Important Note: This article only applies to charities and qualifying Not-for-Profit organizations which are not HST registrants (i.e. do not have HST-eligible revenues above $50,000 and have not registered to collect HST on their revenues) but receive the Public Service Bodies Rebate on GST/HST paid. If you are uncertain if this applies to your organization, please contact your RLB advisor.

In 2015, your organization may have received notification from Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) on your notice of assessment for the Public Service Bodies Rebate (“PSB rebate”) that you should be filing the rebate form semi-annually and that failure to file semi-annually rather than annually may result in CRA withholding your PSB rebate.

In 2016, we can confirm that CRA has begun to withhold the PSB rebate for organizations which have continued to file annually, rather than semi-annually. A number of our clients have had their rebates withheld, and have had to split their annual rebate form into two forms covering the first and last six-month periods of their fiscal year, and re-file the rebate forms accordingly.

Please note that organizations which receive the PSB rebate and are not GST/HST registrants are required to file semi-annually. This is not a change in legislation; CRA has simply begun to enforce the existing requirement, rather than administratively permitting the forms to be filed annually covering the whole fiscal year of the organization.

Thus, it would be prudent for all organizations to begin to file their PSB rebate forms semi-annually, to avoid unnecessary delays in receiving their rebates.  If you are unable to determine the portions of your rebate which are from the first and last six months of your fiscal year, please contact your RLB advisor … we can help.