Harmonized Sales Tax

British Columbia and Ontario implementing Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) on July 1, 2010

As you are likely already aware, the provincial governments in British Columbia and Ontario are implementing the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) on July 1, 2010. The HST is a combination of Provincial Sales Tax (PST) and the Federal Goods and Services Taxes (GST). In both provinces the PST will no longer be applied after the HST is introduced. The GST will be applied and collected as part of the HST. This change will affect all of our customers with services in Ontario and British Columbia and will be applied to the July 1 invoices.

Calculation of Taxes before and after July 1, 2010

Due to the timing of the delivery of the services and the timing of our invoice delivery some customers may see PST, GST and HST charges during the transition. PST and GST will be calculated on services delivered before July 1, 2010 and HST will be applied to services delivered after July 1, 2010. Customer Exemptions

Current PST exemptions that are in place today will no longer apply after July 1, 2010

Customers can currently have exemptions from a PST perspective due to multiple factors, most prominently that they are purchasing the good/service for purpose of resale. In the HST system, there are no resale exemptions and as a result any customers that are claiming an exemption for PST in Ontario and/or BC and currently only paying GST on their purchases, after July 1 , 2010 will be paying HST on their billings.

Customers who qualify for the GST exemption today under the Excise Tax Act will qualify for an HST exemption post July 1, 2010 as the HSTs fall under the jurisdiction of the Excise Tax Act.

For any inquiry regarding the HST you can contact the Billing Department via phone at  (1) 866-686-4236 x 215 or via email at billing@voicemailtel.com.