British Columbia is returning to the provincial sales tax (PST) on April 1. Two specialists from the Ministry of Finance’s PST Outreach program were in Clearwater last Thursday to help local businesses get ready.
The first priority for businesses should be to register for the PST if they have not already done so, Preet Rai and Paul Wiedemann said.
Simply being registered to collect the old PST or the HST (harmonized sales tax) is not good enough.
Registration can be done on-line and most find the process to be relatively simple and quick.
The new PST will be substantially the same as before, Rai and Wiedemann told the nearly two dozen business owners and employees taking part.
There are a few changes, however, and they did their best to explain them.
Generally speaking, if a good is taxable, then service on it is taxable as well, they said.
Adult sized clothing is taxable unless it is to be used by a child under age 15. In that case, the parent or guardian must sign a form with the retailer – as was the case before.
There are a number of exemptions for the logging, mining and oil/gas industries. Notices for specific industries are available on the Return to PST website.
Money collected as PST is typically remitted to the provincial government on a monthly basis, but businesses with smaller incomes can remit quarterly, twice a year, or even annually.
Businesses that sell liquor need to remit monthly, even if otherwise they would need to submit quarterly.
Clearwater business owner Drake Smith asked, “We had a meeting on going from the PST to the HST. Now we have a meeting on how to go from the HST to the PST. So, when is the next meeting?”
The information session was organized by Clearwater and District Chamber of Commerce.
