GST/HST and PST filing services in BC
Sales tax is the filing most owners get wrong, because it is the one where money you collected was never yours and the deadline arrives whether the books are ready or not.
Quick answer: We prepare and file GST/HST returns on your assigned reporting period, and PST returns where the province has its own tax. That includes claiming input tax credits with the records to support them, reconciling the sales tax accounts to the ledger, and keeping the registrations right when you start selling into another province.
What is included
- The return prepared and filed on your reporting period, monthly, quarterly or annual.
- Input tax credits claimed and supported, because a claim without records is a claim that gets reversed.
- The sales tax accounts reconciled to the ledger, so the filed figure and the books agree.
- PST handled where it applies, which in British Columbia is a separate registration on a separate schedule.
- Instalments tracked for annual filers who cross the threshold.
- Registration changes when you begin supplying into a new province.
The part that catches people about GST/HST
GST and PST are different taxes with different rules, and in British Columbia a business usually files both. GST is recoverable through input tax credits; PST generally is not, which means PST paid on the way in is a cost rather than a credit. Treating them as one thing is the most common error we see.
The other is the money itself. Sales tax collected is held on behalf of the government, and a business that has spent it has a specific and dated problem. Cash flow management keeps the remittance on the forecast rather than as a surprise.
Filing frequency is assigned, not chosen
The CRA sets your reporting period from your revenue, and it does not lower it again on its own when revenue falls. Filing more often than you need to is a cost in time; filing less often than you should is a compliance problem. Changing your filing frequency sets out how to move it deliberately.
What goes into a GST/HST return, line by line
A GST/HST return is short on the page and long in the books behind it. Every figure on it has to trace back to a transaction, and the CRA’s review letters ask for exactly that trail.
| Line | What it reports | Where we take it from |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | Sales and other revenue for the period | The income accounts, reconciled to deposits |
| 103 | GST/HST collected or collectible | The tax coded on each sales invoice, at the rate for the customer’s province |
| 106 | Input tax credits | The GST/HST on business purchases, supported by invoices that show the supplier’s registration number |
| 109 | Net tax | Line 103 less line 106, after adjustments |
| 110 | Instalments paid | The instalments an annual filer paid during the year |
| 113A–115 | Balance, refund or payment | What is left, and which way the money moves |
Two lines catch owners out. Line 103 is tax collectible, not collected: an invoice issued in the period counts even if the customer has not paid it. And line 106 is only as good as its paperwork — an input tax credit without a proper invoice behind it is the first thing a reviewer disallows.
What we need from you each period
- Access to the bank and card accounts the business uses, or their statements
- Sales invoices, or the sales report from your point-of-sale or invoicing system
- Purchase invoices and receipts, especially for equipment and vehicles
- Anything the CRA has sent about the GST/HST account since the last return
From there we reconcile, prepare the return, show you the figure before it is filed, and file it electronically through the CRA’s system. When the books are already ours, GST/HST filing is included in monthly bookkeeping from $300 a month; a standalone return is quoted in writing after we review your enquiry. The dates for each reporting period are on the GST calendar for 2026.
Who this is for, and who it is not
A good fit: a registrant filing GST/HST on any period, and BC businesses filing PST alongside it. It suits owners who are behind, or who have crossed into a new province and are unsure what changed.
Not a fit: a business still under the small supplier threshold with no equipment purchases to recover tax on, where registering adds paperwork without adding a credit. In either case we say so on the first call rather than quoting for work you do not need.
Two free tools go with this service: the GST/HST and PST calculator for any province, and the Quick Method vs regular comparison.
Common questions about sales tax filing
When do we have to register?+
We sell into other provinces. Which rate applies?+
What if we are behind on filings?+
Do you handle the Quick Method?+
Do you file GST/HST for businesses outside B.C.?+
Buying or selling a business? The GST44 election lets the assets change hands without GST/HST where both sides qualify, and the filing deadline falls on the buyer, not the seller. We prepare it with the buyer’s return.
The forms and the dates
Registration is mandatory once taxable sales pass $30,000 in four consecutive quarters. The GST/HST return (GST34) is filed monthly, quarterly or annually depending on revenue, with the payment due at the same time as the return for most filers; BC PST is filed on its own return to the provincial ministry. Input tax credits are only as good as the receipts behind them, which is why they are captured in the books as the bills are paid rather than searched for at the deadline. Return and payment dates for each reporting period are set out on the GST filing deadlines page.
Who this is for in the Fraser Valley
GST is the same across Canada; PST is not, and that is where Fraser Valley files go wrong. Retailers and contractors in Abbotsford, Langley and Chilliwack collect 5% GST and 7% BC PST on different bases, register with two different bodies, and file on two different cycles. A business selling into Alberta or Ontario from a Surrey warehouse adds place-of-supply on top. The bookkeeping is set up so both returns fall out of it, rather than being reconstructed every quarter.
What it costs. GST/HST and PST filing is included in monthly bookkeeping from $300 a month; a standalone quarterly filing is quoted in writing after we review your enquiry. Every published fee →
Other corporate tax work
The rest of what this covers, and the page each one is on.
GST/HST filing by city
Sales tax is where provinces differ most; each city page covers its own.
- British Columbia: Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, Langley, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Aldergrove, Fraser Valley, Vancouver, Victoria
- Manitoba: Winnipeg
- Ontario: Toronto, Ottawa
Talk to a CPA about this
One Chartered Professional Accountant, start to finish. Fixed fees, quoted in writing before any work begins, and no obligation from a first conversation.
“…have been completing my bookkeeping, taxes and financials for the last 2 years and they have been amazing. Thank you!”