sofasurfer

I am about to cancel an upcoming aeroplan booking, was going through the screens to do so and then noticed that HST is charged on the cancellation fee.
When I cancelled an Avios booking a few weeks ago (billed in CAD, and receipts showing the booking and canx transactions went through their Canadian sales office) - there was no mention of HST being applied.

While I don't seem to have any option but to 'take it or leave it' to get the Aeroplan cancellation processed, has anyone tried to claw back the HST charged on the cancellation fee (and succeeded?).

The cynic in me can't help but wonder if this an attempted cash grab by Aeroplan... but the more rational element feels that consulting the collective wisdom of FT for some more data points and experience is a more pragmatic approach

yyz_atc_qq

While I can't comment on the tax collection policies of Avios, since the "service" to cancel the Aeroplan ticket was performed by a Canadian company HST(or GST) should apply.

sofasurfer

Thanks for the clarification.
I wasn't sure what would be the case here (I agree with you it being a "service" in a generous sense of the term!), but can see the logic being applied here.

It'd be nice if the wording was clarified on their side. After some digging around, wording is inconsistent - I've seen mention to change fees of $100 plus taxes, and then no mention at all of amounts not taxes charged on cancellations... but I suspect that's more poor copy-editing than anything else. Mildly annoying, but hardly surprising.

sofasurfer

Interesting. Seems that we're being billed for the canx fee in one transaction (new c/c payment to Aeroplan) and the refund will come from Air Canada (ticket issuer).

(emphasis in bold is mine on this, and below)

and then further below (attempted to reformat text as it'll show up - copy-pasting means formatting gets lost)
Apologies if this is old news to the more experienced on this forum - but I suspect there may be an increasing number of people that may be about to go through this for the first time, and so figured it was worth adding to this thread in case others come across it...

CanadaDH

Aeroplan service fees are always charged separately from the charge/refund by AC on the ticket cost.

As for HST and why one company charges it and another doesn't and on what transactions it applies and at what rate, it's not so simple as to whether one is a Canadian company or not. There are tax professionals who specialize in this. If you're really curious, look up "GST Place of Supply Rules", but prepare for a very long read. There are a lot of situations that are not so clear, and a ton of variables. But, no, Aeroplan is not charging HST just to pocket it!

robsaw

HST/GST is all about ultimate place of delivery of the good or service. Location of sales office and currency used are not really relevant; although, if you are using a travel agent some of their serivce fees may be subject to HST/GST even if the travel is outside of Canada.

1Newflyer

You must have status, right? I thought the cancellation is $150.

AwardBee

Whether you're charged GST/HST or any kind of sales tax at all is dependent on the billing address associated with your Aeroplan account. If you're in an HST province you pay HST. If you're in non-HST province you pay GST. If you're outside of Canada (wink wink) you don't pay either GST or HST.

Stranger

Not sure that's correct. When buying a ticket, it's based upon the province of departure. So if flying YYZ-YYC return, one is better off buying both legs separately.

1Newflyer

Any AC cancellations for NA routes?

AwardBee

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​​​​​​I'm not talking about ticket prices themselves, only about Aeroplan change and service fees.