US Sales Tax for BC Shopify Sellers: When to Register and How to Stay Clean (Vancouver Guide)

Selling into the United States from Metro Vancouver is common—and risky if you guess your obligations. Registration typically turns on three triggers: economic nexus (sales/transaction thresholds), physical nexus (FBA inventory, staff or a warehouse in‑state) and marketplace facilitator rules. Getting this wrong can mean notices, penalties and messy back‑filings.

Our approach for Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey and Richmond founders is deliberately boring: plan first, then file when engaged. We assess nexus using actuals and a 12‑month look‑forward, configure Shopify tax settings correctly, and map all taxes to liability accounts via A2X → QBO/Xero so deposits still tie to the bank at $0 variance. Only after the workflow is clean do we proceed to registrations and filings—when engaged—so compliance doesn’t contaminate bookkeeping.

What you get monthly: in your Day‑15 Close Pack we document GST/HST recovery opportunities and summarize US obligations with next actions and dates. Because we’re A2X‑first and keep replies <24 hours, you stay ahead of deadlines without wondering where a number came from.

If you’ve received a state notice—or want to avoid one—book the Free E‑commerce Diagnostic. We’ll produce a state‑by‑state snapshot and a practical CA↔US plan you can run this quarter.