POS, accounting and payroll software for British Columbia businesses

Sales tax in BC: two taxes, two returns

British Columbia never joined the HST, so a BC business usually charges two separate taxes: the 5% federal GST, filed with the CRA, and the 7% provincial sales tax, administered by the BC Ministry of Finance. They have different exemptions, different filing calendars and different returns, which is exactly why lumping them into one “tax” line on a till causes trouble at filing time.

SeroPOS and SeroBooks treat GST and PST as two tax components with their own liability accounts. A coffee and a muffin to stay, a case of wine and a pair of headphones can all sit on one bill, and each line carries the right mix. The Sales Tax Centre in SeroBooks then reports each tax separately for its own return.

• GST 5%: filed with the CRA, input tax credits on qualifying purchases
• PST 7% general rate, with higher rates on liquor (10%) and some vehicles
• Prepared restaurant food is generally PST-exempt, while alcohol is not
• PST is a retail tax, so there are no input credits; exemption certificates matter

Payroll the BC way: daily overtime and WorkSafeBC

BC is one of the few provinces where overtime starts on a daily basis. Under the Employment Standards Act, hours past 8 in a day are paid at time-and-a-half and hours past 12 at double time, with weekly overtime after 40 hours on top. Kitchens and retail floors with split shifts and long Saturdays hit these thresholds constantly, and a weekly-only calculation underpays.

SeroPayroll reads timesheets day by day and applies the two-tier daily rule plus the weekly limit without double counting. Vacation pay accrues by statute (4% rising to 6% after five years). BC’s five paid sick days, introduced in 2022, are a separate entitlement from vacation and are paid at an average day’s pay.

WorkSafeBC premiums are an employer cost based on assessable payroll and your classification unit rate. SeroPayroll keeps the assessable earnings by pay run, so filling in the annual or quarterly WorkSafeBC return is a matter of reading off the figure. Premiums themselves are paid to WorkSafeBC directly; Sero is not affiliated with it.

Statutory holidays in British Columbia

BC recognises eleven statutory holidays, including Family Day in February, BC Day on the first Monday of August, Remembrance Day and, since 2023, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30. Easter Monday and Boxing Day are not statutory in BC, which surprises employers coming from Ontario. Employers can still give those days by policy, as long as payroll treats them as company holidays.

Eligibility and pay follow BC’s formula: an employee who has been employed for at least 30 calendar days and worked or earned wages on 15 of the 30 days before the holiday gets an average day’s pay. Anyone who works the holiday earns time-and-a-half on top. SeroPayroll stores BC’s calendar and formula separately from every other province.

Serving BC from Vancouver to the North

Sero Technologies is the trade name of Inputly AI Inc., a British Columbia corporation, with the team in the Vancouver and Surrey area. There is no storefront office to visit; support runs by phone at +1 (604) 800-0897, email and in-app chat, which is how we serve customers in Victoria, Kelowna, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Abbotsford and Prince George alike.

Restaurants on Granville Street, cafés in Victoria, wineries and liquor stores in the Okanagan and retailers in Richmond and Burnaby face the same BC rules. SeroPOS runs the counter on iPad, Android or Windows, SeroBooks holds the ledger and SeroPayroll pays the staff, and each can be bought on its own.

Pricing for BC businesses

All Sero products are priced in US dollars with a 14-day free trial. SeroPOS starts at $29.99 a month (Standard) or $49.99 (Pro, with QuickBooks and Xero sync and recipe costing). SeroBooks starts at $79.99 a month, and SeroPayroll starts at $25 a month for up to 10 employees. Annual billing is available on every product.

SeroBooks Pro at $300 a month includes payroll inside the same ledger along with forecasting, job costing and the audit trail. If you only need payroll, SeroPayroll on its own is the lighter option, and the same login works across SeroBooks and SeroPayroll if you add the other later. Accountants and bookkeepers get free practice seats in SeroBooks.