Today the Canadian Federal Government announced a proposed tax change entitled the “More Money In Your Pocket” tax break. If approved in the House of Commons, this legislation will have an impact on our restaurant partners in the industry:
From December 14, 2024 to February 15, 2025, the HST will be removed from:
- Alcoholic beverages up to 7% ABV (excluding spirits)
- Carbonated beverages
- Snacks, chips, snack bars, candy, ice cream, and baked goods like cakes, muffins, and pastries
- Prepared salads, sandwiches, and other grab-and-go platters
- Food and beverages sold at establishments such as coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, takeout outlets, and concessions.
This means that there will be no HST due on food and drinks from our restaurant partners during this period. The full HST of 13% will still apply, however, to services such as food delivery and non-food items, and so it will be critical to ensure that systems are updated to support this change before December 14.
We highly recommend all restaurants contact and work with your Point of Sale providers to ensure that you can be compliant with these proposed changes before December 14. This is particularly important if you have any other online ordering solutions which may have delivery processing and delivery charges or sell products such as promotional merchandise which will result in the need for multiple tax rates.
For restaurants using Dine Local, your online service will be prepared to correctly calculate the appropriate taxes for your online orders and deliveries in time for these changes. If you don’t currently use Dine Local and become aware that your online ordering platform will not be able to support this change, please reach out to us as soon as possible so we can get you online with Dine Local in time for the changes.