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Preparing for the GST Holiday on December 14

Preparing for the GST Holiday on December 14

Preparing for the GST Holiday on December 14

The Canadian government has announced a temporary suspension of the GST on select items from December 14, 2024, to February 15, 2025. 

Businesses which sell the eligible items need to be prepared to not charge the GST on those items during this window.  The Langley Chamber encourages you to review your point-of-sale systems to determine how to change the GST payable to zero during this period.  

Eligible Items:

  • Children's Apparel and Essentials: Clothing and footwear designed for children, diapers, and car seats.
  • Toys and Entertainment: Children's toys, jigsaw puzzles for all ages, video game consoles, controllers, and physical video games.
  • Reading Materials: Printed books and newspapers.
    • Does NOT include journals and writing books, colouring books, or address books
  • Christmas trees: Real and artificial Christmas trees
  • Food and Beverages
    • Restaurant meals, whether dine-in, take-out or delivery
    • Prepared foods such as sandwiches, platters, or pre-made meals
    • Snack foods like chips, candy, and baked goods and non-alcoholic drinks like tea, coffee, pop, and juice
    • Catered meals, including any catering fee
    • Beer, wine and cider (less than 22.9% alcohol), and coolers/ready-to-drink beverages (less than 7% alcohol)
    • Does NOT include spirits/liquor, cannabis, or dietary supplements
       
The items that qualify for GST break during this period qualify whether they are being purchased retail or wholesale.

Key Details:
  • Business Obligations: Businesses need to adjust their point-of-sale systems to remove GST on the qualifying items during the specified period as they will be zero-rated during this window.
  • GST Records and Remittance:  Keep your normal records of GST collected and remit and report your regular GST as usual.
  • Payment and Delivery: To benefit from the tax relief, items must be paid for in full and delivered between December 14, 2024, and February 15, 2025. For partial payments made before December 14, the remaining balance must be settled within the relief period, and the item must be delivered during this timeframe.
     

The Langley Chamber of Commerce encourages local businesses to prepare for this temporary tax change now to avoid confusion on December 14.

For more information on the GST holiday, consult the government's page here 

If you have questions about the GST holiday, or feedback on its impacts (both positive and negative), contact Cory Redekop at the Langley Chamber by email >