POS system for British Columbia businesses
BC businesses charge two separate taxes, the federal GST and the provincial PST, and not every product carries both. SeroPOS lets you build each combination once as a tax group, so cashiers never pick a tax at the till.
British Columbia in SeroPOS
GST and PST as one group
Create GST 5% and PST 7% as rates, then combine them into a group such as "BC TAX" that products use. Receipts and reports still show each tax.
GST-only items
Products that are exempt from PST, such as most food, take the GST 5% rate on its own, so they never pick up PST by mistake.
A separate liquor group
Add a 10% PST rate for liquor and group it with GST, so beer and wine sales are taxed correctly from the same menu.
Prices with or without tax
Each product has a "price includes tax" setting, useful for bars and events that price drinks tax-in.
Interac on your terminal
Take Interac debit, tap and credit on Moneris Go or Global Payments terminals, with tips coming back to the receipt.
GST and PST in reports
The Daily Sales Report shows GST and PST in their own columns with a remittance summary, and the Tax Report lists every invoice.
British Columbia sales tax at a glance
Most sales in BC carry two taxes. GST at 5% is federal and is filed with the Canada Revenue Agency. PST at 7% is provincial and is registered and filed with the BC government separately. Because they are filed with different bodies, you need them tracked separately, even when the customer sees one total. Liquor carries PST at 10% rather than 7%.
Plenty of items carry only one of the two, or neither. Most food for human consumption, including restaurant meals, is exempt from PST, while basic groceries are zero-rated for GST. Children's clothing is PST-exempt. The exact lists are long and they change, so check the BC government's PST bulletins for your products, and confirm current rates as of 2026 before you set up.
Setting up GST and PST in SeroPOS
In the back office go to Settings, then Tax Rates. Add GST at 5% and PST at 7%, and tick "for tax group only" on PST so it can't be picked alone by accident. Then open Tax Groups and create a group, for example "BC TAX", made of GST and PST. The same screens are in the app under Admin, then Taxes.
Set "BC TAX" as the default tax so new products pick it up, then give food and other PST-exempt items GST 5% on its own. Add a 0% rate for anything that is fully exempt or zero-rated. Each product can be marked as "price includes tax" if you show prices tax-in, and SeroPOS works the tax back out of the price.
- GST 5%: federal, on most sales
- PST 7%: provincial, "for tax group only"
- BC TAX group: GST + PST for taxable goods
- GST only: food and other PST-exempt items
- 0%: exempt or zero-rated items
Restaurants, bars and liquor
A BC restaurant usually needs three tax set-ups on one menu: GST only for food, GST plus 10% liquor PST for beer, wine and spirits, and GST plus 7% PST for any taxable retail goods such as merchandise. Create a "PST Liquor 10%" rate, group it with GST as "Liquor Tax", and assign that group to your drinks category's products.
Because the tax sits on the product, a mixed bill of food and drinks is taxed line by line without the server doing anything. The receipt shows the tax lines, and the Daily Sales Report's Product Taxes section shows how much of each tax came from which products, which is handy when you reconcile your PST return.
Interac and credit on Moneris or Global Payments
SeroPOS sends the amount straight to a Moneris or Global Payments terminal, so nobody keys the total twice. With Moneris Go you enter the merchant ID, store ID, API token and terminal ID in Moneris Pay Settings, and the till reads the terminal's own setup from Moneris, including tip prompts, Interac debit options and whether refunds are allowed.
On Global Payments you can use Global Pay Cloud, bound to each till by the terminal's device reference, or install SeroPOS on the T650P handheld and take orders and payment on one device. A tip entered on either terminal comes back to the till and prints on the receipt as Tip / Gratuity, and batch close runs from the till's terminal menu.
Already have a merchant account? Keep it if your processor is supported. If you want to compare costs, send us a recent statement and we'll quote a rate. Card processing is arranged separately from your SeroPOS plan. Tell us your monthly card volume and the terminals you use today, and we can say which setup fits your counter before you commit.
Tax reports and QuickBooks Canada
The Tax Report in the back office shows output tax on sales, input tax on purchases and tax on expenses, with an overall figure and the invoices behind each number, filtered by location and date range. The Daily Sales Report adds a tax summary for remittance, with GST and PST in their own columns, and it can be downloaded as a PDF or emailed at day end.
On the Pro plan SeroPOS sends sales, payments, customers and items to QuickBooks. QuickBooks Desktop, Canadian edition 2021 or later (Pro, Premier or Enterprise on Windows), connects through the Web Connector, and SeroPOS can build the GST and PST tax items, groups and codes there for you, matched by rate rather than by name. QuickBooks Online for Canadian companies is supported too, with each SeroPOS rate mapped to a QuickBooks tax code.
Frequently asked questions
How do I charge GST and PST together in my POS?
Create GST 5% and PST 7% as separate tax rates, then combine them in a tax group. Assign the group to taxable products. The customer sees one total, while SeroPOS records each tax separately for your GST return to the CRA and your PST return to the province.
Do restaurant meals in BC pay PST?
As of 2026, most food for human consumption, including restaurant meals, is exempt from BC PST and carries GST only. Liquor is taxed at a 10% PST rate. Confirm the rules for your menu with the BC government, then set food to GST only and drinks to a GST plus liquor PST group.
Can I print my GST and PST numbers on receipts?
Yes. In the back office the Tax tab of Business Settings holds two tax names and numbers, and in the app Edit Restaurant has a tax label and number that prints in the receipt header. A live preview shows how the header will look before you save.
Are these BC tax rates current?
The rates on this page are the well-known public rates as of 2026. Rates and exemptions change, so confirm them with the Canada Revenue Agency and the BC government before you open, and again whenever a budget is announced. In SeroPOS a rate is stored once and reused by every product and group, so a change is a single edit.
How much does SeroPOS cost in Canada?
Standard is $30 a month and Pro is $50 a month, with a 14-day free trial and no card needed. Standard covers the full POS for one location and three users. Pro adds the floor plan designer, multi-till, CRM, recipes, advanced reports, QuickBooks and WooCommerce.