Authorities on Canadian Sales Tax PST applies in: Manitoba (7%) Prince Edward Island (10%), Quebec (7.5%) Saskatchewan (6%) Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories have no PST. "participating provinces": BC, Ontario Newfoundland/Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, have PST, it is combined in the HST. Different sorts of goods are eligible for the various taxes. The exemption rules are complicated. Generally GST and HST apply to restaurant meals over $6. rentals of commercial real property; sales and leases of automobiles; sales of gasoline; car repairs; sales of soft drinks, candies, and potato chips; sales of clothing and footwear; advertising taxi and limousine fares; legal and accounting fees; franchise fees; hotel accommodation barber and hairstylist services. However the following goods and services are exempt from GST and HST. if vendor earns less that $30,000 a year. Basic groceries --Most foods to be prepared and consumed at home. restaurant meals under $6. prescribed drugs. prescription eyeglasses and contact lenses. financial services. Similar, but slightly different rules apply to PST. For example, in BC, books are exempt, but video and audio tapes are not. Stationery intended for school is exempt, but that for the office is not. The same pencil may be exempt or not. Similarly, a piece of clothing may or may not be exempt depending on the age of the person who will be its intended wearer. A store may sell a mixture of GST/HST exempt/non-exempt goods, and PST exempt/non-exempt goods. For up-to-Date GST/HST information, see: the Revenue Canada website http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/gst-tps/rts-eng.html http://www.mnp.ca/services/tax/indirect-tax/hst/gst-hst-rate-table table of 2010 rates, GST/PST For up-to-Date PST information, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_Canada best overall explanation world http://www.taxsites.com/international.html NB http://www.gnb.ca/0162/tax/6e1620fn.htm QC http://www.revenu.gouv.qc.ca/en/entreprise/taxes/tvq_tps/default.aspx SK http://www.gov.sk.ca/finance/revenue/pst/pst5.pdf 2010 http://www.taxtips.ca/salestaxes/salestaxrates2010.htm 2011 http://www.taxtips.ca/salestaxes/salestaxrates2011.htm 2011 rates For up-to-Date province abbreviations see: http://www.canadapost.ca/CPC2/addrm/addrguide/prov_symbols.html * */ * handles arithmetic for the Canadian Tax calculator.

Calculates Canadian federal GST (Goods and Services Tax), combined federal/provincial HST (Harmonised Sales Tax), and PST (Provincial Sales Tax).

This might be useful code for a web-based shopping cart.

How Canadian Sales taxes are computed:

There are potentially 3 types of Canadian sales taxes. GST (0 or 6%) federal Goods And Services Tax. (called TPS in Quebec.) remitted to the federal government. HST (0 or 14%) combined federal/provincial Harmonised Sales Tax. remitted to the federal government. PST (0 to 10%) Provincial Sales Tax. (called TVQ in Quebec.) remitted to the vendor's provincial government.

There are three "participating" provinces that use the HST: Newfoundland/Labrador, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. 15% HST represents a combined GST of 7% and PST of 8%. The non-participating provinces use a separate 7% GST and variable PST.

If vendor and buyer are in the same province, the tax is either GST/PST or HST, never both.

If the buyer is out of the country, the all taxes GST/PST/HST are zero.

If the vendor and buyer are in different provinces, it gets a little more complicated.

If the buyer is in a participating province, then HST must be collected, but no PST or GST.

If the buyer is in a non-participating province, then GST must be collected, but no PST or HST.

It does not matter if the vendor is in a participating province or not.

This is surprising. One would think the province that provided the infrastructure to create the good or service (the vendor's province) should be the one compensated, even if only to simplify calculation for the vendor. I suspect it was done backwards in order to provide extra revenue for the "participating" provinces, both because they tend to be have-not and to encourage other provinces to become "participating".

You need to maintain grand totals of GST, HST and PST to be able to remit vendor-collected sales taxes properly. Further, you need HST broken down by each of the participating provinces, depending on the buyer's province. GST/HST goes to the federal government. PST goes to the vendor's provincial government. Further, buyers who are also resellers need to track GST separately, because they get a rebate on the GST, but not the PST.