Special quick method of accounting for public service bodies

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Special quick method of accounting
Who can elect to use the special quick method
Making the election
How long does your election stay in effect
Revoking your election
Calculating your net tax
Remittance rates

Special quick method of accounting

The special quick method is a simplified accounting option available to certain public service bodies that are GST/HST registrants. This method reduces paperwork and makes it easier to calculate GST/HST remittances and file GST/HST returns. 

The special quick method eliminates the need to keep track of the GST/HST paid on most purchases and to separate purchases that are for commercial activities from those used in making exempt supplies. Depending on your situation, the special quick method may be of benefit to you.

To help you calculate net tax and complete your GST/HST return using this method, see Instructions for completing a GST/HST return.

Using the special quick method

When you use the special quick method, you still charge the GST at the 5% rate or the HST at the applicable rate on your taxable supplies of property and services. However, to calculate the amount of net tax to remit, you multiply the amount of your GST/HST-included supplies for the reporting period by the remittance rate or rates that apply in your situation.

The special quick method remittance rates are less than the applicable rates of tax that you collect. This means that you remit only part of the tax you collect. The part of the tax that you keep accounts for the approximate value of the input tax credits (ITCs) you would normally have claimed, since you cannot claim ITCs on most of your purchases when you use the special quick method.

Generally, if your public service body has branches or divisions, its election to use the special quick method applies to all of its branches or divisions, whether or not they file separate GST/HST returns. However, the election does not apply to separate divisions or departments of your organization that are in the business of providing telephone services, electricity, or natural gas. If you have separate divisions or departments with these business activities, their net tax has to be calculated using the regular method.

If your organization is eligible to use the special quick method, it might be eligible to claim a public service bodies’ rebate for the tax that is not eligible for an ITC. For more information, see Guide RC4034, GST/HST Public Service Bodies’ Rebate.

Who can elect to use the special quick method

You can use the special quick method if you are a GST/HST registrant that qualifies as a:

• selected public service body
• specified facility operator
• designated charity
• qualifying non-profit organization

Who cannot elect to use the special quick method

You cannot use the special quick method if you are a:

• charity that is not a designated charity
• facility operator or external supplier that is a charity
• designated municipality that is a charity
• provincial gaming authority
• listed financial institution

Making the election

You can start using the special quick method on the effective date you indicate to the Canada Revenue Agency, as long as it is the first day of a GST/HST reporting period.

To make the election, use Form GST287, Election or Revocation of the Election by Public Service Bodies to Use the Special Quick Method of Accounting.

For more information, see Due dates for filing a GST/HST return.

How long does your election stay in effect

Your election stays in effect until the earlier of:

• the first day of a reporting period in which you no longer qualify as a selected public service body, a specified facility operator, a qualifying non-profit organization, or a designated charity
• the day on which the revocation of your election becomes effective

Revoking your election

You can revoke your election after it has been in effect for at least one year.

The effective date for revoking your election has to be the first day of a reporting period.

You have to revoke the election by the due date of the GST/HST return for the last reporting period in which you want to use the special quick method.

If you revoke the election, you have to wait at least one year before you can elect to use the special quick method again.

To revoke the election, use Form GST287, Election or Revocation of the Election by Public Service Bodies to Use the Special Quick Method of Accounting.

Calculating your net tax

Usually, you only have to use one remittance rate. However, in certain circumstances, you have to use more than one rate to calculate your net tax for a reporting period.

To use the special quick method to calculate your net tax, you need to:

• Determine if your supplies are eligible for the special quick method calculation
• Determine if you can claim ITCs
• Determine if you need to use one or more than one remittance rates
• Determine if you applied a point-of-sale rebate for the provincial part of the HST payable on books and certain qualifying items
• Determine if you are a university or a public college, and some of your revenues from taxable supplies come from sales made through vending machines
• Determine if you gave a customer a credit, a refund, or a rebate because of a reduction in the price of a property or service
• Determine if you credited an amount to a purchaser for a trade-in

Determine if your supplies are eligible for the special quick method calculation

Using the special quick method, you multiply the amount of your GST/HST-included eligible supplies for the reporting period by the remittance rate or rates that apply in your situation.

Eligible supplies are supplies of property and services other than the following:

• sales of real property
• zero-rated supplies
• supplies made outside Canada
• supplies of financial services
• supplies for which the recipient does not have to pay tax, such as certain supplies to Indians and supplies to provincial governments (unless the province has agreed to pay the GST/HST)
• supplies of property (other than capital property) or services for which you had to self-assess tax, because you appropriated property or services for the benefit of a shareholder, a beneficiary, a partner, or a member of your organization
• supplies of property or services for which you had to self-assess tax because you received a reimbursement under a warranty for property or services you acquired, and you were eligible to claim an ITC or rebate
• supplies of personal property (that is, property other than real property) for which you had to self-assess tax because you are a creditor who seized or repossessed the property and you kept the property to use in your business
• supplies of property or services you made to an employee or shareholder on which you have to account for tax on the value of the supplies and an amount in respect of the supplies is included in the individual's income as a taxable benefit
• supplies you made for a person, while you were acting as an agent, or you were an auctioneer acting as an agent on which you have to account for the tax
• supplies of property or services for which you have to self-assess tax because you received a rebate from a GST/HST registrant, part of which was the GST/HST, on your acquisition of property or a service, and you were also eligible to claim an ITC or a rebate for the tax you paid on that acquisition
• supplies of personal property for which you have to self-assess tax because you acquired or imported the property to use primarily (more than 50%) in your commercial activities, and you began to use it primarily for other purposes

You have to use the regular method to account for the list of supplies above (except for certain capital property). This means that if you make one of these supplies and the supply is taxable, you have to use the actual amount of the GST/HST collected or collectible on your supply when you calculate your net tax for a reporting period.

Special rules apply to the sale of capital assets and eligible capital property. The tax collected or collectible on the sale of any capital assets or eligible capital property that have a fair market value of at least $10,000 at the time of the supply has to be included in your net tax. For more information, call 1-800-959-5525.

Determine if you can claim ITCs

Using the special quick method, you do not claim ITCs on most of your purchases and expenses because you keep part of the tax you collect. However, you can claim any ITCs for which you are eligible for the following:

• purchases of real property and improvements to real property
• purchases of capital assets (other than real property), such as computers and vehicles, and purchases of eligible capital property if the fair market value of the property at the time of purchase is at least $10,000
• purchases of improvements to capital assets (other than real property), such as computers and vehicles, and to eligible capital property
• purchases on which the GST/HST became payable before your special quick method election took effect, if the time limit to claim the amounts has not expired
• goods sold by an auctioneer or agent for you, and the auctioneer or the agent has to account for the tax
• goods you are considered to have:
  • acquired for use exclusively in your commercial activities, because an unregistered non-resident, who paid tax on an importation or deemed supply of the goods transferred them to you in order for you to make a taxable supply of a commercial service to the non-resident in respect of the goods
  • supplied, in the course of your commercial activities, as an agent for the non-resident

If you stop using the special quick method, you cannot claim ITCs for any tax paid or payable on purchases you made while using it, other than the ITCs you would have been eligible to claim, but did not claim, while you were using the special quick method.

For more information, see Input tax credits.

Determine if you need to use one or more than one remittance rates

You may be able to use one remittance rate if at least 90% of the eligible supplies you made through a permanent establishment in a reporting period were made in:

• a participating province, in which case you would treat all of the supplies made through that permanent establishment as having been made in the participating province (that is, only use the rate that you would have to use if all of the eligible supplies were actually made in the participating province)
• a non-participating province, in which case you would treat all of the supplies made through that permanent establishment as having been made in a non-participating province (that is, only use the rate that you would have to use if all of the eligible supplies were actually made in a non-participating province)

If either of these situations applies to you for supplies made in a reporting period, you may be able to use one remittance rate for that reporting period for that permanent establishment. If neither of these situations applies to you, you may have to use more than one remittance rate.

You may have to use more than one remittance rate if:

• you have a permanent establishment in more than one province
• you have more than one permanent establishment in the same province
• you make supplies in participating and non-participating provinces
• you make supplies while acting in different capacities (that are covered under the special quick method)

Determine if you applied a point-of-sale rebate for the provincial part of the HST payable on books and certain qualifying items

The participating provinces offer point-of-sale rebates for the provincial part of the HST payable on books and certain qualifying items. As a result, vendors in those provinces collect only the 5% federal part of the HST payable on sales of these items.

The applicable HST rate still applies to the sale. However, the purchaser is eligible for a rebate of the provincial part of the HST. Usually, the supplier gives the amount of the rebate to the purchaser at the point of sale.

When you give this rebate, use a lower remittance rate for the supply of the books or other qualifying items to account for the rebate. Use the remittance rate that would apply if the sale had been made in a non-participating province and the supplier was situated in a non-participating province. For the remittance rates, see Remittance rates.

Determine if you are a university or a public college, and some of your revenues from taxable supplies come from sales made through vending machines

Use the applicable remittance rate if you are a university or a public college and some of your revenues from taxable supplies comes from sales made through vending machines that you operate or through a retail establishment (other than a restaurant, a cafeteria, a pub, or similar establishment), and the supplies are at least 25% of the amount calculated as follows:

(A + B) × 365 ÷ C

A is the total amount of revenue collected or collectible for all taxable supplies you made in Canada in your last fiscal year (except sales of real property, capital assets, eligible capital property, zero-rated exports, and supplies made to provincial governments that do not have to pay the GST/HST).

B is the total of all GST/HST you had to collect on all taxable supplies you made in your last fiscal year (except on sales of real property, capital assets, and eligible capital property).

C is the number of days in your last fiscal year.

 For the remittance rates, see Remittance rates.

Determine if you gave a customer a credit, a refund, or a rebate because of a reduction in the price of a property or service

You may give a customer a credit, a refund, or a rebate because you reduced the price of a property or service. You may deduct the amount of the credit, the refund, or the rebate from the amount of your total eligible supplies before calculating your net tax using the special quick method remittance rate. However, your supply of the property or service to the customer must be an eligible supply.

Make this deduction for the reporting period in which you paid or credited the amount to your customers.

Determine if you credited an amount to a purchaser for a trade-in

If you use the special quick method, you have to include in your sales calculations any amount credited to a purchaser for a trade-in.

Remittance rates

The remittance rates under the special quick method of accounting for public service bodies that operate through a permanent establishment (PE) are explained below.