Wave B.C. PST setup for engineering: GST plus 7% on 30% (2026)

Make C$1,071 the acceptance result

For one confirmed C$1,000 taxable engineering or geoscience service connected to B.C., the provincial formula produces C$21 of PST: 7% × (30% × C$1,000). If the federal facts separately support 5% GST on the full fee, the illustrative GST is C$50 and the invoice total is C$1,071.

Use those amounts as a software acceptance test, not as a taxability shortcut. A Wave tax entry labelled 2.1% cannot establish that the service is engineering, connected to B.C., taxable after exemptions and transition rules, or subject to GST. Preserve the legal 7%-on-30% calculation even when the software uses its 2.1% arithmetic equivalent.

Confirm the provider, service definition, place and project facts, exemptions, resale, disbursements, allocations, collector or small-seller position, October 2026 transition and federal GST treatment before changing a real invoice workflow.

Create dated tax candidates and keep both non-compound

Wave's current setup instructions allow a tax name, abbreviation, description, tax number, recoverable setting, compound setting and rate. Create dated candidates such as “GST 5%” and “BC PST ENG — 7% × 30% — 2026-10-01.” Enter the tax number and enable its invoice display only when the registration details have been verified.

Enter 5% for GST only when the federal treatment is confirmed. Enter 2.1% for the B.C. engineering PST candidate because 7% × 30% equals 2.1% of the same fully taxable net line. Both candidates must calculate from the untaxed fee. Do not mark the B.C. PST candidate as compound: Wave says compound tax is calculated after the primary tax, which would make 2.1% apply to C$1,050 and produce C$22.05 instead of C$21.

Wave says the recoverable or non-recoverable choice cannot be changed after a tax is created. Decide that setting from the reviewed legal and accounting treatment before use; do not mark B.C. PST recoverable merely to force purchase-tax offsets. If the decision changes, archive the old candidate and create a dated replacement instead of rewriting historical evidence.

Prove that the actual invoice path can attach both taxes

Wave's current manual-invoice article says to select a tax from the Tax menu and confirms that taxes apply to the item rather than the whole invoice. It does not, by itself, prove that the active manual editor can attach two taxes to one item. Wave Connect separately documents multiple sales taxes on an imported invoice line through a comma-separated list of tax codes.

Create a fictional customer and one C$1,000 draft line. In the exact browser, mobile, recurring, or Wave Connect path the business intends to use, attempt to attach both dated tax candidates to that same supported line. Record the interface, business profile, route, tax codes, expected amounts and observed result. Wave says a draft does not change the accounting until it is approved, so keep the first test non-customer-facing.

If the intended path accepts only one tax, merges the taxes, changes the base, or requires an unreviewed workaround, stop. Do not create a single 7.1% tax and do not disguise PST as a service or income line. Use another reviewed invoicing path that can preserve the two legal taxes and their accounting evidence.

• Manual editor: confirm both taxes remain attached after save, preview and approval.
• Wave Connect: use the exact current tax codes, validate the upload and inspect the resulting invoice before any batch import.
• Recurring invoices: repeat the test on the generated document; a successful one-time invoice does not prove the recurring path.
• Mixed work: separate taxable, exempt, allocated and unresolved amounts before attaching either tax.

Approve the exported customer PDF, not the setup screen

The B.C. regulation requires a collector who provides an invoice and levies PST to show the tax as a separate item. A successful tax selection in Wave is therefore only an intermediate result. Export the actual invoice PDF and inspect the customer-facing names, numbers, bases, amounts and total.

Approve the candidate only if the PDF identifies C$50 GST separately when applicable, identifies C$21 B.C. PST separately and totals C$1,071. A document that shows only “Tax C$71,” “7.1%,” a compound amount, or a generic line without PST identity fails even when the backend accounts are separate.

Repeat the PDF test after any change to the tax name or effective rate, registration number, template, customer language, currency, saved service, import sheet or recurring schedule. Preserve the approved PDF and the legal workpaper together before enabling automatic sending.

Verify named liability accounts and line-by-line rounding

Wave says each created sales tax automatically adds a liability account named after that tax, and transactions using the tax post its amount to that account. It also calculates sales tax per line item and rounds each amount to two decimal places. Confirm that the approved test posts GST and B.C. PST to separate, recognizable accounts and that neither amount reaches revenue.

Run a C$1,000 baseline, a C$12,000 high-value fee, a cents-sensitive multi-line invoice and a mixed or allocated invoice. A C$12,000 fully taxable engineering fee produces C$252 PST and, when 5% GST is confirmed, C$600 GST and a C$12,852 total. Compare each line and the whole document with the saved legal workpaper.

Do not extrapolate one round-number test to every invoice. Split lines can round differently from a calculation on the document subtotal, and tax codes cannot decide which phase, disbursement, jurisdiction or bundled amount is taxable. Document every accepted variance or stop the workflow.

Reconcile the Sales Tax Report by tax and by filing basis

Wave's Sales Tax Report is currently available in the web version and summarizes each tax's sales subject to tax, tax on sales, tax on purchases when recoverable, net tax owing, government payments or refunds and ending balance. Export the period as CSV or PDF and reconcile the GST and B.C. PST rows separately.

The report offers Accrual (Paid and Unpaid) and Cash Basis (Paid) choices. Do not choose from the label alone: put one approved unpaid test invoice and one paid test invoice across the period boundary, observe which report includes each amount, and use the basis approved for the actual federal and provincial workpapers.

Wave warns that the Account Transactions report's debits and credits may not equal the collected and paid totals shown in the Sales Tax Report. Reconcile each named liability account, invoice, payment, refund and government remittance instead of treating either report as self-proving.

• Save the business profile, browser workflow, report basis, date range, tax names, rates, effective dates and reviewer.
• Reconcile C$1,000 of the appropriate sales population and C$21 PST before testing larger batches.
• Investigate every zero-tax line, deleted or archived code, unexpected recoverable amount and account/report difference.
• Export evidence before changing a tax name, rate, effective date or invoice status.

Treat refunds, write-offs and tax corrections as separate controls

Wave's current refund workflow says a refunded invoice can appear overdue and may need a write-off when no further payment is expected. Its write-off guidance says sales-tax treatment depends on the jurisdiction, timing and whether the tax is recoverable, and directs businesses to their accountant or tax authority. A customer refund therefore does not by itself prove that GST and B.C. PST were corrected.

For a fictional C$100 correction, document the legal reason, original invoice, payment state, expected C$5 GST and C$2.10 PST effect when the same treatment applies, and the exact Wave steps approved by the adviser. Verify the customer record, both tax accounts, Sales Tax Report, federal workpaper and provincial Box B workpaper after the correction.

Do not delete an approved invoice or remove non-recoverable tax merely to make a report agree. Preserve the original document and correction trail, and stop if the Wave workflow clears accounts receivable without a traceable reduction of both tax obligations where a reduction is legally available.

Bridge Wave to Box A, Box B, eTaxBC and both payments

The provincial return guide says Box A includes Canadian taxable, non-taxable and exempt sales and leases before GST and PST, while Box B includes PST collectible on taxable sales and leases, including tax billed but not yet collected. Sellers of the newly taxable professional services must file and pay electronically.

For the C$1,000 acceptance transaction, trace the supported sales amount to the appropriate Box A population and C$21 to Box B. Keep a separate bridge that shows the statutory 7% × 30% calculation because a Wave report labelled 2.1% only shows the arithmetic implementation. Reconcile the invoice, tax account, Sales Tax Report, return workpaper, eTaxBC confirmation and bank payment.

Wave documents a Sales Tax Payment To Government category and says a payment covering more than one tax must be split by tax. Record the B.C. PST and federal GST remittances to their own named taxes, using the correct government confirmations and dates. Wave records the accounting activity; it does not establish that either external return was correctly filed.

Stop if tax identity, arithmetic, reports or corrections fail

The two-tax setup is an arithmetic candidate only. It does not classify the service, establish B.C. connection, select an exemption, allocate a multi-jurisdiction project, remove an excluded disbursement, determine registration or small-seller status, apply transition rules or decide GST.

Approve production only after the legal classification, non-compound rates, intended invoice route, saved draft, customer PDF, high-value and cents tests, named liability accounts, report basis, correction method, Box A, Box B, eTaxBC, federal return and separate payments all reconcile. Keep the expected and observed results, PDFs, exports, workpapers, corrections, reviewer and approval date.

If Wave cannot attach and display both taxes separately, produces C$22.05 compound PST, combines the taxes, posts either amount to the wrong account, cannot reconcile the chosen report basis or cannot preserve a supportable correction trail, pause automatic sending. Use another reviewed process and obtain current Wave, bookkeeping, accounting or provincial support. Wave is a trademark of Wave Financial Inc.; Thirty North is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wave.