[cperciva]

I'm sure your Canadian usage would be subject to GST (which may be why Amazon opted for Montreal target than Toronto) but I think they arrange the subsidiaries so that you don't pay taxes on your usage in other countries.

It doesn't matter for businesses of course, since GST/HST is a reclaimable VAT.

[sebbul]

I think they chose Montréal for cheap electricity rather than sales tax issues. My residential rates more than doubled when I moved to Toronto. Looks like business rates follow a similar pattern: http://www.hydroquebec.com/business/rates-and-billing/rates/...

[cperciva]

Yes, the Ontario government has horribly mismanaged the power utility, with extremely high rates resulting. I figured that Amazon probably wouldn't be paying retail rates, but if they couldn't negotiate anything better that would definitely explain why they avoided Ontario.

[Mister_Snuggles]

Digital Ocean seems to charge based on residence.

I pay 5% GST - there is no HST/PST in Alberta. But I pay this 5% GST on droplets that are in the NYC and SFO datacenters.

The credit card charge now comes from Digital Ocean Canada, but the prices are still listed in USD. They appear to convert to CAD before charging my credit card.

[cperciva]

charge based on residence

Duh, you're right of course. I know this, too -- I have to go through the same headache of charging different rates to my Canadian customers based on where they're located.

I must have been asleep when I wrote that comment... alas, it's too late to edit it now.

I pay 5% GST - there is no HST/PST in Alberta. But I pay this 5% GST on droplets that are in the NYC and SFO datacenters.

Right, if the service is being provided to you by a Canadian company then they have to charge GST regardless of where the servers are. The same goes for Tarsnap -- my servers are EC2 instances in the US, but I remit GST/HST for my Canadian customers.