Graphic Designer BC Taxes: GST, PST & T2125 Guide

If you design for a living in British Columbia, your tax picture has two separate layers that are easy to confuse: the federal GST, and the provincial PST. They have different rules, different thresholds, and different governments behind them. For a designer whose work is purely design, only one of them usually applies, but the line is drawn by what you sell rather than by the word “service”. This guide sorts out which is which, then covers the deductions that matter.

Quick Summary

• GST: charge 5% once your taxable sales pass $30,000. This is the federal small-supplier threshold, administered by the CRA.
• BC PST (7%): a separate provincial tax with its own rules. BC has not put graphic design on its taxable list, so pure design work is not PST-taxable today. That is not the same as BC exempting services, because PST does reach goods, software and a list of services that grew in 2026.
• The $30,000 GST threshold and the BC PST rules are not connected. They have different triggers and different registrations.
• Key T2125 deductions for designers: software subscriptions, a prorated home office, internet, and computer hardware.
• Biggest risk: crossing the GST threshold without noticing. The CRA can hold you personally liable for tax you should have collected.

GST: the $30,000 federal threshold

While your taxable sales stay at or below $30,000, the CRA treats you as a small supplier and you do not charge GST. That status ends once your taxable sales (your worldwide taxable and zero-rated revenue, not exempt income) go over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter, or across four consecutive rolling quarters.

When you cross it, you are required to:

1. Register for a GST/HST number with the CRA within 29 days.
2. Begin charging tax going forward at your client's provincial rate, not your own — 5% GST for a BC client, 13% HST for a client in Ontario, and so on (CRA place-of-supply rules; for most services the rate follows the client's address).
3. File GST returns and remit what you collect.

If the CRA reviews your account and finds you were over $30,000 without registering, it can assess you personally for the GST you should have collected, after the fact.

The quarterly trap. The $30,000 test applies to a single quarter, not only the full year. One large project can push you over in 90 days, even if your annual total would land below the threshold.

BC PST: a separate tax, and when it applies to design

This is where most BC design guides go wrong. PST is not part of the GST system. It is a 7% provincial tax administered by the BC Ministry of Finance (through eTaxBC), with its own registration rules that have nothing to do with the $30,000 GST threshold.

The key point for designers is narrower than the one most guides state. BC PST is a list tax. It applies to goods, to software, and to the services BC names, and “I provide a service” is not on its own a reason to be outside it. Graphic design is not on BC's list, so if you design a logo, a brand identity or a layout and deliver the files digitally, that work is not PST-taxable today. Do not generalise that into “BC does not tax services”. BC has taxed legal services for years. It had planned to add accounting and bookkeeping, architectural, engineering and geoscience, non-residential real estate, and security services on October 1, 2026, but paused that expansion before it started. Related services, telecommunication services and online marketplace services are on the list as well.

PST can come into play when:

• You sell a tangible product, such as printed business cards, posters, or design files delivered on a physical USB drive. Selling goods is a taxable sale.
• You sell or resell software. BC's definition is wide: it covers apps, application software, software as a service (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), APIs and web hosting, and PST applies at 7% no matter where the server sits. A designer who ships a plugin, an app or a subscription product is selling software, not design. The one carve-out that helps: software built solely to meet one specific client's requirements is custom software, which that client can buy exempt, and work performed on software (testing, installing, configuring, modifying, repairing or restoring it) is not taxable.

If you do sell taxable goods or software in BC in the ordinary course of business, you generally must register for PST and charge 7%, unless you qualify as a small seller. The small seller test is $10,000 or less in gross revenue from all retail sales of eligible goods, software and services over the previous 12 consecutive months, not a calendar year, counted across every business you run and including sales made outside BC. The criteria are cumulative, so maintaining established business or commercial premises ends small-seller status regardless of revenue, and so does your own estimate for the next 12 months. That test is entirely separate from the GST $30,000 rule.

For a designer whose work is purely design, the practical answer is usually this: charge 5% GST once registered, and no PST. It stops being the answer the moment part of what you sell is a good or is software, so check what is actually on your invoices rather than what your job title is.

Maximizing your T2125 deductions

At tax time you file a T2125 (Statement of Business or Professional Activities) with your T1 personal return. The deductions that matter most to a designer are software subscriptions (such as Adobe Creative Cloud), a prorated home office, internet, and computer hardware.

A few principles apply to all of them:

• The primarily-for-business test. An expense only qualifies if it was incurred to earn business income. Mixed-use items, like a phone line or your home office, must be prorated by actual business-use percentage.
• Keep the receipt. A bank statement alone is often not enough for a T2125 review. A photo of the receipt saved on the day of purchase is the minimum standard.
• Log as you go. Reconstructing a year of expenses the week before the deadline means missed deductions and more income tax than you owe.
• Computer hardware is usually a capital purchase, claimed over time through capital cost allowance rather than all at once. See the deductions guide.

If you are registered for GST, you can also claim input tax credits for the GST you pay on business expenses. See what changes after you register.

Step-by-step: tracking your GST threshold

1. Count taxable sales from January 1. Track every dollar of taxable revenue before expenses. Exempt income, if any, does not count toward the threshold.
2. Track by quarter. Use four buckets: Q1 (Jan to Mar), Q2 (Apr to Jun), Q3 (Jul to Sep), Q4 (Oct to Dec).
3. Set a personal warning line at $24,000 — 80% of the limit, the same mark NorthOS warns you at. By the time you reach it, understand your trajectory and plan to register.
4. Watch your trailing four-quarter total monthly. If the rolling sum approaches $30,000, you are close, even if no single quarter is over.
5. If you cross $30,000, register with the CRA within 29 days.

Frequently Asked Questions: Graphic Designer Taxes in British Columbia

Do I charge PST on my design work in BC?

Usually not on design work itself, because BC has not put graphic design on its PST list. Be careful how far you take that. BC PST is a list tax covering goods, software and the services BC names, so it is not a rule that services escape PST: legal services are taxable today, and BC had planned to tax accounting and bookkeeping, architectural, engineering and geoscience, non-residential real estate and security services from October 1, 2026, before it paused that expansion. For a designer the usual triggers are selling a physical product (printed materials, files on a USB drive) or selling software, which in BC includes apps, SaaS, IaaS, APIs and web hosting. Either can make you register for PST separately. PST is administered by the BC Ministry of Finance, not the CRA.

Do I need to charge GST as a designer in BC right now?

Not if your taxable sales are below $30,000. Below that you are a small supplier and GST registration is optional, though you can register voluntarily to claim input tax credits on your expenses.

Does the $30,000 threshold apply to gross revenue or profit?

Gross taxable revenue, before any deductions, platform fees, or expenses. A designer with $35,000 in taxable sales but only $12,000 in profit still has to register for GST.

Can I track multiple income streams toward the $30,000 threshold?

The GST threshold is based on your total taxable (and zero-rated) supplies across your business activities, not exempt income. If you run more than one taxable side business, those taxable sales generally combine toward the single $30,000 threshold. Get advice if your mix is complex.

What is the difference between GST and PST in BC?

GST is the federal 5% tax administered by the CRA, triggered by the $30,000 small-supplier threshold. BC does not use HST. PST is a separate 7% provincial tax administered by the BC Ministry of Finance, with its own rules. For design work itself, only GST applies. If you also sell goods or software, PST is a second registration with a second return.