On 21 September 2026, the Government of British Columbia (BC) released an order in counsel to amend regulations that exempt newly listed professional services from the scope of provincial sales tax (PST), effective 1 October 2026. However, the provisions of the Provincial Sales Tax Act (PSTA) extending the application of the PST to these services remain in place. Therefore, BC retains the capacity to apply PST to these services at a future date. (For details on the regulations and the newly listed professional services, see EY Global Tax Alert, Canada | British Columbia's expanded sales tax rules are effective 1 October 2026, dated 16 September 2026.)

The amendments also repeal certain limitations and exemptions that would have applied if the newly listed professional services had become presumptively taxable under the PSTA.

Background

The order in counsel followed BC's 18 September 2026 announcement that it would defer the recent expansion of its PST base to include accounting services, architectural services, engineering and geoscience services, security services and nonresidential real estate services. The expansion had been proposed in the province's 2026 budget (BC Budget), subsequently enacted on 16 April 2026, and scheduled to become effective 1 October 2026. (For more 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.)

Deferral

The deferral, which is indefinite, is intended to help businesses navigate new and ongoing international trade disruptions and the resulting economic uncertainty.

Prior to the deferral, businesses making supplies of the newly listed professional services were generally required to register with the BC government to charge, collect and remit PST at a rate of 7% effective 1 October 2026, 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.

Next steps

If the BC government reinstates the application of the PST to newly listed professional services, businesses that provide or purchase the affected professional services will need to confirm they have adequate processes in place to comply with the new rules.