The Canada Revenue Agency released GST/HST Technical Information Bulletin B-107 on October 14, 2011. This publication explains the rules for calculating the provincial component of the HST that apply to investment plans on property and/or services acquired for use in participating provinces. These rules differ depending on whether the plan is a selected listed financial institution or not.
The bulletin first discusses the definition of an investment plan, as well as the different types of investment plans identified in legislation, including:
- distributed investment plans;
- stratified investment plans;
- non-stratified investment plans;
- pension plans; and
- private investment plans.
The bulletin then follows with a description of which plans would be considered selected listed financial institutions (“SLFIs”) and which would not. Plans that are not considered SLFIs include qualifying small investment plans and provincial investment plans. These plans must follow the general HST and rebate rules to calculate their liability for the provincial component of the HST. These rules are outlined near the end of the publication under the heading ‘General HST and rebate rules’, and refer to several useful documents:
- the self-assessment requirements in:
- GST/HST Notice 266, Draft Technical Information Bulletin, “Self-Assessment of the Provincial Part of the HST in Respect of Property and Services Brought into a Participating Province”, and
- GST/HST Technical Information Bulletin B-095, “The Self-Assessment Provisions of Section 218.01 and Subsection 218.1(1.2) for Financial Institutions (Import Rules)”; and
- the rebates available in:
- GST/HST Notice 257, The GST/HST Rebate for Pension Entities, and
- under the proposed amendment to section 261.31 of the Act to investment plans, other than SLFI.
For those investment plans that are SLFIs, a detailed description of the special attribution method (“SAM”) required to be completed by these plans is provided. The bulletin discusses each element of the SAM in detail, including the adapted SAM for stratified and non-stratified investment plans. A significant portion of the bulletin is dedicated to explaining the calculation of the provincial attribution percentage for SLFIs.
General registration and reporting requirements for SLFIs are also discussed in the publication. In general, all SLFI plans must file the SAM form, GST494, “Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax Final Return for Selected Listed Financial Institutions”, six months after the fiscal year. SLFI plans that are registered for GST/HST purposes must also file a GST/HST return, GST34, “Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax Return for Registrants”, for each reporting period if the reporting period frequency is monthly or quarterly. SLFI plans that are not registered for GST/HST purposes must file GST/HST return, GST62, “Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax GST/HST) Return (Non-Personalized)”, for each calendar month, even if there is no tax to be remitted in the period.
Elections available to SLFIs are also discussed, as well as an appendix of all related forms and publications.