HST Rebate for Charities

by Judy
(British Columbia)

I stumbled across your site and have appreciated the wealth of information there.

I am a bookkeeper for a charity in BC. Prior to July 1, 2010 we were able to get a 50% rebate of the GST we paid on purchases. The person who set up our QuickBooks set it up so that I post 1/2 of the GST paid to a GST Receivable account. I fill out the gov't form twice a year to claim the rebate. I'm able to look at the GST Receivable account and know how much to claim back.

When the HST came into practise, I researched quite a bit. It seems to me that now, as a charity, we are able to claim back 50% of the federal portion of the HST and 57% of the provincial portion of the HST. So I set up 2 more liability accounts - the same so the GST Receivable Account I had previously used.

However in my first posting, when I tried to separate the HST into the appropriate Receivable accounts, QB told me that I can only use one Receivable account per transaction.

So...my question is... how do I keep track of the federal and the provincial portion of HST paid in order to fill out the 2 separate gov't forms for the rebate?

Judy ... excellent question.

If you go to the Intuit website, there is a free webinar on Understanding HST in Ontario. The presenter explains how non-profits can setup HST to capture the GST/HST rebate.

There is also an Understanding HST in BC webinar which deals with the recapture of input tax credits ... and how to handle HST collected in May and June that is to be remitted with your first GST/HST return after June 30, 2010. The presenter briefly recaps the GST/HST rebate as it applies to BC as well.

You can locate both webinars by going to www.community.intuit.com. Click on Help with Intuit Products > International> QuickBooks Canada> Media Library (Canada). I'm not giving you the actual link because they seem to move it around.

If you still have any questions after watching the webinar, post back.

Have a fabulous summer weekend Judy!