We read an interesting blog post written by the kind folks at the Your Business Today site, run by CompuMax. They had several questions about how to accurately incorporate the new HST regulations when billing their clients in the upcoming months. A CRA agent at the HST Answer Line clarified their questions, which may be [...]

BIV has written an interesting article that underscores the uncertainty that most business owners have around the impending HST that will be going into effect soon.  Here’s a snippet of the article: Almost half of all business owners don’t fully understand how HST will impact their businesses, according to an Angus Reid opinion poll. An [...]

Small-business owners who procrastinate or fail to prepare in May for the 12% HST in July risk a host of negative consequences. Nasty surprises include cash crunches or government penalties for doing things wrong, said certified general accountant Eileen Reppenhagen. “You can’t just switch July 1,” said Reppenhagen, who created the tax tip website Taxdetective.ca. [...]

CRA has produced several webcasts that will help existing GST/HST registrants and small businesses learn how to prepare for the transition to the harmonized sales tax (HST) which will replace existing provincial sales taxes and the federal goods and services tax in Ontario and, subject to legislative approval, in British Columbia beginning July 1, 2010. [...]

The provinces of Ontario and British Columbia have agreed to implement the harmonized sales tax (HST), which would replace existing provincial sales taxes and the federal goods and services tax in those provinces beginning July 1, 2010 and would be administered by the Canada Revenue Agency. The Canada Revenue Agency offers a number of informative seminars [...]

HST is still a bit of a mystery to a lot of small business owners. To help clarify the subject for local entrepreneurs, SOHO is hosting a seminar on HST in Vancouver on March 10th, 2010 at 4:30pm at the Circa Lounge on Granville Street. Experts from Intuit will be presenting the seminar and answering [...]

Front-line small businesses concerned as Ontario, B.C. fold provincial sales tax into federal one this summer. Grant Clark thinks he’s the kind of business owner Ontario wasn’t thinking of when it developed plans for the new, harmonized sales tax. Mr. Clark is president of Solutions for HR Inc., a small consulting shop he’s operated for [...]

The B.C. Liberal government’s plan to combine the provincial and federal sales taxes into a broader 12-per-cent harmonized sales tax got a rough ride from the public during recent budget consultations by the legislature committee on finance. The report on those consultations, released Friday, highlighted support for the tax from exporters, business leaders, the resource [...]

The House of Commons on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation enabling the provinces to harmonize their sales taxes with the federal GST, clearing the way for Ontario and British Columbia to implement the HST this summer. The federal HST bill passed by a vote of 253-37. Only the NDP opposed the legislation. Both Ontario and B.C. [...]

British Columbians support ways to mitigate the impact of the HST on the province’s restaurant and food services sector, according to a new poll by the B.C. Restaurants and Foodservices Association. The survey found 63% of British Columbians strongly oppose the HST, 64% favour exempting food in restaurants if HST proceeds and 64% of respondents [...]

B.C. is proposing to increase the threshold for the B.C. HST new housing rebate from $400,000 to $525,000, Finance Minister Colin Hansen announced Thursday in a news release. “We heard the concerns from consumers and industry about how the HST might affect home buyers, and this increase will move the threshold to above the average [...]

British Columbia’s transition to a Harmonized Sales Tax will be a good thing for most Penticton businesses, according to the B.C. Chamber of Commerce. Chairing a panel on the controversial new tax, Jon Garson, vice-president of policy development for the B.C. Chamber, said that the provincial chamber had been calling on the B.C. government to [...]

Victoria has released its proposed transition rules for the harmonized sales tax (HST) set to replace the province’s existing sales tax regime July 1, 2010. Generally, the HST will begin to apply on May 1, 2010 for any prepayment of goods and services provided on or after July 1, 2010. Businesses, however, will need to [...]