B.C. Soda Tax Overview
Audience
This article is intended for all Veloce users, resellers and support technicians, doing business or providing technical support for users in the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada.
Requirements
Veloce Version:
Veloce POS 9.64 or later.
Overview
Effective April 1, 2021, soda beverages will no longer qualify for the exemption for food products for human consumption. PST will apply to all retail sales of soda beverages at a rate of 7%.
If you sell soda beverages and are not already registered as a PST collector, you must register to collect and remit PST. Ensure your point of sale systems are updated to charge PST on soda beverages effective April 1, 2021.
What Are Soda Beverages?
Soda beverages are carbonated or effervescent beverages that have bubbles and fizz and contain any of the following:
- Sugar
- Natural occurring sweeteners
- Added natural sweeteners (such as honey, molasses, maple syrup, fruit juice, stevia, etc.)
- Artificial sweeteners (such as aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, etc.)
Carbonation or effervescence may be either naturally occurring in drinks (as in the case of fermented non-alcoholic beverages, such as kombucha) or injected after the beverage has been manufactured (e.g. with carbon dioxide or nitrogen).
Examples of Soda Beverages Include:
- Soft drinks and soda pop
- Sparkling fruit juices
- Carbonated or nitrogenized energy drinks
- Kombucha
- Nitrogenized coffee (if sweetened)
- Sparkling, sweetened water
Soda beverages also include:
- Frozen sweetened beverages, such as Slurpees or Frosters, that have been carbonated or have other gases added to them, and
- Sweetened effervescent beverages that have any of the following added to them:
- frozen desserts, such as ice cream (e.g. ice cream floats)
- fruit or fruit flavouring
- candy, chocolate or another type of confection
NOTE: The information from this section was taken from Notice 2021-002, issued in February 2021 by British Columbia's Ministry of Finance. The original can be consulted here:
Provincial Sales Tax (PST) Notice 2021-002
Learn more about British Columbia's Provincial Sales Tax (PST):
B.C. Provincial Sales Tax (PST)
Read the Provincial Sales Tax Act:
Specific guidelines for the restaurant and bar industry:
