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Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) (Updated 06/30/2010 11:05 AM) On July 1,2010 several additional Canadian
provinces (Ontario and BC) will be moving to the HST
(Harmonized Sales Tax) system. This will affect anyone
who does business in or with these provinces.
The PST (Provincial Sales Tax) will be
discontinued, and the former GST (Goods and Services Tax)
will be combined with the PST to form the HST.
Regardless of where you are located in Canada, you will be
required to charge the GST/HST rate of the province to where
the goods you are selling will be shipped, delivered or
picked up For example, an Alberta based business
selling and shipping goods into Ontario must charge the
Ontario HST rate. An Ontario based business selling
goods into Alberta must charge the Alberta GST rate. A
rate chart with links to additional information is available
here, and a simplified chart with tax rates effective
07/01/2010 is available at the
bottom of
this page.
Is Shop Trac HST Ready?
Yes and no. Shop Trac has always
been able to calculate the HST that has been in effect in
the Maritime provinces. Unfortunately this method no
longer works correctly since one of these provinces (Nova
Scotia) will be changing their rate, while the other
Maritime provinces will continue using the existing rate.
Both Ontario and BC will be introducing different HST rates.
All of the other provinces will continue using the existing
GST rate. Shop Trac will require some extensive
changes to support the different rates, as well as the
ability to support rate changes in the future. Changes to
Shop Trac will be forthcoming, but due to conflicting and
still proposed implementation rules coming from the Canadian
government these changes will possibly not be available in
time for the July 1,2010 implementation date. A
temporary workaround is given below.
Accounting for the HST
Accounting for HST works the same as for
GST. There is no reason to create any new General
Ledger accounts for this purpose. We suggest that you
edit and rename your existing GST Paid account to
GST/HST Paid and your existing GST Collected
account to GST/HST Collected. Your GST/HST
returns will not require you to differentiate between GST
and/or HST. Reporting procedures will not change.
Setting up Shop Trac for the HST
Please note that all of
these changes only apply to you if your home province is one
that uses the HST rather than the GST. If you are
located in a province that will still collect GST, then you
only need to change all references to 'GST' to read 'GST/HST'.
None of these changes apply to Shop Trac users located
outside of Canada.
 | Setup Data Changes
Login as SUPERVISOR and use the option
Setup | Defaults
Change the 'Tax 2 Name' field to read GST/HST
If your home province is one that collects HST, change
the rate field to your HST rate.
If your home province is one that collects HST, change
the 'Tax 1 Name" field to a blank, and the 'Tax 1 Rate
Field' to a zero. Change the 'HST Rate' field
(scroll down to the bottom of the list) to 13%.
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| Invoice Form Changes
If your invoice form (they are all unique
and user defined) has a hard coded line that reads "7% GST", or "15% HST",
or GST then you will need to make changes to the form
definition. If your home province is Ontario or BC
then you will also need to remove any references to the
PST. Make a backup copy of
the invo.frm file prior to making any changes.
This file is located in the \TRAC\DATA1\DATA directory.
(assuming your data directory is DATA1)To change your form, login as SUPERVISOR
and use the option Setup | Forms | Invoice. From the
first screen select the 'Process' option, to open the actual
form format screen. Use the following steps to change
the form. Please note that if you get to a point where
you cannot undo some needed revisions, simply
press <ESC>, select 'Abort' and repeat the procedure.
If you will no longer be collecting PST, use the <DOWN
ARROW> key to move to the line that contains the PST.
Remove the entire line including the starting letter 'r'
by pressing the <DELETE> key as many times as required.
Note that there are many blank spaces in this line and
that the entire line needs to be deleted.
Using the <DOWN ARROW> key to move
down to the first line that begins with an uppercase D
making sure that the cursor is on column 0. Press
<RETURN> to insert a new line, use the <UP ARROW> key to
move to the blank line and add the letter D at the
beginning of this line.
Use the <UP ARROW> key to move to the
line that contains GST and/or HST. We suggest that
you change the beginning of this line to read 'GST/HST'
and without any reference to the rate as to simplify any
future rate changes. Do not remove the leading
letter lowercase r.
Press the <END> key to move to the end of this line.
If the dollar amount fields are NOT aligned with the
other lines, add or remove spaces from within the line
until it does.
The end result should be that the
former GST line now reads "GST/HST", and if
required the PST line no longer exists.
Due to the way
Shop Trac handles form format files, you will also need to
make one additional change to this file. Each time this
file is opened for editing, Shop Trac adds a blank line to the end
of the file. This extra line (or lines) may cause the
invoice routines to print additional unneeded pages.
To remove these additional lines, continue as follows:
Using the <Down Arrow> move the
cursor down as many lines as possible. It should
be now located at the beginning of a blank line at the
end of the form and in column 0.
Use the <Back Space> (not the Left
Arrow) to erase the additional line. If there is
only one additional line, the cursor will have moved up
and to the far right of the previous line. If it
is still on a blank line and in column 0, then again use
the <Back Space> key to erase as many additional blank
lines as there are.
Press <Esc> and select the
'Save' option. |
Temporary Workarounds When the GST/HST
Rate is Different for an Out of Province Customer
When working with out of province customers with a
different HST/GST rate we suggest the following temporary
procedure to insure that you collect the correct amount of
tax. Please note that this is not required for
Maritime provinces other than Nova Scotia. In province
sales can be processed as they always have been.
| On the invoice screen set all Tax
fields to 'N' so that no tax will be calculated. |
| Use the 'Summary' menu option to
obtain the total invoice amount on which HST/GST is to
be applied. |
| Calculate the proper GST/HST based on
the total invoice amount. |
| Add a line to the Labour section for
the GST/HST, using the GST/HST collected GL Account. |
Please note that any changes to the
invoice will require a recalculation of the GST/HST.
These workarounds are temporary, as Shop Trac will be updated to calculate all the different (current
and future) GST/HST rates. Please
note that changes to Shop Trac will utilize the customer
postal code to determine the correct GST/HST rates. It
will be important that all your customers have the correct
postal code in the Postal Code field of the customer
database.
GST/HST Rate
Chart as of 07/01/2010
| Prov/Territory |
Rate & Tax |
Postal |
| AB |
5% GST |
T |
| BC |
12% HST |
V |
| SK |
5% GST |
S |
| MB |
5% GST |
R |
| ON |
13% GST |
K,L,M,N,P |
| QC |
5% GST |
G,H,J |
| NL |
13% HST |
A |
| NS |
15% HST |
B |
| NB |
13% HST |
E |
| PE |
5% GST |
C |
| NT |
5% GST |
X |
| NU |
5% GST |
X |
| YT |
5% GST |
Y |
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Web Site News!
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This box will always give you the latest news
about changes to this site.
The
Shop Trac FAQ has been updated!
New
Shop Trac
Tech Tips, including the changes for the Canadian
July 2010 HST rate changes.
New 2010 price lists have been posted.
The latest
Shop Trac Update
is dated 09/15/2010, and an order form can be
downloaded here.
The Update Installation process has changed
slightly, and the new instructions are available
here.
The latest (and final)
IMS/ACTR/ACTP Update is dated
11/30/2003. |
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