BC PST on Services: What Is Taxable and What Is Paused

Does BC charge PST on services, or only on goods?

BC charges PST on goods and on a short list of services, not on services in general: repair and installation of taxable goods, legal services, software, telecommunications, accommodation and online marketplace services. The general rate is 7%, charged alongside the federal GST (BC small business guide). A business whose invoices carry only design, consulting or advice, with no taxable goods, software or other taxable services in the price, is selling services BC exempts and is not required to register (Bulletin PST 001).

BC planned to extend PST to accounting, bookkeeping, security and other professional services from October 1, 2026, then paused the plan on September 18, 2026. It tells anyone who registered for those services to cancel.

A case stops being simple when one invoice mixes taxable and exempt lines, when the work involves software, hosting or repairs, or when a PST account was opened for the professional-services plan covered below, which leaves returns and invoices to reconcile. This page follows BC's rules for a business located in BC; a seller located elsewhere faces different registration tests (see PST by province).

Gather before you read on:

• What you sell, with yearly revenue for each kind of work.
• Two or three invoices that mix different kinds of lines.
• Any PST number, the date it was opened and the returns filed under it.

Which services carry PST in BC today?

PST applies to the services marked Taxable below; most other services are not taxed (BC small business guide; register to collect PST).

What happened to the planned PST on accounting, bookkeeping, security and other professional services?

BC planned PST on these services from October 1, 2026, then paused the plan. Order in Council 408/2026 exempts them, and as of BC's September 21 update it had published no new start date. The services are accounting (including bookkeeping), architectural, engineering, geoscience, non-residential real estate and security services, including private investigation (Notice 2026-001).

The pause is an exemption added by regulation. BC calls the regulation temporary and the pause a delay (news release), and the order lists no end date, so the tax could start later. The order names engineering services, which the Provincial Sales Tax Act defines to include professional geoscience. Re-read BC's PST page before you invoice these services and before each filing.

Some BC text still treats these services as taxable from October 1, 2026: the July bulletins on related services and small sellers, the body of the accounting services page and the electronic-filing line on reporting and paying PST. Only the two web pages carry the pause banner. The order changes the regulation, and BC says its bulletins and the accounting page are guidance, not a replacement for the legislation.

The other October 1, 2026 changes, to clothing alterations and basic telecommunications, were not paused (sales tax updates).

I registered for PST for one of those services: what do I do now?

BC tells anyone who registered for a PST account for these services to cancel it, using eTaxBC or by calling 1-877-388-4440 (BC PST page). Work through these steps:

1. Find out why the account exists. If you also sell taxable goods, software, repairs or telecommunications, you are still required to register for those sales, so the account stays (register to collect PST).
2. BC's instruction is to cancel an account opened only for the paused services. File and pay every return up to the closure date, even a nil return (small business guide). If BC ends the pause, you may have to register again.
3. Check every invoice since you registered. A business must remit any amount it charged as PST, including on a service that was not taxable. The customer may be entitled to a refund (reporting and paying PST). You may refund or credit the customer within 180 days of the date the PST was paid and adjust your return in the period you do. After 180 days, do not refund it yourself: you cannot adjust your return for it, and the customer claims from BC instead (Bulletin PST 400; small business guide).
4. Keep the file. Hold the registration date, the returns filed and the invoices that showed PST.

If returns were skipped while the account was open, see missed nil GST/HST and PST returns.

Is my work a taxable related service or exempt design and consulting?

A service is generally taxable when it is done to taxable goods or installs them, unless an exemption applies (towing, courier services and engraving are examples). Advice, design, and work on software or real property are not taxable (Bulletin PST 301). BC calls the taxable group related services.

Some repairs are exempt because of the item (household refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers, vacuums and sewing machines are examples), and a diagnostic or inspection fee is exempt unless billed with a taxable repair (Bulletin PST 301).

On a taxable service, PST applies to the whole price: labour, travel time and reimbursed travel costs, but not GST. Parts and materials that stay on the customer's goods are taxable too, even when the service itself is exempt (Bulletin PST 301).

A self-employed repairer working under contract is not an employee, so the work is generally taxable unless an exemption applies, and the repairer registers unless a small seller. A repair business that sends a customer's goods to another business for repair buys that repair for resale, so it pays no PST on it when it gives its PST number (or Form FIN 490 if it has none), and the second business keeps that record. A related service bought from a small seller is exempt (Bulletin PST 301).

My invoice mixes consulting with software or goods: which part carries PST?

When taxable and exempt items have separate prices, PST applies to the taxable lines only. With a single price, the general rule is PST on the fair market value of the taxable part, meaning what it normally sells for on its own (Bulletin PST 316).

• Separate lines: a website with no software, telecom or goods, sold alongside business cards, carries PST on the cards only (Bulletin PST 123). Services to hardware and services to software, priced separately, carry PST on the hardware charge only (BC software page).
• Goods that follow from graphic design work: if the client may decline them, PST applies to the goods alone. If they are not optional, PST applies to the whole charge, design included (Bulletin PST 123).
• One price: the whole price is taxed when the taxable part is more than 90% of a price under $500, or when the exempt part is not ordinarily sold separately in the open market. Where fair market value is hard to fix, estimate it and keep the record of how (Bulletin PST 316).
• Small bundled sale: no PST applies to the taxable part when its fair market value is $50 or less and 10% or less of the whole price, it is prepackaged with the exempt part or you do not ordinarily sell it separately, it is not a promotional giveaway, and the bundle holds no liquor, tobacco, soda beverage, telecommunication service or legal services (Act, section 137; Bulletin PST 316).
• Incidental items: goods or software are not treated as sold when the contract is really for a non-taxable service, with no separate charge and the same or only marginally different price (Bulletin PST 316). You then pay PST on what you used.

Software sold to a client for use on a device ordinarily situated in BC is taxable, and web hosting counts as software. Software built only for one client can be exempt custom software, and BC expects your records to show that reason. Software consulting that sells no software or hardware is not taxed (BC software page).

When must I register to collect PST, and who counts as a small seller?

A business located in BC generally must register when it sells or leases taxable goods, or provides related services, legal services, software, telecommunication services or online marketplace services in BC in the ordinary course of business. A business with only exempt services is not required to register (Bulletin PST 001).

A business that must register but does not is still a collector and still owes PST on its taxable sales (register to collect PST). Registration is online and can take up to 21 business days. BC prohibits a business that meets the registration tests from making retail sales without a valid PST number (Bulletin PST 001).

A small seller need not register or charge PST, but must meet every one of these conditions (Bulletin PST 003):

• It is located in BC, keeps no established business premises, and does not sell from established commercial premises on four or more occasions in 12 months.
• Eligible sales were $10,000 or less in the previous 12 months, and are expected to be $10,000 or less in the next 12. BC measures rolling 12 months, not the calendar year. Count sales made outside BC and outside Canada too, taxable or exempt (Bulletin PST 003).
• It made no wholesale sales in the previous 12 months, and it does not sell items such as vehicles, tobacco, vapour products, accommodation or cannabis.
• It is not a lessor, an independent sales contractor, a real property contractor or a marketplace facilitator.
• It is not registered for PST and is not required to be (Act, section 1, "small seller").

The revenue test counts retail sales of eligible goods and software plus every provision of a "taxable service" as the Act defines it: related services, legal services, telecommunication and online marketplace services, and still the paused professional services (Act, section 1; Bulletin PST 003). The order exempts the tax on those services but does not change that definition, so count their revenue, taxable or exempt, toward the limit. Design and consulting fees outside those categories are not counted. If you are near the limit, confirm with BC (1-877-388-4440). A home office is not established business premises if you sell only online and do not meet clients there; a home office where you meet and sell to clients is (Bulletin PST 003).

A small seller pays PST on purchases made for resale and charges none on its sales. If eligible sales go over the limit at any point, the business must register. A registered business collects PST until BC approves a closure request, which needs one year registered, the small-seller conditions met and no return or balance outstanding (Bulletin PST 003). BC has not said whether that one-year rule applies to the paused-services cancellation above.

How do PST and GST sit on one invoice?

Charge PST on the price before GST, and add GST to that same price. With limited exceptions, such as vapour products and certain vehicles, neither tax is charged on the other (BC small business guide). GST in BC is 5%; whether you must register for it is a separate decision (see when to register for GST/HST).

Show PST separately on the invoice (Bulletin PST 301). PST is payable when the price, or any part of it, is paid or becomes due, whichever is first, which is generally the invoice date. Remit all PST you charge by the last day of the month after the reporting period, whether or not the client has paid (charging and collecting PST).

Can I claim back PST I pay on what my business buys?

No. BC has no PST input tax credit, unlike GST/HST, so a business that buys taxable goods or services for its own use pays the PST (BC small business guide). Record PST you pay as part of the cost of what you bought, and PST you charge as an amount owed to BC until you remit it.

• What carries PST: computers, office equipment, tools, supplies, software and hosting subscriptions, internet and phone, legal fees and repairs to equipment.
• A supplier who did not charge it: you self-assess, meaning you pay the PST to BC yourself. A registered business uses its next PST return; a business without a PST number files Casual Remittance Return FIN 405 by the last day of the month after the purchase.
• Resale and repair parts: a registered business buys goods it resells, and parts that stay on a customer's goods, without PST, and charges PST when it sells them. A small seller cannot use these exemptions (Bulletin PST 003).
• PST paid in error: BC allows a refund claim within 4 years of payment.

Example

These examples are illustrative; all figures are in Canadian dollars.

A web designer who bills design only

A Vancouver web designer bills $80,000 a year for design, development and consulting. No software, hosting, telecom or goods are in the price. BC exempts these services, so no PST is charged. GST applies: $80,000 a year is past the $30,000 GST/HST small-supplier limit, so the designer must normally be registered (see when to register for GST/HST). If the designer later adds a separately priced hosting line, BC treats hosting as software, so PST applies to that line when it is for use on a device ordinarily situated in BC and the designer is registered or must register (BC software page). The design lines stay exempt.

A computer repair shop

A Kelowna shop bills $50,000 a year of repair labour and parts. Repair of taxable goods is a related service, so labour and parts both carry PST, and PST is figured on the price before GST. One invoice looks like this:

A security firm that registered early

A Surrey security firm with $400,000 a year of security services registered for PST ahead of October 1, 2026. The expansion is paused, so BC says to cancel an account opened for it; the steps are in the section above. If the firm also sells taxable goods or software, such as equipment, it keeps the account for those sales. GST is unchanged.

Different for you?

• You registered for PST for the October 1, 2026 plan, or charged PST on accounting, engineering, security or real estate services: whether the account stays depends on what else you sell, and PST you charged must be remitted. Sorting that out from your invoices and returns, and settling what to do about clients, is bookkeeping help work. If returns went unfiled, see missed nil GST/HST and PST returns.
• Your invoices mix consulting with software, hosting, repairs or goods: splitting the lines and setting the books to match is work for bookkeeping help.
• You find taxable lines you never charged PST on: BC says you must disclose the amount by letter as soon as possible and pay it with interest; if you should be registered but are not, call BC rather than register online. Penalties depend on BC's conditions, including whether BC found the issue first, and a penalty equal to the tax not charged can still apply (BC small business guide). Sizing the amount and preparing the records before you write is bookkeeping help work.
• A corporation did not charge, collect or remit PST: a director is jointly liable with the corporation for the PST it failed to charge, collect or remit during the director's term, plus penalties and interest, once BC files a collection certificate or the corporation is dissolved, in liquidation or insolvent. A director who took reasonable care to prevent the failure is not liable, and BC cannot assess a person more than 2 years after they left the board (Act, sections 207 and 210). Sizing a shortfall is bookkeeping help work.
• Your clients, or the devices that run your software, are outside BC, or you sell to clients in other provinces: see PST by province and what to charge clients in other provinces.
• You are not sure you must register for GST/HST: see when to register for GST/HST.
• You are matching PST treatment to GST/HST exempt, zero-rated or out-of-scope codes: the two taxes keep separate lists; see exempt, zero-rated and out-of-scope sales.