Multi-jurisdiction accounting for distributors: what you need to know
Selling in Quebec, Ontario, New York and Europe — each jurisdiction has its tax regime. Here's how not to get lost.
Canada: GST, QST, HST by province
In Canada, GST (5%) applies everywhere. QST (9.975%) adds in Quebec, HST replaces both in several provinces (Ontario 13%, New Brunswick 15%…). A sale to an Albertan customer is taxed only at 5%; the same to Toronto is at 13%.
The software must automatically determine the jurisdiction based on shipping address AND product type (some categories are exempt). Exemption certificates (resale, government) must be stored and verifiable.
United States: 50 states, 50 regimes
In the US, each state has its sales tax (and some cities/counties add their rate). New York 8.875%, Florida 6%, Oregon 0%, California 7.25% + local.
Worse: the Wayfair ruling (2018) requires collecting sales tax once you cross a sales threshold in a state (often $100K or 200 transactions). The software must track these thresholds per state and alert when you approach nexus.
International: EU VAT, IVA, GST
Selling in Europe? VAT varies from 17% (Luxembourg) to 27% (Hungary). Mexico: IVA 16%. Australia: GST 10%. Brazil: ICMS variable by state + IPI + PIS + COFINS.
For these jurisdictions, SupplyCore's Multinational plan automatically routes tax by jurisdiction. If you operate in 3+ countries, this is essential — otherwise your accountants do this work by hand, every month.
Ready-to-file periodic reports
Beyond calculation, you must produce reports: quarterly GST/QST, sales tax filings per state, EU VAT declarations. The software must generate these in the format required by the agency (CSV, PDF, sometimes XML).
SupplyCore produces these reports in one click and lets you export them to your accountant or automated filing solution (Avalara, TaxJar, Stripe Tax).