Hard work and perseverance in seeking greater clarity for retailers on the handling of retail sales tax exemptions (RST) has earned provincial recognition for the Timmins Chamber of Commerce.
The 2009 Advocacy Award was awarded by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce at this year's annual general meeting in Orangeville.
While Aboriginals were to be exempt from RST, retailers had no way of validating the authenticity of a government-issued status card for every transaction. As such, the Timmins Chamber was concerned about the potential impact on local businesses and advocated successfully for the responsibility of verification to be returned to the government.
Working with First Nations partners, retail members and numerous governmental ministries, the Timmins Chamber's efforts were validated in April 2008, when the Ministry of Revenue acknowledged the problem.
Since then, the ministry has released a Tax Tips document which help with clearly identifying eligibility for RST exemption. It also included a statement which spelled out the conditions under which vendors may grant such exemptions.
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