GST70 - Election or Revocation of an Election to Change a GST/HST Fiscal Year

Every registrant has a fiscal year for GST/HST purposes. This fiscal year is used to determine when your GST/HST returns are due. In most cases, your GST/HST fiscal year is the same as your tax year for income tax purposes.

If your tax year is the calendar year, your income tax return covers the period from January 1 to December 31. If your GST/HST fiscal year is the same as your tax year, your GST/HST fiscal year is also January 1 to December 31.

The income tax fiscal period of a partnership, where at least one member of the partnership is an individual, professional corporation or other affected partnership, is usually a calendar year. If the GST/HST fiscal year is the same as the income tax fiscal period, then it will also be a calendar year.

The GST/HST fiscal year of a corporation is usually the same as its tax year for income tax purposes.

Election to use a calendar fiscal year

If your tax year or fiscal period for income tax purposes is not a calendar year, you may elect to make your GST/HST fiscal year a calendar year.

For example, a partnership that uses an income tax fiscal period of June 1 to May 31 may elect to use the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, as its GST/HST fiscal year.

A corporation can either use its tax year for income tax purposes as its GST/HST fiscal year, or it can elect to use a calendar year as its GST/HST fiscal year. These are the only two GST/HST fiscal year options available to corporations.

As a new registrant, a corporation does not need to make an election to use its tax year as its GST/HST fiscal year. However, if a corporation does not choose to use the same year end for GST/HST purposes as it uses for tax purposes, it has to make an election to use a calendar year.

If a corporation changes its non-calendar tax year to another non-calendar tax year (for example, from March 31 to June 30), and if its GST/HST fiscal year was the same as the original non-calendar tax year, the corporation may choose one of the following options:

Election to use a non-calendar fiscal year

You can elect to have a GST/HST fiscal year that is not a calendar year if you are a self-employed individual and you use a non-calendar fiscal year for income tax purposes.

For example, if you are a registrant sole proprietor and you use a tax fiscal period of September 1 to August 31 for your business, you can elect to make your GST/HST fiscal year the same.

The option to elect a non-calendar GST/HST fiscal year is also available to trusts. In addition, if an individual or trust is a member of a partnership that uses a non-calendar income tax fiscal period, the individual or trust can make an election to use a GST/HST fiscal year that is the same as the income tax fiscal period used by the partnership.

Selected listed financial institutions

A selected listed financial institution (SLFI) that is either a segregated fund of an insurer or an investment plan will generally have a fiscal year that is a calendar year. Where a segregated fund of an insurer or an investment plan becomes an SLFI in a reporting period in a fiscal year, its fiscal year ends on the last day of the calendar year that includes the last reporting period in which it was not an SLFI throughout the period. As of the first day of the next calendar year, the fiscal years of the SLFI segregated fund of an insurer or investment plan are calendar years and any election made to change its GST/HST fiscal year ceases to have effect.

Duration of election

Your election to change your GST/HST fiscal year has to stay in effect for at least one year (12 consecutive calendar months).

Revoking your election

You can elect to revoke a previously chosen GST/HST fiscal year. The revocation will take effect on the first day of the new fiscal year, provided that day is at least one year from the effective date of the previous election.

Example

In August of 2018, you decide you want to use a December 31 year end rather than August 31. You have been using August 31 as your fiscal year end since you elected to do so in 2015. Because you have been using the August 31 year end for more than one year, you can revoke the election. On September 15, 2018, you send us a request to revoke your previous (August 31) election.

Effective January 1, 2019, you will begin using December 31 as your GST/HST fiscal year end. If you are an annual filer, you have to file a return to cover the period between your old year end and the new one. In this case, the return would cover the period from September 1 to December 31, 2018. In the years 2019 and forward, your returns will cover the full year, January 1 to December 31.

When should I file this form?

Definition

Selected listed financial institution (SLFI) – a financial institution would generally be considered to be an SLFI throughout a reporting period in a fiscal year that ends in a particular tax year of the financial institution if it is a listed financial institution described in any of subparagraphs 149(1)(a)(i) to (x) of the Excise Tax Act at any time in the tax year, and the financial institution has a permanent establishment in a participating province and a permanent establishment in any other province, at any time in the tax year.

Note

For purposes of this definition, the meaning of permanent establishment is expanded for certain types of listed financial institutions such that the existence of a permanent establishment is generally determined based on the location of the financial institution's clients, operations, unit holders, and/or plan members.

For more information, see GST/HST Memorandum 17.6.1, Definition of "Selected Listed Financial Institution".

Where do you send this form?

Send this form to your tax centre. To get the address of your tax centre, go to canada.ca/cra-offices or call 1-800-959-5525.

General information

GST/HST fiscal year