The government of B.C. is reaching out to businesses to help them prepare for the return of the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) with all permanent exemptions on April 1, 2013.
Government increased business outreach activities in October and November to explain the timeline for re-implementation of the PST, what assistance is available to business, how to register, and to promote the new e-services option, eTaxBC.
This new online service will make administration of the sales tax easier for businesses. Starting January 2, businesses that sell or lease taxable goods, or sell software or taxable services in B.C., were able to start registering to collect the provincial sales tax.
Businesses can register three ways:
Online - go to: www.gov.bc.ca/etaxbc/register Online registration should take about 10 to 20 minutes to complete.
In person - go to the nearest Service BC Centre. See locations at: www.servicebc.gov.bc.ca/ - or visit our office at 1802 Douglas St. in Victoria.
By mail or fax - complete the Application for Registration for Provincial Sales Tax (FIN 418) found at: www.gov.bc.ca/pst (Go to Forms and Publications.) Businesses also can get the form at the nearest Service BC Centre.
More than 100,000 businesses will need to register to collect the PST, and about 30,000 of those are new businesses that have only existed under an HST tax system. They will need to learn to administer the PST in tandem with the GST, and adjust their accounting and administrative systems and prepare to collect a second sales tax, as of April 1.
More information can be found at www.PSTinBC.ca.