After a vote on August 5th, the voters of British Columbia have decided to revert back to the PST/GST system from the combined HST system they were using. Reverting back to the separate PST/GST systems will take approximately 18 months to put into place, but those in British Columbia can look forward to paying 7% PST and 5% GST on some items but only 5% GST on other items (such as gas).
Unfortunately, this is going to mean some additional work for businesses in British Columbia – the change back to HST means that businesses will need to revamp their accounting and reporting systems again in order to convert back to the PST and GST system.
For those businesses operating in British Columbia, we encourage you to speak with your accounting professional to discuss what steps you need to implement these changes for your business.