Is Your Website Ready for the HST? HST Checklist

The HST Deadline is Approaching Quickly. Time to Plan!

Business owner’s in Canada are likely aware that the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) is soon making its way to British Columbia and Ontario. On July 1, 2010, PST and GST will be combined to form the HST, a 12% or 13% tax in these provinces.

Many Canadian websites with ecommerce will need to makes changes to their tax table calculations, invoices, and descriptive information.

Many services will now need to charge a combined tax HST of the former PST and GST where before they only charged GST or had GST & PST previously.

There’s also changes to the tax charged when shipping to another province (place of supply rule).

Besides your website, you will need to make other changes such as your book-keeping, submission procedures and timing of cashflow on ITC.  Then there may be billings that span the deadline that need to be considered. Some changes may need to start as early as May 1st. Research this now so you are prepared.

I spoke today with Eileen Reppenhagen, CGA,  from The tax Detective, who has put together an amazing list of government HST resources on her website with links to relelvant documentation for the HST.

Eileen is a professional speaker and provides training on various tax topics. She would be a great speaker to have come out to your business group.

Other HST Checklist Resources
CFIB (Canadian Federation of Independent Business) HST Ready Checklist
HST Preparedness Checklist

For my clients….
I encourage you to research the changes that are relevant to your business and plan ahead with us so we book in time to make the changes live for July 1st.  For most sites it will be relatively simple (1-2 hours). After we know your required changes (the rules that apply to you), we can give you an estimate.