How the New PST Could Affect Your Strata's Budget

What is changing, and when

On October 1, 2026, British Columbia expands its 7% provincial sales tax, or PST, to cover several professional services that were not taxed before. The change comes from Budget 2026 and is implemented through Bill 2, with details in the Ministry of Finance's Notice 2026-001. For most residential stratas, the management fee itself is widely expected to stay exempt, but other services in your budget will become taxable. Here is how to plan.

Will PST apply to strata management fees?

This is the question councils ask first, and the honest answer is that it most likely will not for residential stratas, though it is not fully settled. The PST expansion targets non-residential real estate services, and the government has indicated that residential real estate services remain non-taxable. Industry brokerages widely expect residential strata management fees to stay exempt. However, as of mid-2026 there was no formal ruling naming residential strata management, and the treatment of mixed-use buildings, with commercial units alongside residential, was still unclear. Watch for the final regulations.

You can read the Province's guidance in Notice 2026-001.

What in your budget will be taxed

Even if your management fee stays exempt, PST will reach your budget through other services your strata pays for. From October 1, 2026, expect PST on these common line items:

Accounting and bookkeeping, including your year-end review or audit: 7% PST on the full fee.

Security services, such as concierge, patrols, or monitoring: 7% PST on the full fee.

Engineering and geoscience, including depreciation reports and building envelope assessments: 7% applied to 30% of the fee, an effective rate of about 2.1%.

What is not affected

Some common strata costs are not touched by this change. Electricity from BC Hydro has been PST-exempt since 2019, and residential natural gas remains exempt. On-site repair and maintenance labour to your building, such as a plumber fixing a pipe or a roofer replacing shingles, is not newly taxed, though the materials contractors use have always carried embedded PST. This is a provincial tax change, not something your strata manager or contractor chose to add.

How to plan your budget

1

Identify which of your budgeted services are newly taxable; accounting, engineering, and security are the common ones.

2

Add PST to those line items from October 1, 2026 onward. If you are budgeting mid-year, only part of the year is affected.

3

Treat the PST as a real cost, since unlike GST, businesses and stratas cannot recover BC PST.

4

Watch for the final regulations and any ruling on residential strata management before assuming your management fee is or is not taxable.

5

If your situation is complex, such as a mixed-use building, ask your accountant.

For the background on the tax itself, see our explainer on PST and strata management fees.

Seeing the whole budget clearly

Planning for a change like this is easier when last year's budget, contracts, and invoices are in one place you can actually find them. OpenStrata keeps your strata's financial documents and records together, so council can see which services are affected and plan the next budget without digging through email. OpenStrata does not change how tax applies; it just makes the numbers easier to work with.