HST explained and get your books audit ready.

April 28, 2010 by Dan White.

The Comox Valey Record posted a good article on the HST yesterday.
I like the article because it gives a good unbiased take on HST.
My recommendation is to accept HST as a good thing, and avoid potential tax problems by turning to audit ready bookkeeping.
Now more than ever, taxpayers need to keep good records.
To learn more about audit ready bookkeeping, go to www.taxauditsolutions.ca and click on ‘audit ready bookkeeping.’
Dan White

HST – facts about the tax

Comox Valley Record

Vancouver Island North

Published: April 27, 2010 3:00 PM

A caller to the Record newsroom made an interesting point about the effects of the harmonized sales tax.

He’s talked to some people who signed the FightHST petition being circulated around the province who believe the HST will result in taxes on absolutely every purchase made by British Columbians.

The HST is a 12-per-cent federal tax that combines the five-per-cent goods and services tax (GST) and the seven-per-cent provincial sales tax (PST), which the B.C. government is legislating out of existence.

While it seems like the GST applies to everything, some items are not taxed.

According to the Canada Revenue Agency, they include basic groceries such as milk, bread and vegetables; prescription drugs and drug-dispensing fees; medical devices such as hearing aids and artificial teeth; used residential housing; residential condo fees; most health, medical and dental services performed by licensed physicians or dentists for medical reasons; and child-care services for children 14 and younger.

Of course, the list of things the GST applies to is much, much longer.

Foes of the HST oppose it because 70 things exempt under the PST would be subject to a seven-per-cent tax, often on top of the five-per-cent GST.

That list includes restaurant meals, cable TV, new homes, non-prescription medications, telephone, some groceries, haircuts, used vehicles, magazines/newspapers, accommodation rentals, taxi fares, airline tickets and insurance.

In a total cart-before-the-horse move, the B.C. government is mounting a campaign to explain the HST, its benefits and how businesses benefiting from it will trickle their savings down to common folk.

Of course, these are the same BC Liberals who denied before the 2009 election that they were considering the HST before springing it on us soon after they were re-elected.

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