HST

Ontario’s 13% Harmonized Sales Tax, applied to most event goods and services.

How it works in practice

HST in Ontario is 13%, and almost every event vendor quotes before it. That makes quotes look smaller than the cheque you will write. Planners who compare a pre-tax venue price with a caterer’s all-in price end up with a budget that is wrong by thousands.

HST is charged on top of other charges, not alongside them. When a hotel adds an 18% service charge to food and beverage, the service charge is itself taxable, so HST applies to both. That compounding is what pushes a hotel quote so far above the per-plate number on the menu.

Not everything carries HST. An Ontario marriage licence fee, for example, does not. A small vendor who is not registered may also invoice without it. A business must register once its revenue passes $30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters, so a sole performer or a new day-of coordinator may legitimately charge none, until they cross that line.

Worked numbers

The Harbour Gala hotel minimum, built up line by line:

An $18,000 minimum is really a $24,000 line in the budget. A $20,000 catering quote with the same treatment becomes about $26,670.

How to handle it

1. Build every budget line as pre-tax amount, service or gratuity, HST, and total. Never mix pre-tax and all-in figures.
2. Ask every vendor whether their quote includes HST and whether they are registered.
3. Check that registered vendors show an HST number on their invoices.
4. If you invoice clients as a planner, track your own revenue against the $30,000 threshold.
5. Ask an accountant whether a charity or corporate client can claim input tax credits; it changes how they view the gross figure.

The event budget calculator and the event budget sheet both add HST as a separate column so totals stay honest.