Set indigenous customers as GST/HST exempt in Canada

In Canada, indigenous persons, or otherwise called Indians or First Nations, should not be charged GST/HST on goods and services under certain circumstances.

If you're selling products in your Shopify store that meet the criteria to exempt indigenous people from tax, Sufio will help you automatically set these customers as tax exempt so they are not charged GST/HST during the checkout. 

Add INAC Number field to customer registration page

Sufio allows you to add a new INAC Number field to the Customer Registration form. This will allow your indigenous customers to enter their INAC numbers when they set up their customer accounts in your store to declare they are registered as Status Indians with the Canadian Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

Customers will then be tagged as INAC in your Shopify store and automatically set as tax exempt.

To add the INAC field to the Customer Registration page:

  1. Go to the page Online Store → Themes in your Shopify admin.
  2. Click the Actions button, then click Edit code.
  3. Select customers/register.liquid in the left sidebar.
  4. Insert the following code snippet inside the <form>. A good place for the field is below the Password field.

<!-- Shopify customer registration -- capture INAC numbers from customers. Used by Sufio for Shopify (www.sufio.com/shopify). -->
<label for="inac_no" class="label--hidden">INAC Number</label>
<input id="inac_no" type="text" name="customer[note][INAC Number]" placeholder="INAC Number" />
<input type="hidden" name="customer[tags]" id="customer_tags" value="" />

<script type="text/javascript">
  document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) {
    $("#inac_no").change( function() {
      // Tag customer as INAC if INAC Number was provided
      // This part can be updated to allow some basic INAC number validation
      $("#customer_tags").val($("#inac_no").val() ? "INAC" : "");
    });
  });
</script>

  1. Select index.liquid in the left sidebar.
  2. Insert the following code snippet at the end of this file.

{% if customer.tags contains 'INAC' %}
<!-- Shopify customer account -- set INAC registered customers (Status Indian in Canada) as tax (GST) exempt. Used by Sufio for Shopify (www.sufio.com/shopify). -->
<script type="text/javascript">
  function getCookieValue(a) { var b = document.cookie.match('(^|;)\\s*' + a + '\\s*=\\s*([^;]+)'); return b ? b.pop() : ''; }
  
  document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) {
    var email = "{{ customer.email }}";
    if (getCookieValue("sufio_vat_email_inac") != email) {
      document.cookie = "sufio_vat_email_inac="+email+";expires=Tue, 31 Dec 2030 00:00:00 GMT;path=/";
      $.ajax({
        type : "GET",
        dataType: "jsonp",
        url: "/apps/sufio/customer-vat/",
        data: { email: "{{ customer.email }}", force_tax_exempt: true }
      });
    };
  });
</script>
{% endif %}

Note

Please note that to make tax exemptions work, you need to enable the tax exemptions feature in your Sufio account.

Need help?

Do you need help with customizing your Shopify store theme? Please contact our experienced support team. We'll be happy to assist!

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