British Columbia GST + PST: rates, registration and filing

BC's PST is fundamentally different from HST and QST

Under HST (Ontario, Atlantic provinces) and QST (Quebec), the provincial sales tax is value-added: businesses can recover provincial sales tax paid on business inputs against provincial sales tax collected from customers (ITCs for HST, ITRs for QST). Under BC PST, the system is single-stage — only the final retail sale to the consumer triggers PST, and PST paid on business inputs is generally NOT recoverable. The PST you pay on commercial rent, equipment purchases, supplies, and most business services is a sunk cost.

Limited exceptions: PST paid on goods purchased for resale (resale exemption certificate filed with the vendor), PST paid on certain raw materials incorporated into manufactured goods, and some explicit statutory exemptions. Multi-stage businesses (a wholesaler selling to a retailer who sells to consumers) use resale exemption certificates to avoid PST on the wholesale leg. Misunderstanding this is the #1 cause of over-payment on BC PST audits.

Registration thresholds and the lower CAD 10K PST trigger

Federal GST registration triggers at the standard CAD 30,000 small-supplier threshold. BC PST registration triggers earlier — once you sell or lease taxable goods, software, or telecommunication services in BC, registration is mandatory if you have a permanent establishment in BC or if your annual BC sales exceed CAD 10,000. For e-commerce and software vendors based outside BC selling INTO BC, BC's Provincial Sales Tax Act § 168(1.2) extends registration obligations to non-resident vendors meeting the $10K threshold or making significant taxable software sales.

Provincial Sales Tax — Online Vendors of Software (the 'BC PST on SaaS' regime) came into force April 2021 and requires registration for any vendor (resident or non-resident) selling software, telecommunication services, or related products to BC consumers. SaaS sold to BC customers attracts 7% PST in addition to the 5% federal GST. Many out-of-BC SaaS companies miss this and create back-tax liability for years until they discover the obligation.

Filing cadence and the BC eTaxBC portal

GST: annual under CAD 1.5M, quarterly $1.5M–6M, monthly above $6M — filed via CRA NETFILE. BC PST: monthly if monthly tax over CAD 12,000, quarterly if CAD 6,000–12,000, semi-annually if CAD 3,000–6,000, annually if under CAD 3,000 — filed via BC eTaxBC portal. The two have different due dates: BC PST is the last day of the month following the period (vs CRA's end-of-next-month for GST). Schedule both for the same monthly close even though they're separate filings.