# HST number small claims court



## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

In Ontario a fiend of mine got sued in small claims. A contractor did work for them she paid bill plus HST that was on bill. There was no written contract. The contractor never provided an HST number still after aprox 2 years. The contractor then wants more money goes to court. The judge is a very good friend of the contractor rules against my friend. The court says she has to pay the contractor, My friend phones revenue Canada they say she does not have to pay if no HST number is provided. She phones the court to tell them they say they don't care what revenue Canada says the court says they are above revenue Canada & she must pay the money regardless if he will not provide HST number.

I think this contractor is working under the table & the court is letting him do it.

Whats her next steps


----------



## Canadian (Sep 19, 2013)

Appeal the decision on the basis of objectivity. An appeal will be granted if she can show that there is familiarity between the judge and the contractor. If there is no written contract, and your friend can show that money was paid to the contractor for services, the onus is on the contractor to prove that more money is due.


----------



## iherald (Apr 18, 2009)

I can't imagine the judge is good friends with the contractor. Maybe your friend thought that because they thought that they would win and they did not. No judge I know would risk their professional reputation by doing a case with a 'good friend'.

As for whether your friend has to pay, there is now a court order against him or her. So yes she has to pay. It has nothing to do with HST anymore, it has to do with a valid judgment against them. If the evidence is that she did not have to pay because of no HST number, than she/he should have brought that information to the court.


----------



## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

Hi, iherald

I was not there. According to her when the work was done she paid a bill that had HST added on to it. Whenever HST is added on to any bill an HST number has to be provided. The HST number can also be checked on line to see if valid. If there is no HST number & or HST number is not valid i.e., a made up number the bill should not be paid. According to her the bill has no HST number. Revenue Canada says there needs to be an HST number & the court has no power to force any money to be paid without HST number. The court says the opposite they are above revenue Canada & the money has to be paid weather or not there is an HST number. 

Remember these are goverment employees it does not matter if they do their jobs properly for them to stay employed.


----------



## MoreMiles (Apr 20, 2011)

lonewolf said:


> Hi, iherald
> 
> I was not there. According to her when the work was done she paid a bill that had HST added on to it. Whenever HST is added on to any bill an HST number has to be provided. The HST number can also be checked on line to see if valid. If there is no HST number & or HST number is not valid i.e., a made up number the bill should not be paid. According to her the bill has no HST number. Revenue Canada says there needs to be an HST number & the court has no power to force any money to be paid without HST number. The court says the opposite they are above revenue Canada & the money has to be paid weather or not there is an HST number.
> 
> Remember these are goverment employees it does not matter if they do their jobs properly for them to stay employed.


So your friend does not want to pay HST taxes? She got a bill that had HST on it. She paid the amount except HST, because there is "no HST number" on it or some excuses on technicality? She gets upset when she is later forced by a court to pay.

It is not up to her to decide if there is a tax evasion or fake HST number. The service is subject to HST. If she believes that the vendor does not remit the collected HST, she can report it, perhaps with the new whistleblower program. But she simple refused to pay? I can see why the court made a judgement against her.

It is the same, you pay a vendor / service provider... does that person keep the income undeclared with unpaid income taxes? It's really none of your business. These are 2 separate matters in my opinion, client-vendor and vendor-CRA.


----------



## Westerly (Dec 26, 2010)

I don't think there is enough of the whole story to provide reasonable responses. If in fact the contractor is / was not GST registered, your friend may be able to claim a rebate of GST/HST paid in error (there's time restrictions, but this may also be applied for.) 
"http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/gf/gst189/gst189-13e.pdf" 

Lonewolf: "Remember these are goverment employees it does not matter if they do their jobs properly for them to stay employed"

You seem to be blaming either your friend's incompetence or the corruption of the (potentially) fraudulent contractor on government employees. Where's the leap? Do you know that current unpaid taxes and unreported taxes are the near equivalent of our national debt? If people stopped "paying cash" we (that is, actual taxpayers) would all be better off.


----------



## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

Werterly

The contractor charged HST on bill the bill plus HST was paid. The contractor has to provide an HST number with the bill or bill does not have to be paid accorrding to revenue Canada. Revenue Canada tells her they are above the courts & she does not have to pay the bill. The court tells her they are above revenue Canada & it does not matter if no HST number is provided.

The info revenue Canada gives contradicts the info the court gives. The goverment is just not as effecient as the private sector. There is an incentive for the private sector to be effecient if they are not they will not survive, When the tax payers can be forced to throw fist fulls of money into the goverment sector ther is no incentive to run efficiently.


----------



## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

There is still no HST number provided after it has gone to court. The court simply does not care that no HST number is being provided. On revenue Canada site it says no bill has to be paid if there is no HST number.


----------



## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

I don't know why they took her to court if she paid the HST.


----------



## donald (Apr 18, 2011)

IMO-''no written contract"-your friend is to blame for hiring and selecting a contractor without a written contract.I don't feel sorry for a consumer who does not go about things the right way.
If you hire a contractor it is up to you as a consumer to verify,if you choose not to,that is the risk.Don't get work done without paper work.


----------



## lonewolf (Jun 12, 2012)

Donald

Your right they should have had a written contract. Both the contractor & my friend were wrong.


----------



## crabbygit (Nov 6, 2013)

Was the smalls claim against your friend just for the HST or was the contractor claiming for the whole amount?
Did your friend appear in court or simply ignore her notice when served? 

If she did not appear in court then she most likely was ruled against by default judgment. If she did appear I wonder why she didn't present her evidence. 

I don't believe that whether a friendship did or did not exist between judge and contractor would have any bearing on the judges ruling.


----------

