The HST Blog : Canada Harmonized Sales Tax Lawyer Cyndee Todgham Cherniak for Assessments, PST & RST Issues in Ontario, British Columbia & Quebec

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On April 12, 2010, Ontario released "Preparing for the HST: What You Need to Know" (March 2010), which is a single page document that does help Ontario businesses understand what they need to do.  It states, in part:

• The HST is basically the GST with a provincial component added to arrive at a 13% rate. If no GST applies now, no HST will apply after July 1, 2010. Provincial point of sale rebates mean that selected goods will only be taxed at 5%.
• If you are already registered for GST, no further registration is required. If you are not required to register for GST, you do not need to register for HST.
• Your HST reporting period will be the same as your GST reporting period. You will report both GST and HST charged and collected, and claim input tax credits and rebates in much the same way you have been for GST.
• You should modify accounting, billing and invoicing systems, cash register and point of sale systems, including web interfaces and automatic payments, to switch to HST and remove RST. You should also ensure budgets remove the 8% RST cost from purchases after July 1, 2010 in accordance with the transitional rules. You should also update taxable benefit calculations.
• Consult the transitional rules for transactions straddling the July 1, 2010 date. Ensure you charge HST, as appropriate, on any billings on or after May 1, 2010 for taxable goods, services or intangible property to be supplied after July 1, 2010. Familiarize yourself with the place of supply rules and the temporary restrictions on input tax credits.
• Assess the impact of HST on budget and business plans to account for lower costs and shifts in business purchasing. Evaluate pricing strategies and scrutinize supplier quotes to ensure tax savings are passed on.
• Your final RST return is due on or before July 23, 2010. Supplemental returns will be available for reporting RST amounts collected after July 1, 2010.
   

This Ontario publication does not provide businesses with useful information on what they should be doing to prepare for HST so that they may be in compliance on the implementation date, July 1, 2010.  Information about the actions that businesses must be taking in order to comply is really what businesses need to know.  It is not sufficient to tell businesses to figure it out themselves - in the next 2.5 months.

There are a number of more helpful resources prepared by non-governmental businesses:

• Preparing for Harmonized Sales Tax
• Preparing for Harmonized Sales Tax
• Make an HST Preparedness List and Check it Twice
• Are you HST-Ready? Checklist for Small Ontario Businesses
• Is your Web-site Ready for the HST? 

 We will continue to provide more sources of HST Information.  Please refer to the HST Library (along the top bar of this blog), which links to various useful source documents.  There are only 2.5 months left to get systems in place --- which is not a lot of time.  It often takes months of careful planning and implementation to ensure compliance systems will work when needed.