# Proviancial share of HST (Ontario) on ebooks



## peterboro31 (May 11, 2010)

New ebook reader user. Got a surprise in that the full HST (13% in Ontario) is charged to ebook downloads versus just GST (5%) being charged on printed books.

Seems like a great inconsistency. Intend to protest to Mp and MPP.


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## somecanuck (Dec 23, 2011)

I recall reading a post on MobileRead about this a while back. The guy contacted the CRA and they stood by the decision.

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1031305&postcount=14

I would recommend purchasing from some where other than kobobooks.com, assuming that's what you're using. I am not sure if Amazon charges tax for purchases on the Kindle. I'm one of those Kindle users that has never actually purchased a book.

There are international stores, such as Book Depository, that do not charge tax. And of course there's other "stores" of sorts that provide books for free (not sure of the forum rules on this).


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## peterboro31 (May 11, 2010)

Thanks for the comment. Kindle (Amazon) will not download to KOBO however. I will check the book depository site.


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## somecanuck (Dec 23, 2011)

Amazon eBooks use the AZW format, which is really just MOBI with high compression. Most of them have some form of DRM applied. You can strip the DRM and convert the MOBI format to EPUB (Kobo's preferred) easily with free tools such as Calibre. 

As I said, I own a Kindle. I often convert between MOBI and EPUB so I can have my books on my Kindle, my Android phone, and on my PC. They're always available.


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