How can I establish a PST tax exemption in British Columbia?

Accounting & Taxes

Topic summary

A British Columbia merchant is unable to apply PST exemptions for approved clients through Shopify’s tax settings. All listed PST exemptions show as “N/A” and cannot be selected.

Attempted Solutions:

  • Initial suggestion to add tax exemptions through customer profiles (Customers → Tax exemptions section → Add tax exemption)
  • Merchant reports these options are not available in their dashboard setup; only a “manage” button appears with non-functional exemption options

Current Workaround:

  • Manually handling exemptions by collecting exemption certificates from clients
  • However, Shopify’s system does not allow manual PST adjustment on draft orders

Key Issue:
Merchants have no control over adjusting sales tax on the draft order page itself.

Potential Resolution:
One participant suggests exempting customers from PST directly in their profile account settings under the email address—a method mentioned in the initial response but apparently not accessible to the original poster.

Summarized with AI on November 22. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
4

Hello again,

In this case, I think you should handle the PST exemption manually:

  • Ask your clients who are approved for PST exemption to provide you with their exemption certificate.
  • Review the certificate to ensure that it is valid and covers the items being purchased.
  • Manually adjust the taxes for the order based on the exemption certificate.
  • Provide an invoice or receipt to the client that reflects the adjusted taxes.
  • Keep a copy of the exemption certificate and any documentation related to the exempt sale for your records.

Let me know if there is any further information.

Have a nice day.

Jen