GST/HST filing in Vancouver

The work covers the GST/HST return (the GST34), input tax credits, the filing frequency, instalments where they apply and the notice of assessment that follows.

The rate follows the customer

The most common sales tax error in a Vancouver business that grows nationally is charging everyone 5% because that applies at home. GST/HST is charged at the rate for the place of supply, which generally follows the customer. Ontario sales carry 13% HST; the participating Atlantic provinces 15%, or 14% for Nova Scotia since April 1, 2025; Alberta 5% only; and sales within British Columbia 5% GST plus, where applicable, a separately administered 7% PST.

Undercharging is the expensive mistake: the business owes the uncollected difference, usually across years of invoices by the time a review finds it. Overcharging is not free either; tax collected in error is not the seller’s to keep. Rules differ for goods, services and intangibles, and services generally turn on the recipient’s address obtained in the ordinary course of business. Our guide to the place of supply rules covers each category.

Exports and non-resident customers

Selling outside Canada changes things again. Many exports of goods and services are zero-rated: taxable at 0%, with full input tax credits on everything used to make them. The relief is conditional on the circumstances of the supply and, for goods, on evidence the property left the country. Zero-rating on a foreign billing address without export evidence relies on an assumption, not a rule.

Supplies to non-residents who are in Canada, or who have some connection here, are treated differently again. For a Vancouver business with international customers, this is a determination worth making once per customer arrangement and documenting, rather than deciding invoice by invoice. Our note on exports and non-residents covers the ground.

BC PST does not follow the federal rules at all

None of the above tells you anything about provincial tax, because British Columbia never harmonized. The 7% PST is administered by the BC Ministry of Finance under its own rules, registered separately, filed separately, and generally not recoverable by the purchaser. There is no PST input tax credit. It also reaches outward: businesses located outside British Columbia can be required to register and collect BC PST on sales into the province in defined circumstances. That is the mirror image of the problem a Vancouver seller has going the other way. The rates and administrators are tabled on the BC tax facts page, and the PST guide covers registration.

What is covered

• Place of supply determined for each category of sale you make
• Correct rate applied by province in your invoicing and point of sale
• Export and non-resident treatment assessed and documented
• GST/HST returns prepared and filed on your reporting period
• Input tax credits claimed across all activity, including zero-rated sales
• BC PST registration and returns where the province’s rules apply
• Returns reconciled to the sales ledger by jurisdiction rather than in total

Remote, from outside the city

The same service covers Burnaby and the rest of Metro Vancouver. The work is done remotely, so which municipality the business sits in changes nothing about how it runs.

EverStone has no Vancouver office. It is a sole practitioner CPA practice serving Vancouver businesses online by video, secure document exchange and e-signature. For a company selling across provinces and countries, where its accountant sits rarely matters. One CPA holds the file, so place of supply decisions made when a market opens are the ones applied at filing.

Remote GST/HST filing

The firm serves Vancouver remotely. There is no Vancouver office and no staff based there. Everything runs by video, phone and secure document exchange. Returns come from the same bookkeeping as the corporate return, so sales on the GST return and in the financial statements agree.

Businesses that also want the Vancouver personal tax page can have both quoted together.

The companion page on Vancouver and Corporate tax accountant for Vancouver corporations covers that side of the work.