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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There are many types of service providers who make presentations to audiences.  Sometimes the audience is the public (e.g., business people who want to learn how to benefit from Facebook). Sometimes the audience is employees a a particular company (e.g., a law firm brings in a marketing guru t talk about business and sales plans, a nursing home operator brings in service providers to lecture bout ways to improve delivery of services, a bank brings in a security expert to talk to employees in a lecture hall, etc.).

The general HST place of supply rules may not apply to these types of transactions.  There is a special HST place of supply rule for services in connection with a location specific event. 

Section 28 of the New Harmonized Value-added Tax System Regulations provides:

"A supply of a service in relation to a performance, athletic or competitive event, festival, ceremony, conference, or similar event is made  in a province if the service is to be performed primarily at the location of the event in the province."

This means that if a service provider makes supplies of such services, they would charge HST at the rate of 13% if the event is held in Ontario (assuming the  50%"primarily" test is satisfied). if a service provider makes supplies of such services, they would charge HST at the rate of 12% if the event is held in British Columbia (assuming the  50%"primarily" test is satisfied). Similarly, if a service provider makes supplies of such services, they would not charge HST (but would charge GST) if the event is held in Alberta, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba or PEI.

The "primarily" test would be most often applicable if the person providing the service is from a different province than the province in which the event occurs.  If an Alberta-based marketing guru gives a presentation in Ontario, it is possible that HST would not apply to his/her speakers fee.  Based on my own experience giving presentations, it takes a significant amount of time to prepare the presentation and a short amount of time to deliver a presentation.  Based on my experience, out-of-HST province service providers may be able to demonstrate that HST is not applicable on a case-by-case basis.  that being said, if a service provider does not charge HST in relation to services provided in an HST province, they should maintain documentation regarding that decision.

I will predict that border cities (that is, cities on the border between an HST province and a non-HST province) will see a decrease in conferences.  Many conferences previously held in places like Ottawa will move to alternatives, such as Gatineau, Quebec.

Finally, MUSH sector and exempt businesses will consider venues for corporate events and internal training.  if an entity cannot claim full input tax credits and recover HST, if may be less expensive to hold events outside HST provinces.  That being said, the travel costs and costs associated with being away from the office might outweigh the HST costs.  That being said, if Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas offers great deals, we may see more winter/spring events outside HST provinces.  That being said, the Canada Revenue Agency might take a close look at taxable employee benefits.