HST

GST/HST

On July 1, 2010 Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) came into effect in Ontario. The HST rate for Ontario is 13% and is comprised of two (2) components:

A Federal component tax of 5%, and
A Provincial component tax of 8% (for Ontario).

HST is administered by Canada Revenue Agency and in general the same rules that applied to GST apply to HST.

Please note that not all provinces have HST. Some provinces have only GST and some have both GST and PST while Quebec has GST and QST. Provinces that have agreed to harmonize their provincial sales tax with the GST to form the HST are referred to as "participating provinces". Conversely, provinces that do not have HST are referred to as "non-participating provinces". Please refer to the section on Provincial Tax Rates for a listing of provinces and their applicable tax rates.

Queen's is required to pay all GST/HST billed to them but, as a University, is eligible to receive rebates from the government on much of the taxes paid. Please refer to the section on Exemptions and Rebates (2.2).

As a GST/HST registrant, Queen's is required to charge GST/HST where required. Queen's is subject to a number of specific exemptions. Much of the credit courses and research activities at Queen's are non-taxable. Additionally, as a public institution, most services Queen's supplies are exempt. Most goods sold by Queen's remain taxable. Please refer to the section on Exemptions and Rebates (1.2).

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact hsthelp@queensu.ca