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Charging and collecting PST for contractors

Last updated on April 1, 2025

If you acquire goods to sell to your customers without installing them, or if you supply or install goods that do not become part of real property, you will need to charge your customers PST and register for a PST number.

On this page:

Charging PST on sales of goods

If you sell taxable goods directly to your customers (including goods that are incorporated into other goods for resale, such as wood that you use to build a finished table that is then sold at retail), you must charge your customers PST on those sales. You must register for a PST number in order to collect and remit the PST. 

See Managing mixed inventories for advice on how to manage your resale inventory.

Charging PST on services to real property

Services to real property and services to most affixed machinery, including services to install parts and materials into affixed machinery, or services to install goods that will become affixed machinery or improvements to real property upon installation, are not subject to PST. This means you do not charge your customers PST for these services, and do not need to register for a PST number if you provide them.

Examples of services to real property and/or affixed machinery include, but are not limited to:

  • House painting
  • Wallpapering
  • Roofing
  • Plumbing
  • Electrical work
  • Applying protective treatments to wall-to-wall carpeting
  • Repairs and maintenance to furnaces, water heaters or built-in appliances

Landscaping services to lawns, gardens and plants are also services to real property, unless the services are being provided to plants or trees planted in freestanding, hanging or other containers that are not part of real property, regardless of their size.

Exceptions for certain types of affixed machinery

Services to some types of affixed machinery are not exempt from PST. You must charge your customers PST on services provided to:

  • Travelling cranes and hoists that run on rails or tracks that are attached to a building and are attached to the rails by flanged wheels, or rest on the rails or tracks by their own weight
  • Affixed machinery, or parts of affixed machinery, that have been removed from the site at which they were affixed or installed (see "Off-site services" below)

For example: if the motor for a household furnace is taken to a repair shop, you would charge your customer PST on the services provided at the repair shop.

On-site services

You do not charge your customers PST on services to real property or to most affixed machinery if the service is performed on-site. This means that the service is provided to:

  • the item while it is attached to real property, or
  • the item or part of the item while it is detached from real property, provided that the service is performed at the site where the item was affixed or installed

For example: if you made repairs to a built-in cabinet while the cabinet remained attached to the wall, or while the cabinet was detached from the wall but kept in the home, you would not charge your customer PST on the repairs.

Off-site services

If a taxable good, including affixed machinery or an improvement to real property, is detached from real property and is removed from the site at which it was affixed or installed, that item ceases to be real property or affixed machinery during the period it is removed from the site. If you provide services to those goods during that period, you must charge your customers PST on those services.

An off-site location means the repairer’s place of business or other location away from the normal location of the item being repaired. The repairer’s van parked on the customer’s property or on the street immediately in front of the customer’s property is not an off-site location.

You do not charge your customers PST on the removal of goods from real property or re-installation to real property.

Charging PST on goods that do not become part of real property

If the goods you supply and install do not become part of real property after installation, you must register for a PST number and charge your customers PST on the goods, and on the cost of installation or services related to those goods.

For example: an ornamental plant in a portable or freestanding container is not considered to be part of real property after it is installed. If you install or maintain ornamental plants in portable or freestanding containers, you must charge your customers PST on the plants, the containers and on any services you provide to install and maintain them.

If you supply and install both goods that become part of real property and goods that do not become part of real property after installation, you must:

  • Pay PST on the goods that become part of real property, and

  • Register for a PST number and charge your customers PST on the goods that do not become part of real property and on the related services you provide to those goods, such as installation services

Register for a PST number

Registering online through eTaxBC is the fastest way to get your PST number. Register now if you're a new user.

Register to collect PST

Already registered? Logon

For detailed information about how to register and who must register to collect PST, see Registering to Collect PST (Bulletin PST 001) (PDF, 376KB).

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