Effective today, residents of Prince Edward Island will be subject to a Harmonized Sales Tax of 14% on most services and products whilst British Columbia Residents will be subject to a Goods and Services Tax of 5%, which will be replacing the Harmonized Sales Tax of 12% in BC.

In British Columbia there will be a decrease in taxes on books (audio, electronic, bound and printed), basic cable services, concert tickets, music lessons and movie tickets but a combined tax of 12% (5% GST + 7% PST) will remain on most products and services. Individually purchased magazines will be subject to less taxes in this province.

In Prince Edward Island there will be decreases in retail sales taxes on CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, MP3 players, DVD and Blu-Ray players, radios, stereos, televisions, movie tickets, basic cable subscriptions and individual magazine purchases. Audio Books and Books will still be subject to the GST at 5% in this province whilst music lessons will be exempt.

For additional information please consult the following documents :

For Residents of British Columbia
• What’s Taxable and What’s Not ? (pdf)
• Fact sheet: Changes to the sales tax in British Columbia
• Elimination of the HST in British Columbia in 2013 – Questions and Answers

For Residents of Prince Edward Island
• What’s Taxable and What’s Not ?
• Fact sheet: Harmonized sales tax in Prince Edward Island
• GST/HST – General information HST – Transitional rules for Prince Edward Island for transactions that straddle April 1, 2013