Canada · Provincial Tax (BC)

BC's PST Expansion Reaches Fabric and Pattern Sellers October 1 — Days After a Surprise Pause on Services

British Columbia planned to extend PST to both professional services and craft goods. On 18 September 2026 it paused the services half over trade-war uncertainty — but yarn, fabric, patterns and clothing services still lose their exemption on 1 October, and out-of-province sellers crossing the CAD 10,000 threshold are on the hook.

What Has Changed?

BC's Budget 2026, tabled 17 February 2026, proposed extending Provincial Sales Tax to professional services — accounting, bookkeeping, architectural, engineering, geoscience, security and non-residential real-estate services — and removing existing exemptions on clothing materials, clothing and footwear services, basic cable TV, and toll-free and residential landline phone service.

1. The Services Expansion Is Paused, Not Cancelled

On 18 September 2026, Premier Eby announced a pause on the professional-services portion of the PST expansion, implemented by temporary regulation and citing ongoing US trade-war uncertainty, with estimated savings to affected businesses of roughly CAD 260 million in 2026–27. No restart date has been given — the province's own guidance says only that it will remain paused "until well after" trade tensions ease. Businesses that had already registered for PST in anticipation of the services expansion are being told to cancel those registrations.

2. But the Goods and Craft Side Proceeds on Schedule

BC Bulletin PST 130 (revised July 2026) confirms that, unaffected by the pause, the following lose their PST exemption from 1 October 2026:

• Yarn, natural fibres, synthetic thread and fabric commonly used to make or repair clothing
• Clothing patterns, including knitting, crochet and sewing instructions
• Kits that combine fabric or yarn with a pattern
• Clothing and footwear services, except basic laundry and protective-clothing services

Printed and bound pattern books remain exempt, since they still qualify as books under BC's separate book exemption.

3. Who Actually Has to Register

Out-of-province sellers must register for BC PST once their sales of taxable goods delivered into BC exceed CAD 10,000 in the preceding 12 months — a threshold that has applied since April 2021. Online marketplace facilitators face the same CAD 10,000 threshold under Bulletin PST 142. Separately, Budget 2026 introduced a new exemption, effective 18 February 2026, for goods purchased in BC and shipped out of province for business use, provided the purchaser can document the shipment.