21 July 1998 GST/HST Ruling HQR0000884 - Applicability of the GST to Several Activities of

                                                                        GST/HST Rulings and Interpretations
Directorate
Place Vanier, Tower C, 10th Floor
25 McArthur Avenue
Vanier, ON K1A 0L5

Dear XXXXX

Thank you for your letter of April 2, 1997, concerning the application of the Goods and Services Tax (GST)/Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) to the transactions described below. This ruling applies to the outstanding issues that were not addressed by XXXXX Tax Services Office in their letter of 29 September 1997.

Our understanding of the facts is as follows:

Statement of Facts

1.  XXXXX (Board) is part of the XXXXX for GST purposes.

2. Unions are required to file financial statements and compensation statements in accordance with regulations made under XXXXX[.] Pursuant to subsection XXXXX employees represented by a union may request copies of these documents. The regulations stipulate that a XXXXX fee is charged for this service.

3. The Board also charges fees to search for certain outputs of the Board. The relevant regulation states:

4. Fee for search - Where a request is made for a copy of written reasons for decision, an arbitration award, a collective agreement, a board certificate, or a board order for decision and a search is required to locate the requested document due to the absence of an award number, certificate or identification number or marker acceptable to the board, the fee payable for the search is XXXXX[.]

Ruling Requested

1. Does the GST apply to fees charged for supplying union financial and compensation statements?

2. Does the GST apply to fees charged for searches of outputs of the XXXXX Board?

Ruling Given

Based on the facts set out above, we rule that these services do not come within the exemptions for Public Sector Bodies listed in Part VI of Schedule V to the Excise Tax Act (ETA). Therefore, these supplies will be subject to the imposition of tax in accordance with subsection 165(1) of the ETA.

This ruling is subject to the general limitations and qualifications outlined in section 1.4 of Chapter 1 of the GST/HST Memoranda Series. We are bound by this ruling provided that none of the above issues is currently under audit, objection, or appeal; that there are no relevant changes in the future to the Excise Tax Act, or to departmental interpretative policy; and that you have fully described all necessary facts and transaction(s) for which you requested a ruling.

Explanation

Paragraph 20(d) of Part VI of Schedule V to the ETA exempts fees charged by governments for providing:

(d) a supply of a service of providing information in respect of, or of any certificate or other document evidencing, the vital statistics, residency, citizenship or right to vote of any person, the registration of any person for any service provided by the government or any other status of any person,

The exemption in 20(d) relates to information maintained by governments in respect of characteristics which identify a person's public status. Financial statements and compensation statements may provide indications of the financial status of the persons concerned, however, they do not convey information about the public status of those persons and as such fall outside the scope of 20(d).

With respect to the search fees, paragraph 20(b) of Part VI of Schedule V of the ETA exempts government services of providing:

(b) a supply of a service of the filing or procuring of a document in a court,

(b.1) a supply of a service of the filing of a document in accordance with legislative requirements,

The term "court" in paragraph 20(b) has consistently been interpreted as not extending to administrative tribunals. These bodies are found to come within the more limited exemption in paragraph 20(b.1) which refers only to to fees charged for filing documents. Therefore, the exemptions do not apply to the present case. These services also fall outside the exemption in paragraph 20(d) for the reasons mentioned above.

Should you have any further questions or require clarification on the above matter, please do not hesitate to contact me at (613) 952-9580.

Yours truly,

Oscar Jacobs
Governments Unit
Public Service Bodies and Governments Division
GST/HST Rulings and Interpretations Directorate