GST/HST and PST filing
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
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.
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.
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?+
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.
“Sunny and his team have been completing my bookkeeping, taxes and financials for the last 2 years and they have been amazing. Thank you!”