You almost don't want to submit an opinion for fear the Gov. traces you and starts following you to Costco on a regular basis, then audits and fines you because your 13 year old and her classmates didn't charge GST on the pop and chips they sold at their school to raise money for new uniforms which they would pay GST on.
It's some couuntry we live in.
My husband has a business (on paper) he hasn't operated in over 7 years. In other words, no money made, no GST charged. I tried to close the GST account, rather than file nil returns every 3 months. Alas, the account can't be closed unless all assets of the company are sold, and of course the GST reported and paid on the sale of those items. Enter this, my husband formed a new company, this company is a LTD. one, requiring different regulations on returns. So of course, a new GST number. The assets of the old company, ie: heavy equipment are being used by the new company, so they will not be sold. To make a long story short, Rev Canada will not close the account until the company pays the GST on it's assets. They suggested that the new company purchase the assets from the old company for fair market value. I thought that very sweet and thoughtful of them. But instead, I think we'll just make a telephone call to telefile every 3 months rather than pay, say, about 21,000.00. I'll do it for the rest of my life if I have to.
Here's the kicker, even though the company has filed nil reports and returns for 7 long years, that's 28 GST returns, if I am ever late with one, they immediately assess a 3 month estimate of around 6,000 owing. Whatever.