The Ontario government is providing one-time transition assistance to help small businesses offset costs incurred in making changes to their point-of-sale and accounting systems in order to collect the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) that came into effect in Ontario on July 1, 2010.


Eligibility for the Support Payment

In order to qualify for a transition support payment, an eligible business must: 

-- not be a listed financial institution under the o Excise Tax Act (Canada);
-- carry on business in Ontario and have been a GST/ o HST registrant on July 1, 2010;
-- make GST/HST taxable supplies (including zero-rated o supplies) in the course of carrying on business;
-- have a premises in Ontario where it conducts its o business; and
-- have taxable revenue of less than $2 million in a o 12-month period.

" Taxable revenue " is the amount of sales and other revenue for that period for the purposes of the Excise Tax Act (Canada), and required to be reported by a business to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Eligible businesses will qualify for a transition support payment of up to $1,000 as outlined in the following table:




Delivery of Support Payments

Beginning in the fall of 2010, Ontario will automatically calculate the SBTSP amounts and send cheques to eligible businesses once taxable revenue information for a 12-month period ending on or after January 1, 2009 has been provided to the CRA. The small business transition support payment is taxable for income tax purposes.