The Canadian federal government’s legislation for temporary GST/HST sales tax relief, running from December 14, 2024, to February 15, 2025, received royal assent last night. While Bill C-78 is now law, updated guidelines have not yet been released. Retailers should rely on the details currently available to ensure compliance during the relief period.
Prepared foods, including vegetable trays, pre-made meals and salads, and sandwiches;
Restaurant meals, whether dine-in, takeout, or delivery;
Snacks, including chips, candy, and granola bars;
Beer, wine, and cider;
Pre-mixed alcoholic beverages below 7 per cent ABV;
Children’s clothing and footwear, car seats, and diapers;
Children’s toys, such as board games, dolls, and video game consoles;
Books, print newspapers, and puzzles for all ages; and,
Christmas trees and similar decorative trees.
For the complete list of eligible products, refer to this backgrounder published by the government for the most recent list of Qualified Goods.
How Does the Tax Relief Program Impact Your Business?
The GST/HST Tax Relief Program temporarily removes GST/HST from certain product and service categories. To comply, Canadian merchants must update their tax settings in TAKU or VitaHealth to reflect these exemptions for the duration of the program.
FAQs
How to Prepare for the Tax Relief Period
To help you get ready, we’ve put together a detailed step-by-step guide. Here are the three essential actions you’ll need to take:
Identifying the exempt categories applicable to your business
Adjusting your POS tax settings to comply with the program
Ensure proper tax reporting during and after the program period, particularly, during December and February which are both partially exempt based on the start and end date of the program. If possible, we recommend checking more closely and keeping track of any returns processed during and after the tax relief period. You will want to make sure that the sales taxes applied or exempt on the original sales transaction are also reflected in the return transaction.
Tax Relief Instructions
TAKU and VitaHealth POS have separate tax categories to handle tax exemptions.
If your inventory is already organized by product categories, the simplest way to implement the GST/HST tax relief changes is to create specific “tax categories” and updating the tax categories for products in each product category.
2. Enable Tax Categories in products. a. Load your inventory list (Inventory > Inventory List) b. Make sure Tax Category is a visible column in your inventory list
c. Filter your product Category column by the product categories that are eligible for the tax relief program
d. Select all of the products you would like to have enabled for tax exemptions
e. Turn on Edit Mode by clicking on the pencil in the top left of the inventory list header
f. Use the Bulk Edit function to select the Tax Categories required
g. Click Preview to see the changes in the Tax Category column
h. Click the yellow Save button. Make sure you see the green confirmation message so you know your changes have been made
3. Apply Inventory Tax Exemptions so specific products are exempt during every sale
a. Create the GST or HST Tax Exemption in the Sales Tax Rules section (Settings > Business Settings > Taxes > Rules)
When creating the new rule, make sure to include settings for the Effective Date, Geography, Tax Inventory Categories, and the Tax Calculation Type.
Note that you are creating a new exemption rule that applies to an existing Sales Tax (e.g. GST or HST), so it will need to be selected in the Tax Name field. Also make sure that your new rule is enabled as Active in the top right corner of the Tax Rule. Note that tax rules are active only if they within an Effective Date period or have no Effective Date. If there is no effective date, it is assumed, there is no time restriction. And even if a rule is Active, if it is outside of the Effective Date, it will not be applied.
It is optional to set a rule priority if there are multiple tax rules applied to the same sales tax (e.g. you have existing Account-based tax rules). 0 is the highest priority meaning it is applied first and 1 is applied after and so forth.
We’ve designed the instructions to be clear and easy to follow, but if you have any questions about implementing these changes, our support team is here to help. Active customers can reach out to us at help@takulabs.io for assistance with tax relief updates. To keep phone lines free for urgent till issues, we encourage you to use email for these inquiries.
Don’t Wait—Update Your TAKU or VitaHealth Settings Before December 14, 2024
The tax changes take effect on December 14, 2024, and remain in place until February 15, 2025. Preparing ahead of time will ensure your operations run smoothly and remain tax compliant.
Thank you for trusting us as your retail POS partner.
Thank you for your continued trust and partnership this year. As we gear up for 2025, we’re excited to keep supporting you. Below are our holiday hours for the upcoming season.
We hope everyone enjoys a much-needed break with loved ones. Wishing you a safe and joyful holiday! 🎄✨
For detailed support information, please check the support section on our website at https://help.takulabs.io/. Here’s our schedule for the holiday season for TAKU and VitaHealth POS 🕔:
Starting April 24, 2024, Meta will no longer allow businesses and retailers based in the U.S. to sell on Facebook Shop and Instagram Shop through an online store integration. This means that products and orders sold on Facebook or Instagram can only be managed in the Facebook Commerce Manager.
This will likely have an impact on integrated retail operations as outside checkout methods will no longer allow:
Orders processed outside of Facebook and Instagram to be synced back to outside commerce platforms.
Product stock quantity in 3rd party integrated systems to update automatically after a sale on Facebook or Instagram.
Product tagging in social media posts.
New custom and lookalike audiences derived from people who visited the shop.
This means that merchants will need to manually update both orders and products in any formerly integrated systems outside of Facebook and Instagram moving forward.
What are my options after this change by Meta?
While we are working to improve our integrations, we understand the impact these major changes will likely have on your business. The way that the changes are being made by Meta, it is likely there will be limited options for outside platforms to connect directly again.
To continue selling directly on Facebook Shop or Instagram Shop after April 24th, US retailers must switch their checkout method to “Checkout on Facebook and Instagram” within the Facebook Commerce Manager. Click here to find the detailed instructions provided by Facebook to complete this process.
Alternatively, you can stop listing products directly on Facebook Shop or Instagram Shop and add a direct link to your online store. While this means that you will not be able to list your products directly, you can still drive traffic to your own online store where you manage the entire shopping experience.
For more details, you can review the full Facebook announcement here.
Thank you for your continued support this past year. We’re all looking forward to growing together with you in 2024 with many new features rolling out in the new year!
We wish all of our customers and employees a well-deserved break. Stay safe🎄🙌
Our holiday hours of operation 🕔 will be as follows:
Easter is right around the corner and shoppers are looking forward to celebrating safely with their friends and family. As a result, retail owners can expect to see an increase in sales.
The NRF’s annual Easter survey indicates that there is a lot of momentum going into the Spring. This momentum is reflected in consumer spending as shoppers are expected spend an average of $192.01 each.
Bar graph showing the percentages of people planning to to participate in each of the various celebrations this Easter. Source: NRF
Below, we’ve prepared some tips to help you gear up for the Easter holiday weekend and make the most of this year’s consumer spending habits.
1. Offer Discounts and Promotions
While not every shopper plans to celebrate, plenty of them will still be on the lookout for Easter related sales. In fact, 29% of shoppers are planning to shop just to take advantage of Easter sales.
To tempt more shoppers to buy from your store, consider discounting your best selling items. You can even set up a dedicated landing page or section on your website/e-commerce site so shoppers can easily browse through sale or seasonal items.
For example, Indigo set up an Easter landing page encouraging consumers to shop for gifts from their Easter merchandise.
Don’t sell chocolate or Easter related products? That’s okay – you don’t have to sell Easter merchandise to benefit from the holiday.
You can always position your products for Easter by finding a unique angle. For example, The Body Shop encouraged customers to celebrate the holiday by treating their loved ones and themselves with their nature inspired products.
Bath and Body Works did something similar with their slogan “Gifts For Every Bunny (And Basket)”.
3. Launch Retargeting Campaigns
It may be a good idea to attract old visitors back to your website with Easter offers and promotions. You can do so with Facebook retargeting ads.
By setting up your Facebook pixel on your website or ecommerce store, you can present different offers based on shoppers’ interaction with your site. The idea is to retarget past users based on their buying intent (e.g. visitors who added to their cart vs shoppers that initiated checkout).
If you are using TAKU eCommerce, click here to find out how to set up your Facebook pixel on your ecommerce site.
4. Promote Popular Fulfillment Options
While pandemic related restrictions and lockdowns are easing in some regions, many consumers still prefer popular fulfillment options such as buy online pick-up in-store (BOPIS), local delivery, and shipping.
You can encourage shoppers to purchase their Easter gifts safely by highlighting some of these fulfillment options on your website. For example, Indigo’s home page calls attention to the fact that shoppers can purchase their Easter items safely with a BOPIS option.
5. Launch a Giveaway on Social Media
Running an Easter-themed social media giveaway does not have to difficult or expensive. There are various ways to promote your giveaways, for instance, one cost-effective idea is to run a giveaway where the participants are asked to tag a friend or family member in the comment sections to enter. This can encourage the engagement with your audience and can also help reach new audience, and spread the news of your giveaway and brand.
Or you could do something directly related to Easter by asking your followers to do a virtual scavenger hunt. Your followers would have to go on your feed or website for example, and find clues to enter the giveaway. Alternatively, you can ask your followers to guess how many eggs are in a basket. you can also apply this to some of your products (e.g. making followers guess the weight of chocolate, the amount of beads in a necklace etc.).
Consider boosting your social media giveaway to widen your reach and increase the number of participants.
We hope you found these tips helpful! For more helpful retail tips, you can subscribe to our blog. Happy Easter and happy selling!
Holiday season is pretty much upon us, which means your stores are busy. Many retailers hire temporary employees around this time of year to help out with increased in store traffic. The problem is that it is very hard to find frontline staff right now. We’ve talked about the current labor shortage before as it’s something retailers around the world are struggling with.
This holiday season is going to be tough if you need extra help but can’t find any. Whether you want to hire long-term or short-term employees, here are some retail recruitment tactics designed to help you attract more help.
Job postings with eye-catching graphics
Just like any other type of ad, making something that catches people’s attention is the way to go. What better way to catch people’s attention than with something eye-catching, out of the ordinary, and light-hearted.
Take a look at this famous McDonald’s recruitment ad. It lets people know in a simple way that you don’t need experience, and that they expect you to make mistakes as well. This makes it let intimidating to those who would consider applying for their first jobs.
Show ads in creative places
Increase retail recruitment opportunities by finding creative ways to let people know you’re hiring. There’s always the standard ‘posters throughout your store’, but you can also get a bit more creative with it.
Place “We’re Hiring” signs on washroom stalls and doors.
Put ads on your product packaging. You can place stickers with QR codes linking to job applications, or simply have a message telling customers that you’re hiring. This way you can even attract the ideal type of employee: someone who enjoys your brand.
Email/text marketing campaigns. If you email or text customers with promotions or newsletters, you can always add in a little section telling them you are recruiting new employees.
Don’t forget tried-and-true storefront placement to easily grab street traffic attention.
Look at flat fee recruitment tools
Consider using technology to hire your retail staff more easily. Platforms such as SWOB use technology make it a lot easier for you to hire store staff as they interact with local talent 24/7 with easy-to-use mobile apps that young workers enjoy using. Many of them have affordable, flat fee options for small businesses for a certain number of positions.
Connect with your readers and think about who your ideal candidate is. For example, if your ideal candidate is a high schooler who will work part-time on weekends, write more casually and maybe even mention the benefits of working part-time on weekends. At the end of the day, you need to relate to readers to get them interested in working at your store.
Screen for personality vs. experience
In a tight labor market, it’s even harder to hire based on experience or skills. But that may not be the best approach as it restricts your talent pool. Students, new grads or seniors without any retail experience are a great resource if you’re able to put in the time to train them.
The importance here, is focusing on the personality, energy or enthusiasm of the candidate. You can always train a person to use a point-of-sale system or how to run an inventory count. But you can’t easily change a person’s work ethic or attitude. If anything, hiring “green” employees can have the silver lining of being more trainable – there will be less bad habits to untrain.
Check competitive posts
Today’s labor market requires you to be competitive. After all, your job posts are a reflection of your business and what you offer as an employer. Before you post anything, make sure you know what your competitors are offering. This includes everything from benefits, and imagery to the keywords used in your job posts.
Including keywords is a method used to improve SEO (search engine optimization) which determines whether your content shows up in search results online. By including a lot of relevant and local keywords in your job posting, it will be more easily found on search engines such as Google by local candidates in your area. So when you post your job opening, be sure to add phrases or words that are location-based such as mentioning where your store is located or which area you are trying to recruit from.
Post to your Google My Business profile
Don’t forget to post your job openings on your Google My Business profile as well. Not only is this free and will improve your SEO, it will show up in front of people who are already interested in your business since the majority of people check store hours before they visit a store.
Going to places where potential applicants already are is a great and smart way to promote your position openings. The best part? Many community job fairs are often free for you to attend.
Look online for event listings or reach out to local establishments such as:
Universities/colleges
High schools
Vocational schools
Local chambers of commerce
Community and business development centers
Many of these organizations offer free booths to encourage local businesses to hire their students or residents. This is especially true for physical retail stores that are key to keeping local communities vibrant.
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