Budget 2026 expanded the Provincial Sales Tax to apply to a range of professional services, such as accounting, bookkeeping, architectural, engineering and geoscience services – increasing costs for local governments that depend on them. The PST on architectural, engineering and geoscience services will apply to 30% of the purchase price of the services subject to the tax. The changes will be effective October 1, 2026.
Some in the development and real estate sectors have raised concerns about the changes, which they say will significantly increase the costs of housing delivery, and ultimately impact affordability for homebuyers. Building owners and managers have said the changes will result in increased costs for property management.
As stated in the budget, the Province’s rationale for the PST expansion is to modernize the tax and align it with practises in other provinces. The changes are anticipated to generate almost $1.4 billion in revenue over three years.