Nova Scotia HST Rate to Remain at 15% on July 1, 2014 

The Nova Scotia government announced, in its 2014 provincial budget, that it would not reduce the HST rate on July 1, 2014, due to its current economic and fiscal state, leaving the HST rate at its current rate of 15%. Therefore, GST-registered businesses will not have to make any changes to their systems for July 1, 2014 to reflect an HST reduction. 

Instead, the government announced that it will conduct a comprehensive review of its taxes, fees and regulations, and will provide an update on the results of this review in the fall of 2014.  We can expect to learn more about the possibility of a future rate reduction at that time. 

Previously, in its 2012 and 2013 provincial budgets, Nova Scotia had announced that it would have a large enough surplus to allow it to reduce the provincial component of the HST in the province by 1% on July 1, 2014 (reducing the HST from 15% to 14%) and then another 1% on July 1, 2015 (further reducing the HST from 14% to 13%).