B.C. PST on professional services: October 1, 2026 checklist

Start with the five affected service groups

B.C. Budget 2026 expanded the provincial sales tax to five professional-service groups effective October 1, 2026. The Province published service-specific pages and transitional rules; the category names alone are not enough to determine whether a particular engagement is taxable.

Use the page for the actual service before changing an invoice. Professional registration or licensing, the work performed, the B.C. connection, exemptions, bundled items, disbursements, and the date consideration is paid or becomes due can all change the result.

Read the 7% rate and 30% purchase-price base separately

For taxable accounting, security, and non-residential real estate services, the Province states that PST applies at 7% to the taxable purchase price. For taxable architectural, engineering, and geoscience services, the Province applies 7% to an amount equal to 30% of the taxable purchase price.

That second formula produces C$2.10 of PST on C$100 of fully taxable architectural, engineering, or geoscience services: 7% × (30% × C$100). It is clearer to preserve that official formula than to relabel it as a different statutory rate, especially when only part of an engagement is taxable or an exemption applies.

GST and any other tax treatment remain separate questions. Do not combine the two taxes into one line or assume that the B.C. PST base and federal GST base are identical.

Do not decide from a job title or seller location alone

The service-specific definitions are narrower or broader than everyday job titles. B.C.'s accounting page includes bookkeeping and several accounting activities and says a required registrant need not be a CPA. Architectural and engineering or geoscience services must satisfy both a professional-registration test and a defined-practice test. Security services depend on the listed security-business licensing categories. Non-residential real estate services depend on the statutory service and property classification.

A provider outside B.C. can still encounter the rules when the purchaser and work have the required B.C. connection. Conversely, services related to another jurisdiction, residential property, specified service phases, resale, small-seller treatment, First Nations facts, or another published exemption may receive different treatment. Use the relevant official page rather than a province-only shortcut.

• Identify the legal provider, purchaser, service, licence or professional registration, and property or project.
• Separate the B.C. portion from work reasonably attributable to another jurisdiction.
• Separate taxable, exempt, non-taxable, and bundled components before applying a percentage.
• Retain the contract, scope, allocation method, exemption evidence, invoice, and payment-due facts.

Register before the first affected taxable sale

B.C.'s service pages say a business that sells taxable affected services it will provide on or after October 1, 2026 must register to collect and remit PST. Registration is online through eTaxBC. A business can register up to six months before its first taxable sale; the Province uses April 1, 2026 as the earliest example for an October 1 first sale and recommends registering as soon as possible.

The pages also state that registration is not required when a provider supplies only non-taxable or exempt services or qualifies as a B.C. PST small seller. That small-seller analysis is a provincial PST rule; do not substitute the federal GST/HST C$30,000 small-supplier test.

If the business is already registered, it still needs to add the newly taxable service to its October transition. B.C. also says sellers of any taxable affected professional services must file PST returns and pay electronically.

Use the transition rules for contracts that cross October 1

The transition depends on when consideration is paid or becomes due and, for some pre-October consideration, when the service is provided. The contract-signing date alone does not settle the result.

Review retainers, annual engagements, prepaid work, milestone invoices, monthly billing, work in progress, and delayed invoices one by one. Preserve the attribution used when an engagement spans taxable and non-taxable dates.

Build an October transition file before changing invoices

Create a dated list of affected service lines, contracts, billing dates, payment-due dates, work periods, exemptions, allocations, and registration status. Test the invoice and bookkeeping setup with the PST line kept separate from GST and from revenue.

Recheck the official service page immediately before the first affected invoice. The Province updated several of these pages in July 2026, so a saved summary or February budget announcement is not a substitute for the current guidance and legislation.

This checklist organizes the review; it does not decide whether a service is taxable, whether an exemption applies, or whether an out-of-province provider must register or a purchaser must self-assess.