British Columbia has issued this new notice to inform businesses that the disclosure and invoicing requirements for the HST in British Columbia will follow the existing rules for the GST/HST.
The Canada Revenue Agency requires that registrants inform their customers if GST/HST is being applied to their purchases. For taxable supplies (other than zero-rated supplies), a registrant must indicate that the total amount paid or payable for the supply includes GST/HST payable for the supply or they must separately disclose the amount paid or payable for the supply and the amount of GST/HST paid or payable in a way that clearly indicates the amount of tax.
Where a registered supplier chooses to indicate the tax payable or the tax rate on invoices, receipts or written contracts, the registrant is required to indicate:
- the total dollar amount of the tax payable; or
- the GST/HST rate that applies to the supply. If HST applies to the supply, you do NOT indicate the federal and provincial components of HST separately. You must indicate the total HST rate.