Do bookkeepers charge HST?

by Kim
(Scarborough, Ontario.)

I live in Ontario and am wondering do bookkeepers and accountants charge HST on their services? And if they do, do they charge 5% or the full 13%?

Hi Kim,

I want to say "Yes, bookkeepers and accountants charge HST in BC and Ontario." But I decided to check.

BC's HST charged on accounting services can be found in the report What's Taxable Under the HST and What's Not? at http://www.hstinbc.ca/media/GST_PST_HST_List_v04.pdf .

I was surprised when I visited a similar page for Ontario at http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/en/taxchange/taxable.html . Accounting services were not listed. This doesn't mean they don't attract HST, just that they weren't put on this particular list.

I'm guessing accounting and bookkeeping services do attract HST in Ontario. If you make a quick call to the CRA, they can easily verify that for you.

With regards the correct rate to use:

The service is going to attract GST or HST. They are two different rates.

If you reference my GST/HST rate summary table, you will see that the current GST rate is 5%.

This means that the HST rate cannot possibly be 5% because the HST rate formula is:

federal portion + provincial portion = HST
where federal portion = GST and provincial portion = HST - GST





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