British Columbia says it will pause its planned expansion of provincial sales tax (PST) starting October 1, 2026, while tailoring services are taxed at 7% from that date.
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British Columbia announced in September that it is pausing its planned expansion of provincial sales tax (PST) that was scheduled to begin October 1, 2026.
Premier David Eby said, “There’s a time to stay the course and there’s a time to adjust. This is a time to adjust,” adding that delaying the changes “until well after Trump’s disastrous trade war is over will give businesses some breathing room as they navigate tariffs and bans while pivoting to other markets.”
Under the original plan, PST would have been expanded to additional services starting October 1, including accounting services (such as bookkeeping and assurance), architectural services, engineering and geoscience services, security services (including private investigation), and certain non-residential real estate services (including trading, rental property management and strata management).
The pause did not apply to everything. Tailoring services became subject to the 7% PST as of October 1, 2026, including mending and making clothes, as well as taxable material used for clothing such as yarn, thread, fabric and patterns.
B.C.’s 2026 budget notes that while these items were once considered essential, textiles are “not commonly used anymore.” Textiles were also not mentioned in Eby’s initial announcement about the PST expansion pause, but they are included as taxable on the province’s website.
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