British Columbia Updates Bulletins Discussing Delivery Charges

British Columbia has updated Bulletin PST 302, “Delivery Charges”, to correct errors, in the previous version of the bulletin, on when PST applies to delivery charges.  Previously, the bulletin indicated that PST did not apply to delivery charges for taxable goods if the goods were purchased from a British Columbia supplier and title to the goods passed to the purchaser at the seller’s premises. 

The province has now indicated that PST does not apply to delivery charges for taxable goods if the goods are delivered from within British Columbia and at the time the delivery charges are incurred, title to the goods has already passed to the purchaser.  The bulletin also indicates that delivery charges are considered to be incurred at the time the contract for delivery is entered into and the customer agrees to pay the charges, even if the charges have not been invoiced or paid.  In addition, the bulletin now indicates that title to the goods generally transfers to the purchaser when the sales contract is entered into and the goods are identified and in a state ready to be delivered or transported.  The contract may also state the title transfers at a later date.  British Columbia’s current position is that delivery charges are generally considered to be incurred at or before the time title to the goods transfers, therefore, the supplier is required to charge PST on the delivery of taxable goods in most situations.

The Ministry of Finance has indicated that suppliers will not be subject to a penalty if they did not charge PST on delivery charges on or before March 31, 2018, due to the errors in the previous bulletin.

In addition, several other bulletins were updated to reflect these changes, including:

• Bulletin PST 109, “Printers and Publishers”;
• Bulletin PST 110, “Production Machinery and Equipment Exemption”;
• Bulletin PST 111, “Mining Industry”;
• Bulletin PST 112, “Logging Industry”;
• Bulletin PST 113, “Oil and Gas Industry – Producers and Processors”;
• Bulletin PST 114, “Oil and Gas Industry – Exploration, Discovery and Development”;
• Bulletin PST 115, “Oil and Gas Industry – Service Providers”;
• Bulletin PST 129, “Florists”; and
• Bulletin PST 316, “Bundles Sales and Leases”.