Hootsuite Inc. v British Columbia (Finance), 2023 BCSC 358 -- summary under Telecommunication Service

Hootsuite, which provided its customers with an online social media management system, did not itself have the servers and storage facilities to host its platform, and instead accessed those of Amazon Web Services (“AWS”). The Ministry of Finance assessed BC provincial sales tax on the basis inter alia that the technical support provided by AWS through an online chat feature provided through a web interface (which Thomas J characterized as being fundamentally as being for the provision of AWS technical expertise), as well as Hootsuite’s access to dedicated telecommunication service in the U.S. allowing AWS to maximize the efficiency of its virtual hardware, constituted a taxable communication service. Thomas J found that these services came within an exemption in the Regulations for telecommunication services that were “merely incidental” to a contract for non-taxable services.