Modified B.C. HST document available on CRA website

Document has added information for public service bodies

A modified version of a document on the elimination of the HST in British Columbia has been posted on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.

Notice 270: Elimination of the HST in British Columbia in 2013 – Questions and Answers, has information for public service bodies that has been added at the end of the notice.

The notice can be accessed online at: GST/HST NOTICE270, Elimination of the HST in British Columbia in 2013 – Questions and Answers.

The Excise Tax Act imposes the goods and services tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) on most goods and services consumed in Canada. GST/HST applies in the participating provinces of Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador at the rate of 13 per cent, in Nova Scotia at the rate of 15 per cent, in British Columbia at the rate of 12 per cent and elsewhere in Canada at the rate of five per cent.

It is proposed that, effective April 1, 2013, the 12 per cent HST for British Columbia, comprising of a five per cent federal part and a seven per cent provincial part would no longer apply in British Columbia, the CRA said.

The document has been provided to assist employers in understanding how the transition from the 12 per cent HST to the five per cent GST would apply to transactions that straddle that date, according to the CRA.

This publication provides questions and answers that reflect the proposed transitional rules as announced Feb. 17, 2012 in the Department of Finance Announces Transitional Rules for the Elimination of the Harmonized Sales Tax in British Columbia.

Any commentary in this publication should not be taken as a statement by the CRA that these proposed rules will be enacted in their current form, the CRA said.

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