wrote:
I moved to Alberta and got myself a new phone plan with Fido. And I decided to port in my old Ontario number from my prepaid account to the new Alberta monthly plan....
I understand you got your plan when you moved to Alberta, however, I do not believe the plan would be specific to Alberta. Available phone plans are specific to phone numbers. Since you ported your Ontario number, the plan would have to have been available in Ontario as well. So you likely have an Ontario plan, which is why you're paying Ontario HST. If you wish to get a plan only available to Alberta, you will have to get an Albertan number.
You should also note that your phone number is not considered local to Alberta. It is not possible to make a phone number with an out-of-Province area code, local within another Province. As such, your incoming local calling area would still be somewhere in Ontario (dependent on your area code). If you have Canada-wide calling, it won't likely be an issue for yourself. However, people in Alberta will be making long-distance calls to your phone -- even though you are now living in Alberta.
Something to keep in mind...
Hope this helps 
Cheers
Hello again,
@bam_bam02 wrote:...So, I am guessing that just changing my Ontario number to an Albertan number from my Fido online portal will replace the Ontario HST with Alberta GST.....
As FidoJulien already mentioned, that would be correct.
One possible complication, however. If your current plan is only available in Ontario, you would have to change your plan to one available in Alberta as well. The online portal might not allow you to change both your number and plan at the same time. To do so, you would likely have to contact customer service or PM a moderator (MOD beside their username). They would be able to change both your number and plan at the same time.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Hey @bam_bam02
You're absolutely on the right track! If you update your number to a number from Alberta, you'll pay the tax for Alberta on your line. You can change your phone number directly on your account on fido.ca. You can find everything you need to know about phone number changes here.
Hope it helps!
Hey @bam_bam02,
Welcome to the Community! You're at the right place for help
We've moved your post here since it was the same subject. You will find all the pertinent information here!
You can also check the website of the Canadian Government for more details about the taxation of services in Canada.
I hope that answers your question!
Hey Avargasherring!
I can definitely understand how that may look confusing. Hopefuly I'll be able to clear that up for you.
Because your phone number and your billing address, I'm assuming, are now from two different provinces, the taxes that you see on your bill may vary from on province or the other depending on the type of charges.
The simplest way to explain this would be that any fees billed to your phone number directly (your monthly service fees, any add-ons, etc.) are going to be billed the taxes associated with the province in which your phone number is registered, whereas for any account level charges (invoice copy, service reactivation, etc.), taxes from the province associated with your billing address will apply.
In terms of how your domestic usage is billed, however, things are a bit different.
To determine which provincial sales tax will apply, two out of the three following factors must come from the same province:
- Address where the Fido number is registered (area code)
- Call origination
- Call destination
If the "two out of three" rule can’t be applied, provincial sales tax will be applied depending on the location of the service (call destination for the receiver and call origination for the caller). This default rule is applied for Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Ontario, British-Columbia and Manitoba only.
- In provinces where HST applies, HST will be charged.
- Provincial sales tax won’t be applied for the remaining provinces.
Let us know if that clarifies things for you or if you have any other questions!
Hello Vaissade,
Welcome to the community!
@vaissade wrote:
... pay taxes for calls which I mostly make from Alberta to Alberta,...
I understand you currently live in Alberta. I also understand that it would seem as though place of supply would be Alberta. However, if you choose to keep your phone number from another Province, your service plan would be from that Province. In Canada, the place of supply for services is considered the location where the client is based, regardless of where the work is performed (see here). Your phone number is based in Québec so that is the location of supply of services, even though the actual usage may be in Alberta.
Plans and services are related to your phone number and not necessarily where you live. For example, if you have an Québec phone number, you would be required to have a plan from Québec. You would not be able to avail of any Alberta-specific phone plans. Similarly, the taxes on your services would be based in Québec since the place of supply for those plans is that Québec. If you wish to pay Alberta taxes on services, you would need to get an Alberta plan and you will have to get an Albertan number.
However, if there are charges incurred which are beyond what was included in your Québec plan, those charges would incur Alberta taxes since the place of supply for that additional usage would be Alberta. I don't know what plan you have. Though, many plans include unlimited Canada-wide calling so those Alberta to Alberta calls would likely be included in the Québec plan.
For the sake of completeness, you should note that taxes for hardware and services could be different. The taxes on devices would be based on your billing address (see here).
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
