CRA provides somewhat more helpful examples on the HST place-of-supply rules

CRA has released in draft a revised and expanded Bulletin on the HST place-of-supply rules.  Although most of the examples are trite or apodictic, some of the examples are of potential interest including:

Example 92: the BC office of a corporation which receives the advice and has meetings with the advisor has a closer connection to the advisor's services than the head office in Ontario which contracted with the advisor and the Alberta accounting office to which the invoice was directed to be sent - so that the supply is in BC;

Example 96: the business address of a mutual fund trust in Ontario has a closer connection to the services of an accounting firm than the address of the fund sponsor or of the trustee - so that the supply is in Ontario;

Example 107: a storage service (viewed as  a single supply) is made in Ontario as that is where 60% of the art collection in question is situated; and

Example 110: the legal service of drafting an asset sale agreement relates to both Alberta tangible personal property and Ontario real estate - accordingly, the situs of the tangible personal property and real property does not govern and the place of supply instead is determined by the Ontario business address provided by the Ontario client.

Respecting the rule that the situs of litigation "under the jurisdiction of a court or other tribunal established under the laws of a province" is that province, CRA implies that the Tax Court of Canada and the Competition Tribunal are such provincial tribunals, which has got to be wrong. Verification of some of the relevant guidelines would entail a waiver of privilege.

Neal Armstrong.  Summaries of June 2012 Draft GST/HST Technical Information Bulletin B-103 under New Harmonized Value-Added Tax System Regulations: section 8, subsection 13(1), section 14, section 15, section 27, and section 28.