As many of you may have heard, the federal government has proposed a temporary GST/HST sales tax relief program for all Canadians from December 14, 2024 until February 15, 2025. Last night on November 28th, the Bill C-78 legislation passed in the House of Commons. While we are waiting for more details to be announced, as your POS partner, we wanted to make sure you are aware of the general expectations for you to comply with the changes during the relief period.
Prepared foods, including vegetable trays, pre-made meals and salads, and sandwiches;
Restaurant meals, whether dine-in, takeout, or delivery;
Snacks, including chips, candy, and granola bars;
Beer, wine, and cider;
Pre-mixed alcoholic beverages below 7 per cent ABV;
Children’s clothing and footwear, car seats, and diapers;
Children’s toys, such as board games, dolls, and video game consoles;
Books, print newspapers, and puzzles for all ages; and,
Christmas trees and similar decorative trees.
Check this backgrounder published by the government for further details about the eligible products.
Bill C-78 fully relieves the GST/HST on the categories above. Which means provinces with harmonized sales taxes will see the HST fully relieved, while provinces that have split PST and GST sales taxes will only see the federal GST portion relieved.
What does the tax relief program mean for your business?
The GST/HST Tax Relief Program temporarily exempts specific product and service categories from GST/HST sales taxes. Canadian merchants are required to update their tax settings in ACE to reflect these exemptions during the program’s duration.
How can you prepare for the tax relief period?
We’ve created a detailed step-by-step guide to help you in the online Web Portal exclusively available for ACE support plan members. The 3 key things that need to be done include:
Identifying the exempt categories applicable to your business
Adjusting your ACE tax settings to comply with the program
Ensure proper tax reporting during and after the program period, particularly, during December and February which are both partially exempt based on the start and end date of the program. If possible, we recommend checking more closely and keeping track of any returns processed during and after the tax relief period. You will want to make sure that the sales taxes applied or exempt on the original sales transaction are also reflected in the return transaction.
Accessing our tax relief instructions
To access our how-to article:
Active support members can log into their account on our Exclusive Web Portal using their email and password. The platform we use is called Document360.
If you are an active support plan member and have not yet signed up for access to the Exclusive Web Portal, you may do so by registering with the online form on the ACE POS Support Portal page for approval. As there are a lot of inquiries right now, please note that approval may take up to 1 business day.
If you have forgotten your web portal password, you can reset your password from the login page below. You will receive an email from Document360 to reset your own password.
We’ve made the instructions straightforward and easy to follow, but our support team is ready to assist all active support plan members if you have any questions about the changes needed. To keep phone lines available for till emergencies, we encourage support members to email support@acepos-solutions.com for assistance with tax relief-related changes.
Don’t Delay—Update your ACE settings before Dec 14, 2024
These tax changes go into effect on December 14, 2024, and apply until February 15, 2025. Preparing in advance ensures smooth operations and tax compliance.
Thank you for choosing us as your retail POS partner.
