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Vouchers and tax

Psygineer
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

I've tried searching the forums and have seen a few posts about it but I couldn't really see a clear answer. Sorry about the redundant post if there is one I missed.

My Credit Card is expiring soon and I figured I would buy a voucher to ensure my account has funds on it in case there are any delays/issues with swapping out the card. When I went to pick up the voucher it was taxed. I asked the sales person if the tax value was included on the voucher as well and was informed it wasn't, that the $100 voucher was only worth $100 when added to your account and not the $113 dollars paid price (with Ontario tax value not including the surcharge on top of that for purchasing a voucher). The thing is, the service is taxed on the account level too so does that basically mean you are being double taxed if you use a voucher? Ie Taxed on the purchase of the voucher and taxed on the purchase of the service?

I was under the impression vouchers were basically like gift cards, taxed on the purchases you make with them and not on the card itself. I read in the forums here that isn't the case, and it is normal to be taxed on the voucher but I find it odd that said tax isn't incorporated into the redemption value. Was the sales person in error or are you basically paying 26% tax (plus voucher surcharge)?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

tl;dr

Are vouchers double taxed when used as a payment method? Once when the voucher is initially purchased and again with the purchase of the service. 

9 REPLIES 9

@Psygineer

 

This is one of my macro's.

 

Unfortunately, sometimes auto pay fails. Think of auto pay as a method for public mobile to charge you IF your account does not have sufficient balance. If you have sufficient balance it does not need to autopay, but auto pay is still configured so you get the reward. I highly recommend everyone to top off in advance as this process can prevent the somewhat common occurrence of autopay failure which causes a HUGE pain in the butt account suspension and loss of service.

Psygineer
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

It was a nice analogy. 


@Anonymous wrote:


No problem. I'm quite admiring my analogy of it being like rewards. 🙂

Whichever way you add funds manually, come time to renew, it just takes from Available Funds first.


 

Anonymous
Not applicable

@Psygineer wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@Psygineer wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

 @Psygineer:

No. It's added as the value. You've now paid the tax. Autopay takes the tax amount from your credit card.

recharge.com would be better for you though. They charge something but it nets out as less than buying the voucher in a store. (except Alberta)


So it does double tax then. If the $100 voucher is added as $100 (after paying $115 I believe he said, $13 in tax plus $2 for the voucher) and then you pay the tax again when the credit is used. I'll check out recharge, but this was really meant as more of a safety net (read others had issues with updated cards). I probably would be fine to just chance it. 


That is NOT what I said. You do not get taxed again when you cash in the voucher. It adds the voucher value to your Available Funds. When it comes time to pay, it doesn't tax again. It takes the plan price out of Available Funds. Kinda the same as rewards.

 

I like RobertQc's strategy of having autopay set up but then using vouchers to add to Available Funds and then it never actually hits the credit card but you still get the reward.


Sorry, I misunderstood you I guess. When I saw "No. It's added as the value. You've now paid the tax. Autopay takes the tax amount from your credit card." I took that to mean it added the face value $100 as $100 on your account (and that it does not include the extra $13 in tax you paid on the voucher purchase itself as part of the activated value on the account). That isn't so bad then if it factors that in then! Thank you for the clarification. 

 

To be honest though, I never really thought of just adding funds while the card is still active with the credit card itself that does seem easier.


No problem. I'm quite admiring my analogy of it being like rewards. (if I do say so myself 🙂 )

Whichever way you add funds manually, come time to renew, it just takes from Available Funds first.

Psygineer
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Anonymous wrote:

@Psygineer wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

 @Psygineer:

No. It's added as the value. You've now paid the tax. Autopay takes the tax amount from your credit card.

recharge.com would be better for you though. They charge something but it nets out as less than buying the voucher in a store. (except Alberta)


So it does double tax then. If the $100 voucher is added as $100 (after paying $115 I believe he said, $13 in tax plus $2 for the voucher) and then you pay the tax again when the credit is used. I'll check out recharge, but this was really meant as more of a safety net (read others had issues with updated cards). I probably would be fine to just chance it. 


That is NOT what I said. You do not get taxed again when you cash in the voucher. It adds the voucher value to your Available Funds. When it comes time to pay, it doesn't tax again. It takes the plan price out of Available Funds. Kinda the same as rewards.

 

I like RobertQc's strategy of having autopay set up but then using vouchers to add to Available Funds and then it never actually hits the credit card but you still get the reward.


Sorry, I misunderstood you I guess. When I saw "No. It's added as the value. You've now paid the tax. Autopay takes the tax amount from your credit card." I took that to mean it added the face value $100 as $100 on your account (and that it does not include the extra $13 in tax you paid on the voucher purchase itself as part of the activated value on the account) and when it came for the credit to be used, it would bill for the service plus tax out of the funds (taking anything extra it needed from the credit card). That isn't so bad then if it factors that in then! Thank you for the clarification. 

 

To be honest though, I never really thought of just adding funds while the card is still active with the credit card itself that does seem easier.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@RobertQc wrote:

 

My ears are burning but I got no tag! lol @Anonymous

 


Oh boo hoo! 🙂 lol

@RobertQc@RobertQc@RobertQc


@Psygineer wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

 @Psygineer:

No. It's added as the value. You've now paid the tax. Autopay takes the tax amount from your credit card.

recharge.com would be better for you though. They charge something but it nets out as less than buying the voucher in a store. (except Alberta)


So it does double tax then. If the $100 voucher is added as $100 (after paying $115 I believe he said, $13 in tax plus $2 for the voucher) and then you pay the tax again when the credit is used. I'll check out recharge, but this was really meant as more of a safety net (read others had issues with updated cards). I probably would be fine to just chance it. 


Why chance anything? Just use your credit card right now and make a manual payment. No reason not to pay early. At least if your payment today with the credit card fails you can do something before the account is due.

 

True story- I have more than a handful of renewals already sitting in my available balance. 

 

 

 

@Anonymous wrote:

I like RobertQc's strategy of having autopay set up but then using vouchers to add to Available Funds and then it never actually hits the credit card but you still get the reward.

 

My ears are burning but I got no tag! lol @Anonymous

 

Anonymous
Not applicable

@Psygineer wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

 @Psygineer:

No. It's added as the value. You've now paid the tax. Autopay takes the tax amount from your credit card.

recharge.com would be better for you though. They charge something but it nets out as less than buying the voucher in a store. (except Alberta)


So it does double tax then. If the $100 voucher is added as $100 (after paying $115 I believe he said, $13 in tax plus $2 for the voucher) and then you pay the tax again when the credit is used. I'll check out recharge, but this was really meant as more of a safety net (read others had issues with updated cards). I probably would be fine to just chance it. 


That is NOT what I said. You do not get taxed again when you cash in the voucher. It adds the voucher value to your Available Funds. When it comes time to pay, it doesn't tax again. It takes the plan price out of Available Funds. Kinda the same as rewards.

 

I like RobertQc's strategy of having autopay set up but then using vouchers to add to Available Funds and then it never actually hits the credit card but you still get the reward.

Psygineer
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Anonymous wrote:

 @Psygineer:

No. It's added as the value. You've now paid the tax. Autopay takes the tax amount from your credit card.

recharge.com would be better for you though. They charge something but it nets out as less than buying the voucher in a store. (except Alberta)


So it does double tax then. If the $100 voucher is added as $100 (after paying $115 I believe he said, $13 in tax plus $2 for the voucher) and then you pay the tax again when the credit is used. I'll check out recharge, but this was really meant as more of a safety net (read others had issues with updated cards). I probably would be fine to just chance it. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @Psygineer:

No. It's added as the value. You've now paid the tax. Autopay takes the tax amount from your credit card.

recharge.com would be better for you though. They charge something but it nets out as less than buying the voucher in a store. (except Alberta)

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