The new HST is officially coming in effect July 1, 2010, but the federally administered tax may already have implications in the Real Estate market.  As we all know Real Estate fees will be subject to the new HST, but what many don’t know is that they may already be subject to a partial HST payment.  It all depends on how much work was done for the client before July 1,2010. If 100% of the work was done for the client then only 5% GST is payable. if 100% is performed after July 01 2010 then 100% is paid as HST. If 90% of the work is done before July 01,2010 then only GST is paid. If 75% is done before July 01 2010 then GST is paid on 75% of the fee and HST is paid on the remaining 25%. The HST on new and substantially renovated homes ( where more than 90% of the property is involved in the reno). is the same as the present GST.  New homes priced up to $525,000.00 will be eligible for a new rebate of 71.43 % on the provincial portion of the HST paid.  New homes above $525,000 will be eligible for a flat rebate of $26,250.00 These rebate are in addition to the rebates already available under the GST.

As you can see the new HST rules are somewhat complicated and not easily understood. I for one, just don’t understand how our government can see this a s a good thing for British Colombians when it is going to keep many people from purchasing a new home. I also think it is going to have a devastating effect on the new home industry and may well push our economy backwards rather than forwards.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 12th, 2010 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Keith Macdonald's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.