Will I Pay PST on My Bookkeeper's Fees in BC?

Not right now. BC paused the planned October 1, 2026 expansion of PST to professional services, so there's no new PST on what you pay your bookkeeper. If you do your own books, the planned change never applied to you.

Status as of October 10, 2026.

What Was Planned

BC's February 2026 budget planned to apply 7% PST to accounting services, defined broadly enough to include bookkeeping and account reconciliation, starting October 1, 2026. On September 18, the Province announced it was pausing the expansion, saying the exemption for accounting and bookkeeping would be maintained. You can read it in the Province's announcement.

It's a pause, not a cancellation, and there's no new date. If the expansion had gone ahead, hiring a solo bookkeeper, an accounting firm or any other provider to handle your books would generally have meant 7% PST on the taxable service. The rules were based on the service, not the provider's designation, although small-seller rules and other exemptions could still matter.

Why Doing Your Own Books Was Never Affected

PST would have applied to the purchase price of a bookkeeping or accounting service, not to your business revenue and not to bookkeeping work you do yourself. If you sit down at your own computer and reconcile your own books, no service is being purchased, so there's no PST on your own work. That's still true now.

What It Would Have Cost

If you pay a bookkeeper $500 a month for services that would have been taxable, 7% PST would have added $35, for a total of $535, assuming the price didn't change and no exemption applied.

Unlike GST/HST, BC PST generally can't be recovered through input tax credits. For many businesses, that additional 7% would have been a real cost of outsourcing.

What to Watch For

• If the expansion returns, a combined invoice for several services wouldn't automatically be treated the same way across everything on it, because BC's rules specify what's included, excluded and exempt.
• Don't change who does your books because of a paused tax. Weigh it against the value of the time and expertise you're paying for, how complex your books are, and how comfortable you are managing the work yourself.

If the PST news had you weighing whether to do your own books, here's the practical side. The RSB Guide takes a DIY owner through the monthly routine in order, Margot (bottom right of this page, free to try, no sign-up) answers questions as they come up in QuickBooks Online, Xero or whichever program you use, and the Guided plan's dashboard keeps your CRA deadlines and monthly close checklist in front of you. The button below shows what's included.

If you sell bookkeeping instead, see do bookkeepers need to charge PST in BC? For the province-by-province picture, see our guide to sales tax on bookkeeping services across Canada, and for the announcement itself, BC pauses October 1 PST expansion on professional services.

FAQ

Does this affect what I pay if I use accounting software myself? The paused expansion doesn't change the tax treatment of software you use to do your own books. Software purchases and subscriptions have separate PST rules, so PST may still apply to your accounting software.

My bookkeeper is a solo practitioner, not a big firm. Would this still have applied? Under the original plan, potentially yes. The definition included bookkeeping and wasn't limited to CPAs, although small-seller rules and other exemptions would still need to be considered. With the expansion paused, the proposed new PST on bookkeeping services isn't in effect.

What if my bookkeeper provides other services along with bookkeeping? If the expansion returns, don't assume a combined invoice gets the same treatment across every service on it.

Does this apply to every bookkeeping service in every situation? Not necessarily, even under the original plan. There were specific rules and exemptions, including for some services relating to places outside BC. The planned expansion is paused, so the proposed new PST isn't being charged on bookkeeping services.

Follow the system. File with confidence.