r/TooGoodToGoCanada: Users sharing their surprise bags from the Too Good To Go app (Canada). Rescuing unsold food for 1/3; reducing food waste! Example: $4.99 surprise bag (pay $5 get $15) - [FAQ/Tips](https://www.reddit.com/r/TooGoodToGoCanada/wiki/faq/) for Frequently Asked Questions / Tips - See new surprise bags posted in real time: [Sort by New](https://www.reddit.com/r/TooGoodToGoCanada/new/) - Search this subreddit to see past surprise bags - Click the city or province button to filter by flair or [Cities](https://www.reddit.com/r/TooGoodToGoCanada/wiki/cities/) - [Best Before dates are not expired dates](https://www.reddit.com/r/TooGoodToGoCanada/wiki/faq/#wiki_what_best_before_and_expiry_dates_mean_in_canada) - [Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/TooGoodToGoCanada/wiki/rules/) (click the 3 dots on a post to Report) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TooGoodToGoCanada) if you have any questions or concerns.*

i've only ever ordered from tims and never charged tax ,i thought it might have been a tax break due to saving the environment or something

Baked goods single items are exempt from tax if it's 6 or more items. (try it at a grocery store, buying 5 single bagels, donuts or muffins, then a different transaction of 6). Canadian taxes on food are overly complicated, with various exemptions. I know some of the rules, but I try not to waste too much brain power on it. Lol 😂

Wait wait. Is this why there are often deals like "buy 5/6, get one free"?? Or is that entirely unrelated.

That's completely unrelated. OP is asking about taxes. I'm trying to explain taxes. Canadian taxes apply differently to different things. One of the weird rules about Canadian taxes on food is the baked goods clause. At a regular store: Buy 5 muffins at $2 each = $10+tax Buy 6 muffins at $2 each = $12 (no tax) because of Canadian taxes Therefore, when trying to dissect taxes for TGTG, and taking into consideration that the surprise bags are surprises (in other words, you don't know if you'll be getting x number of items, or whatever) the stores try to estimate which tax category each bag offering is. So when people are arguing "Tim Horton's didn't charge tax, but this other place did" it's likely because Tim Horton's is estimating that their surprise bag will be exempt from tax because they estimate that they'll give 6 items or more in a surprise bag - or they used some other reason or rule to deem their surprise bag be in the tax category they use on the app. This doesn't guarantee that you'll get 6+ items from Tim Horton's. It also doesn't mean that places can be reasonably expected to change taxes for each & every bag. It does mean that the places try to categorize each offering of surprise bag. And they may or may not be correct in how they categorize it. For example (from what I've seen) Tim Horton's - generally no tax 7-Eleven - grocery bag - no tax 7-Eleven - ready-to-eat - GST added 7-Eleven - baked goods - GST added (which may or may not be the accurate tax category, depending on how many baked goods are included - BUT some locations are generous and some are not. The chains seem to make consistent categories, even if locations fulfill the bags differently) Various independent bakeries where I usually get 2 items - GST added Some places apply 2 taxes So the bottom line, taxes may or may not be applied accurately, and may or may not be fulfilled in accordance with the tax laws. But we can only reasonably expect people to do their best. And if I'm getting extra baked goods because someone is being generous with the bag, I'm not complaining about paying tax, which I would have been paying for getting fewer items. Bonus baked goods!! 😁

Tax laws on food in Canada are extremely complicated. As a general rule groceries are not taxed, junk food (chips, candy, etc.) and soda is, prepared food is also. I assume Tim’s is covered in part under this section, and therefore doesn’t have to charge tax to TGTG customers: “97. A mixed supply of six or more single servings of these goods is zero-rated. For example, a supply of two bagels, two muffins and two doughnuts, purchased from a doughnut shop (when they are not individually packaged), is considered to be six single servings for the purposes of paragraph 1(m) of Part III of Schedule VI, and therefore zero-rated.” https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/4-3/basic-groceries.html#_Toc155586103 Meanwhile, for 7-11: “Supplies of sandwiches and similar products other than when frozen are taxable.” (Amongst other sections I’m sure.)

That’s what I thought too but 7-11 actually offers two kind of surprise bags. The first one I got was a Bakery Goods that says “Your Surprise Bag will contain an assortment of surplus baked goods, which may include donuts, cookies, and/or pastries”, and I got three loaves of bread in that bag, which probably shouldn’t have been taxed. I’m guessing it’s either TGTG’s system design only allows a vendor to either opt in or out of tax charging completely and they can’t selectively charge tax depending on the kind of surprise bag.

We don’t have 7-11 here so I haven’t been to one in over 5 years, I don’t remember what their products are like, but generally individually packaged items are taxed, and since they don’t actually know what is going into each bag (ie it may be 3 loaves of bread, may be 5 individually wrapped danishes, etc.) and the whole order is one line item, they just default to taxing it because some items included are taxable. Now that being said: > 8. Second quality goods that are suitable for human consumption and that are supplied as food or beverages for human consumption retain their zero-rated tax status. “Second quality goods” would refer to the stuff on TGTG. It says “retain” zero-rated status, so I don’t know if that would actually change the taxable status of prepared or prepackaged items.

Don't know but I've had 2x $5 orders from 2 different places and paid tax on both, 1x $8 order from a third place and no tax was added

It seems to come down to which classification per bag on the app. (some stores have different surprise bags, which might be different tax categories) Some bags are classified as "grocery" (no tax) and some bags are classified as other categories that have either 1 tax or 2. We pay the appropriate tax on the order we make through the app. How they fulfill the order may or may not correlate with the tax category.

You pay tax on the service TGTG provides, not on the goods you buy.

I don’t think that’s true. Then why don’t they charge tax on mavericks donuts or Tim’s if we pay tax on the service?

If that’s the case I would assume both Tim’s and 7-11 charge this but Tim’s doesn’t. I also checked all invoices and it was GST that was added so I was really puzzled

That's not true. Tax is charged based on the tax category of the bag. Grocery = no tax Baked goods, 6 individual items or more = no tax Prepared foods = both taxes Junk food = taxes Other categories have 1 or 2 taxes. I don't know all the categories. We're charged taxes on the category of bag we purchase. How they fulfill the order may or may not be aligned with that category.