Taxable Supplies Made by Charities
While most supplies of property and services that you make as a charity are exempt, some are taxable. You are therefore required to collect the GST and QST on those supplies, provided they are not zero-rated.
The following supplies are usually taxable:
- supplies of movable property that you previously used in your commercial activities and for which you were able to claim input tax credits (ITCs) and input tax refunds (ITRs) (for example, the sale of a printing press you used to print books intended for sale, where the sales of the books were taxable)
- supplies of corporeal movable property that you purchased, manufactured or produced for resale for a price greater than its direct cost, and any service you provided with the property, unless the property or service is sold under a contract with a catering service. However, sales of used property or property donated to the charity remain exempt
- except for certain fundraising activities, supplies of admission to a place of amusement if at least one of the admissions is more than $1
- supplies of memberships that entitle members to benefits such as free or discounted admission to a place of amusement (for example, a museum, theatre or recreational complex), provided the admission is taxable when sold separately. However, if the value of the benefit is insignificant (less than 30%) in relation to the membership fee, the supply of the membership is exempt from GST and QST
- supplies of services of performing artists, if the purchaser charges taxable admissions