Your First GST Year as a BC Contractor: What to Do and When
Crossed $30,000? Here is your first GST year as a BC contractor: when to register, what to keep, when you file, and when the Quick Method helps.
A first GST year rarely gets planned. A few good months stack up, someone mentions the $30,000 rule, and suddenly there's a registration, a new line on every invoice and a return due date nobody wrote down. Here is the first year in order, in plain language, so nothing sneaks up on you.
Step 1: Know when you cross $30,000
You stay a small supplier while your taxable sales are $30,000 or less in a single calendar quarter and over the last four quarters combined. Go over $30,000 in one quarter and you charge GST on the very sale that put you over. Go over it across four quarters and you have a short window to register. We walk through both tests with a worked example in our $30,000 rule guide.
Step 2: Register and start charging 5%
Once you register, every invoice for taxable work carries 5% GST and your GST number. In BC, PST is a separate registration with its own rules, so check that too: PST registration in BC. If you're not sure whether you've crossed the line, our free GST Check answers it in a minute.
Step 3: Keep the paper for the GST you pay
The GST you pay on materials, fuel, tools and subcontractors can come back to you as input tax credits, but only with proper invoices or receipts behind them. Keep them with the rest of your business records. Missing receipts mean missed credits.
Step 4: Know your filing deadline
Businesses with $1,500,000 or less in taxable sales are annual filers by default. Corporations file and pay 3 months after their fiscal year end. Sole proprietors with a December 31 year end file by June 15 and pay by April 30. If your net GST for the previous year was $3,000 or more, CRA expects quarterly instalments the next year. You can choose to file monthly or quarterly instead, which some contractors prefer so the bill never gets big.
Step 5: Decide on the Quick Method early
The Quick Method lets a small service business send CRA a flat 3.6% of its GST-included sales instead of tracking every credit. It is open to businesses with $400,000 or less in annual taxable sales, and there's a 1% credit on the first $30,000. Here's an example based on 2026 BC rules: a contractor with $120,000 in sales and $25,000 of costs that carry GST ($25,000 before the GST) would send CRA about $4,236 under the Quick Method versus $4,750 the regular way, about $514 less in a year. Whether it helps you depends on how much GST you pay on costs. You elect with Form GST74, and annual filers have to elect by the first day of their second fiscal quarter, so this is a decision for early in the year. More detail: GST Quick Method for BC contractors.
Run your own numbers
Try the free GST Check at murtaghco.ca/gst-check. It tells you whether you need to register, when your returns are due and whether the Quick Method would put money back in your pocket. Your numbers stay on your device. The figures in this post are examples; your situation may differ.
How Murtagh & Co. Can Help.
We register trades businesses for GST, set up invoices that show it correctly, keep the receipts that back your credits organized, and prepare and file your GST returns. If the Quick Method fits, we'll show you the numbers and handle the election.
Murtagh & Co. is run by Devon Murtagh, CFA, FRM, a former trades business owner. He knows what your first GST year looks like from the owner's side, not just from the office.
Prefer to talk it through? Book a free 30-minute call at a time that works for you, or reach out at info@murtaghco.ca.