Cloth Diapers are PST Exempt!

I recently purchased over $100 in cloth diapers from an online shop. It wasn’t until reviewing my blog expenses (since a couple of those diapers were for self-sponsored giveaways) that I thought to myself… “Gee, the tax on these seems high!” 

QST (Quebec’s provincial sales tax) is just under 10%, but cloth diapers are PST-exempt, since they’re baby supplies (as are disposable diapers). The shop, however, had made a mistake, and charged me QST on top of GST, so almost 15%. That makes a big difference on a big purchase! Thankfully, I noticed, and when I pointed it out, the company was happy to refund me.

But, it got me wondering: how many businesses are charging provincial sales tax on cloth diapers, and how many parents don’t realize they’re being overcharged? I’m not accusing business of charging PST on purpose… I don’t doubt that it’s an honest mistake. Just make sure you’re not being charged PST next time you make a fluffy purchase! For those provinces with HST, you should only be paying the federal portion of the HST rate.

Supporting documents:

• British Columbia
• Saskatchewan
• Manitoba
• Ontario
• Quebec
• Nova Scotia
• New Brunswick (Sorry, haven’t found a link yet.)
• PEI

The diaper in the image above was made by Green Bumkin.

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