Changes To PST Will Benefit Farmers And Agriculture Industry

Released on May 20, 2022

Amendments to the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) regulations will provide greater clarity to farmers and help ensure that PST is applied fairly and consistently to farming and agricultural goods and services.

"After speaking with agricultural organizations in our province, we heard concerns that PST was inconsistently applied to farming and agricultural activity," Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Donna Harpauer said. "The changes to the PST regulations will be more equitable, consistent and protect farmers against perceived 'PST creep' in farming activity."

Effective April 1, 2022, new PST exemptions were made through regulation changes. These exemptions include:

• prefabricated wind breaker panels for use in the protection and handling of livestock
• insulators for electrified livestock fences
• certain farm equipment attached to a registered vehicle
• on-farm dugout excavation and for trenching (in specific circumstances related to farming)

Additionally, it was clarified that the following products are also exempt from PST and are retroactive to April 1, 2016:

• water storage tanks used in spraying or irrigating crops
• storage tanks for weed control chemicals, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, liquid fertilizer
• adjuvants that improve their efficacy or application 
• portable seed cleaners used on-farm by farmers in preparing their crop for storage or market (farmers in the business of seed cleaning must pay PST on their seed cleaning equipment)
• farm tractors 

"While inflation and operating costs have been rising the last couple of years, cattle producers, and all farmers, simply cannot pass along higher costs including taxes," Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association Chair Arnold Balicki said. "The recognition of this by the Government of Saskatchewan when it comes to PST on several important farm related goods and activities is appreciated by Saskatchewan's cattle producers. Keeping this tax out of the industry helps keep it on a level and fair playing field, making us more competitive in the long run."

The estimated, annual cost of these changes is about $1 million. The Ministry of Finance is also beginning discussions about modernizing the agriculture and farming section of PST legislation, to potentially be considered in future budgets.

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