PST reaches professional services on 1 October

BC adds a set of professional services to the PST list on 1 October 2026. Sell one of them and you charge 7% from that date, which means holding a PST number before it.

What becomes taxable

• Accounting services, including bookkeeping and assurance work
• Non-residential real estate services: commercial trading, rental property management, strata management
• Security services, including private investigation
• Architectural services, charged on 30% of the price
• Engineering and geoscience services, charged on the same 30%

Who this catches

Firms that have never dealt with PST. The taxable-services list has always been short and specific, so a business outside it had nothing to register for and no return to file. On 1 October a large part of the province's professional sector moves inside it.

The customer pays the tax. You collect it, hold it, remit it and file the return. An invoice template and a reporting calendar ready before the date are most of the work.

Registering before the date

Registration runs through eTaxBC, and you can do it up to six months ahead of your first taxable sale. Approval is not instant. Leaving it until late September risks a first taxable invoice with no number to put on it.

How to register for PST in BC →

Filing when you collected nothing

A reporting period arrives with the registration. Every period needs a return by the last day of the following month, including a period in which you collected no PST at all. A nil return takes minutes and a missed one earns interest and a penalty.

Where this leaves us

Our own fees are on the list. From 1 October we charge PST on bookkeeping, like every other firm in the province, and it appears as its own line on the invoice.

How GST and PST differ in BC →