Reporting and paying PST

On this page

• Report and pay options
• Due date
• Tax returns and guides
• Commission
• Reporting periods
• Liquor sellers
• eTaxBC online services
• Have you registered?
• Close your PST account
• Related pages

Reporting and paying tax means filing a tax return and paying the government the tax you charged on your sales and PST you owe on the purchases you made to run your business.

You must report and pay to us all PST and municipal and regional district tax (MRDT) you have charged, whether or not you have actually collected it from your customer. This includes tax you may have charged incorrectly, such as:

• At an incorrect rate (for example, you charged 10% PST on general goods instead of 7%)
• On a non-taxable good or service

Note: Your customer may be entitled to a refund of the tax they were incorrectly charged. See PST Refunds (Bulletin PST 400) (PDF, 471KB) for more information.

Report and pay options

You have the following options for reporting and paying PST and MRDT (if applicable):

• Online using eTaxBC
• Through your bank
• At a government office
• By mail or courier

If your business has $1.5 million or more in total Canadian sales and leases in the last 12 months, you must file your tax returns and pay your taxes electronically.

Due date

Your completed tax return and payment must be received on or before the last day of the month following the end of the reporting period.

If the due date falls on a weekend or a B.C. statutory holiday, your tax return and payment are due the first business day following the due date.

 Tax returns and guides

If you’ve signed up for an eTaxBC account, you’ll receive an email from us when your return(s) are ready. You won't receive a paper return. You can log on to eTaxBC 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to report and pay your taxes. This is the easiest and fastest way to report and pay.

If you report and pay tax in person or by mail, you will receive a paper return from us when it’s time to report and pay your taxes. If you don’t receive your return in time, you can complete a blank form:

• Provincial Sales Tax Return (FIN 400) (PDF, 471KB)
• Municipal and Regional District Tax Return (FIN 401) (PDF, 412KB)

Guides to completing your tax return

For information on how to complete your tax return, see the following guides:

• Guide to Completing the PST Return
• Guide to Completing the MRDT Return

Commission

If you are registered for PST and report and pay on time, you are entitled to receive a commission of up to $198 per reporting period. The amount of commission you’re entitled to is calculated on your PST return.

If you have more than one PST account, you may claim commission for only one account. There is no commission available for the collection of MRDT, and it must be reported separately from the PST.

Reporting periods

When we process your PST registration, we assign you an ongoing reporting period that starts the first day of the month you apply to register. If you’re required to be registered but don’t apply, your filing period is monthly.

You must follow your assigned reporting period when you report and pay your taxes.

The following chart shows how we generally determine ongoing reporting periods.

Ongoing reporting periods for PST collected per year

PST collectable per year	Ongoing reporting period
More than $12,000	Monthly only
More than $6,000 up to $12,000	Monthly or quarterly
More than $3,000 up to $6,000	Quarterly or semi-annual
$3,000 or less	Quarterly, semi-annual or annual

If you collect MRDT, your reporting period will be the same as your PST reporting period.

If the amount of PST you regularly collect changes, we may adjust your ongoing reporting period and notify you by letter. You can also ask us to change your reporting period but we'll base our approval on the amount of PST you regularly collect.

If you have accounting periods that don't match calendar months (e.g. 13 accounting periods within a fiscal year), you may request reporting periods that match your accounting periods once you're registered for PST.

Contact us if you want to make any changes to your assigned reporting period.

Liquor sellers

If you sell liquor, your initial reporting period will be monthly and your ongoing reporting period will be determined based on your taxable sales amount per month after a six-month period. Refer to the table below to determine your reporting period.

Ongoing reporting periods for taxable sales per month in a six-month period for liquor sellers

Taxable sales per month over a previous six-month period	Ongoing reporting period
More than $3,000	Monthly
More than $1,001 up to $3,000	Monthly, or your choice to move to quarterly
$1,000 or less	Quarterly

If you’re a new licensee, you’ll be put on a monthly reporting period until you have a six-month history of reporting.

If you’re a new liquor seller registrant taking over an existing business that sold liquor that was on a quarterly reporting period, or qualified for a quarterly reporting period, you’ll be put on a quarterly reporting period.