In November 2024, the Government of Canada announced a proposal to suspend the national GST/HST for a period of two months, between December 14, 2024 and February 15, 2025. This temporary tax break is aimed at holiday essentials, like groceries, restaurant meals, drinks, snacks, children’s clothing, and gifts.

You won’t be able to change your tax settings in advance to take effect on the day the tax relief program start, so you may wish to make the changes in the Back Office after your close of business on the day prior to the initiative taking effect and to revert the changes after your close of business on the final day of the initiative.

There are two actions to take in the Back Office to update your tax settings:

1. Create a new tax profile. The details will vary according to your province.
2. Update the accounting groups.

Creating a new tax profile

Provinces with GST + PST

A new tax profile is needed to apply only the Provincial Sales Tax (PST).
To create a new tax profile for each case, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Back Office.
2. Navigate to Configuration > Settings > Tax Profiles.
3. Click on New Tax Profile.
4. Complete the required fields:
   • Name: Enter a clear and descriptive name for the tax profile.
   • Description: Provide a brief description.
5. Define one tax rule:
   • Set the Tax to the corresponding PST rate, without GST.
6. Click Save to finalize the tax profile.

Your new tax profile is now configured and ready for use.

Provinces with HST

A new tax profile is needed to apply a 0% tax. To create a new tax profile, follow these steps:

1. Log in to the Back Office.
2. Navigate to Configuration > Settings > Tax Profiles.
3. Click on New Tax Profile.
4. Complete the required fields:
   • Name: Enter a clear and descriptive name for the tax profile.
   • Description: Provide a brief description.
5. Define one tax rule:
   • Set the Tax to a 0% rate. The default NOTAX option should already exist as an option.
6. Click Save to finalize the new tax profile.

Your new tax profile is now ready to use.

Updating the accounting groups

After creating your new tax profile, follow these steps to apply it to your accounting groups and activate it:

1. Navigate to Menu Management > Accounting Groups.
2. Click Edit on a relevant accounting group.
3. Set the Tax profile to the new one created above.
4. Click Save.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for each relevant accounting group.
6. Navigate to Configuration > Devices > Devices.
7. Request a reload (🔁) for each device.

Ensure all devices have successfully reloaded before processing any new sales to avoid discrepancies.

A video of the first four steps is available.

Restoring your tax profiles in 2025

To change the tax settings after close of business on the last day of this initiative, you can restore your accounting groups to the earlier tax profiles.

Follow these steps to revert your accounting groups to their original tax profiles:

1. Navigate to Menu Management > Accounting Group.
2. Click Edit on a relevant accounting group.
3. Restore the Tax profile to the one used prior to the update.
4. Click Save.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for each relevant accounting group.
6. Navigate to Configuration > Devices > Devices.
7. Request a reload (🔁) for each device.

Ensure all devices have successfully reloaded before processing any new sales to avoid discrepancies.

Please note that Lightspeed does not give tax advice. Any photos, images, graphics, written content, audio, video, files, materials, information, or any other data contained in this help document (the “Material”) are intended to be used solely for educational purposes, and Lightspeed makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of the Material for any particular purpose. Lightspeed shall not be liable for any errors or omissions in the Material or for any actions taken by you which are based on or informed by the Material. Review the Department of Finance Canada website for up-to-date GST/HST tax relief information and consult a tax professional for regional rules and regulations.