The Government of British Columbia (BC) announced changes in its 2026 budget (BC Budget) that expand the provincial sales tax (PST) base to include certain professional services, effective 1 October 2026. These measures were enacted without substantial changes on 16 April 2026. (For more details on the BC budget and PST, see EY Global Tax Alerts, Canada | British Columbia budget 2026, dated 20 February 2026 and Canada | British Columbia budget proposes to expand provincial sales tax to certain professional services, dated 25 February 2026.)

Effective 1 October 2026, businesses supplying the newly listed professional services will generally be required to register to charge, collect and remit PST at a rate of 7%, with the exception of architectural, engineering and geoscience services, which are subject to a special taxable-base rule under which PST applies to only 30% of the cost of those services.

Affected businesses now have less than one month to comply with the new rules.

Background

The BC Budget stated that including the listed professional services into the PST base is intended to "increase provincial revenue by updating taxes" and is "generally consistent with how tax applies to these services in most provinces."

For example, Saskatchewan and Manitoba currently impose sales tax on similar professional services, such as accounting and engineering. As such, the new measures are aimed at strengthening the province's fiscal outlook and aligning its taxation policies with those of other provinces.¹

New services subject to PST

Under the new rules, the following services will be subject to PST at a rate of 7%:

• Accounting services, including bookkeeping and assurance services
• Architectural services
• Engineering and geoscience services
• Security services, including private investigation services
• Non-residential real estate services, including trading services, rental property management services and strata management services²

As noted above, PST on architectural, engineering and geoscience services will apply to only 30% of the service fees of those services.

Service providers must register to collect and remit PST if they provide taxable services on or after 1 October 2026.

Additional guidance

On 9 July 2026, the BC government released updated regulations supporting the expansion to reflect limitations, exemptions and administrative clarifications. However, as of the date of writing, the regulations have not yet been published into the Provincial Sales Tax Exemption and Refund Regulations.

The BC government also released guidance aimed broadly at each of the five professional services industries captured by the PST expansion. For each category of services, the guidance generally provides the following information:³

• Detailed description of the applicable services
• PST implications based on the jurisdiction in which the services and the recipient are located
• Assessment of PST on the relevant services
• Exemptions
• Registration requirements
• Reporting and remittances of PST
• Transitional rules with respect to services purchased or provided before and after 1 October 2026

Next steps

Businesses that provide or purchase the affected professional services should confirm they have adequate processes in place to comply with the new rules. This review may include:

• Identifying which services are subject to the new rules
• Assessing whether and when PST registration is required
• Confirming compliance with the transitional rules
• Updating invoicing and billing systems to apply PST, including the special "30% taxable base" calculation for architectural, engineering and geoscience services
• Reviewing contract terms, including pricing, tax clauses and billing practices, for newly taxable services