HST/GST ruling permits gift certificates for services to require the holder to declare the certificate at booking time

CRA has ruled that a gift certificate for services, such as accommodation at a lodge or the use of a golf course, can include a requirement that, in order to book the service, the certificate-holder must declare that a certificate is being used and to state the number on the certificate.

CRA's decision is slightly more liberal than a strict reading of Policy Statement P-202 would allow.  The fourth requirement in P-202 is that a gift certificate "does not require the bearer to do anything to redeem the certificate other than to present it as a means of payment or partial payment for the property or services being acquired."

The decision appears to confirm that CRA's current criteria for gift certificates are encapsulated instead in a frequently recurring passage in its recent letters and rulings on s. 181.2 (see the last block quote in our summary of 19 July 2011 Headquarters Letter 127619).

Scott Armstrong.  Summary of 24 October 2011, Ruling Case No. 138563 under ETA - s. 181.2.