The application of Canada’s federal sales tax, the GST/HST is often far more complex than practitioners or businesses realize. The GST/HST principles involved are often quite different from those applied to income tax.

This course will provide an overview a variety of important concepts related to the application and the recovery of the GST/HST.

The course provides an overview of Canada’s federal sales tax relevant for accountants working with clients or in industry. The who, what and when for GST commences with a review of the three different types of supplies and their significance. The GST and HST place of supply rules are presented in detail with a lot of examples because their misinterpretation often creates significant exposures for suppliers located in both harmonized and non-harmonized provinces.

Also reviewed are registration, collection requirements, who pays tax, documentation,  input tax credit entitlements and some cross border issues. The material highlights common sources of errors and assessments frequently discovered during a GST/HST audit or a review of a client’s books and records.

Topics Include:

• GST/HST Basics
• Who pays GST/HST?
• Collecting GST/HST
• GST place-of-supply rules
• HST place-of-supply rules
• Other collection issues
• Import issues
• Export issues
• General recovery rules
• Employee reimbursements and allowances
• Reporting net tax overview
• Compliance issue overview

NOTE: This course description has been revised and reflects updates for 2024. If you have any questions, please contact pdevents@cpaontario.ca.

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By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• Describe how the GST and HST works.
• Participants will be able to determine the tax rate applicable on a taxable supply made in Canada.
• Describe the importance of the recovery rules that are required to be met before claiming an input tax credit.
• Describe and list the input tax credit restrictions and limitations.
• Explain issues and exposures related to the importation and exportation of taxable supplies.
• Identify and reduce other typical common audit exposures.