HST
Definition
Harmonised Sales Tax, the single tax applied in Canadian provinces that have combined the federal GST with their provincial sales tax into one rate administered by the Canada Revenue Agency. Registrants claim input tax credits in the same way as under GST.
Related Terms in International Tax
QST
Quebec Sales Tax, levied in addition to the federal GST and administered by Revenu Quebec rather than the Canada Revenue Agency. It works on the same input-credit principle, but registration and filing are separate from the federal system.
PST
Provincial Sales Tax, charged by Canadian provinces that have not harmonised with the federal GST, such as British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Unlike GST and HST it is generally a single-stage retail tax with narrower input recovery.
VAT
Value Added Tax, a consumption tax charged at each stage of supply where businesses collect tax on sales and reclaim tax on purchases, so the net burden falls on the final consumer. Used across the UK, the EU, the Gulf and much of the world; India and Canada run GST variants of the same mechanism.
Input VAT
VAT a business pays on its purchases and expenses, generally recoverable against the VAT it charges on sales provided the purchase relates to taxable supplies and a valid tax invoice is held. Non-business and exempt-related purchases are typically blocked.
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