The PSB Rebate for Churches in Canada: How Much You Can Get Back (2026 Guide)

I’d like to introduce you to my dog, Whiskey.

His idea of pure joy is sticks. He snatches one up and parades around the backyard (and the house if he can sneak them in).

Joy in a bookkeeping world is a bit less obvious than carrying around a 3-foot branch, but it can be found. (For the bookkeepers reading this, no, it’s not in a perfect reconciliation, although I admit to always getting a thrill out of that.)

Joy is a refund!

Getting mail from CRA is never a favourite unless that mail includes a cheque.

For churches, we are talking about the PSB rebate.

What Is the PSB Rebate for Churches?

The PSB rebate is the Public Service Body Rebate. It entitles a charity to recover a portion of the GST/HST it pays on its purchases and expenses. If your church is a registered charity, you qualify. There’s no minimum size, no minimum revenue, and no separate application to “become eligible” - you just need to file. It’s basically like free money.

How Much of the HST Can a Church Get Back?

In Ontario, churches can recover roughly 70% of the HST they pay. It breaks down like this: Ontario charges 13% HST, and the rebate works out to 82% of the PST portion plus 50% of the GST portion which blends to 69.692% overall. Confused yet?

An example will help.

$100 + $13 HST = $113 total.

$13 x 69.692% = $9.06

This means that the government will reimburse you $9.06 on that $113 purchase. That can add up very quickly. (Rates and thresholds below are current as of 2026, but check the CRA’s GST66 page before filing, since these can change.)

Every charity can do this.

But often we run into churches that have never filed because they don’t know how to track the rebate and how to file with CRA.

How Does the PSB Rebate Work in Alberta and British Columbia?

Ontario’s math looks the way it does because Ontario charges HST, which is a blended federal and provincial tax with its own negotiated PSB rebate rate. Any province that charges HST works the same in principle.

Alberta only charges GST, so there’s no provincial sales tax at all. The rebate is simple: you get 50% of the GST back.

$100 + $5 GST = $105 total.

50% x $5 = $2.50 refund.

BC charges GST and PST separately as they’re not harmonized. The PSB rebate only ever applies to the federal GST portion. Your church can’t claim anything back on the PST.

$100 + $5 GST + $7 PST = $112 total.

50% x $5 GST = $2.50 refund. The $7 PST is not refundable.

Same idea as Ontario, but smaller number because there’s no provincial rebate rate layered on top. We’ve built the Alberta and BC breakouts right into the PSB Breakout Tool, so you can use the tool no matter where your church is.

How Do You Record the PSB Rebate in Your Books?

As you are doing the bookkeeping, break out the HST into the right buckets when you are recording every transaction. Then filing becomes very straightforward, and the amounts are shown right on your balance sheet. Grab our free PSB Breakout Tool from the Church Finance Tools page on our website. Record the refundable portion (which is the blue colour) in a receivable account and the non-refundable portion (which is the yellow colour) in the expense.

So the journal entry behind the scenes would look like this:

Bank $113

Office Supplies Expense $103.94 ($100 + $3.94 non-refundable)

GST Receivable portion $2.50

PST Receivable portion $6.56

Now if you are using software like QBO, you can create a PSB code to do all the work, rolling the non-refundable portion back into the expense, and the refundable portion is immediately put to the balance sheet into a receivable account. Once it’s set up, you simply put in one code when recording the expense and it breaks out every transaction for you.

How Do You Submit the PSB Rebate?

The PSB rebate needs to be submitted every 6 months – Jan to June, and July to Dec.

You’ll need the GST66 form (Application for GST/HST Public Service Bodies’ Rebate) no matter which province you’re in, to claim the 50% GST portion. Use line 305 on the GST66 (50% federal rate). If your church is in a province with HST that has a provincial rebate factor (Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or Newfoundland and Labrador), you’ll also need the RC7066-SCH provincial schedule alongside it, to claim the provincial portion of the HST.

On the RC7066-SCH, most churches will use Line 305 for their province – 305-ON, 305-NS, 305-NB, or 305-NL. That’s the line for a charity’s non-selected public service body activities, which covers standard, day-to-day church operations.

We file this through the CRA Represent a Client portal. Go to the GST/HST section and select file rebate.

Note: if the option to file online isn’t there, file your first rebate using the paper forms. Print the GST66 form and RC7066-SCH form, fill out the paper forms, and mail them in to your regional CRA tax centre using the address on the form.

After CRA processes that first return, it opens up an option in your CRA portal so you can file online moving forward.

Do You Have to File?

Filing for the PSB rebate is optional. There’s no penalty if you don’t. However, it’s good stewardship to file. It’s money your church is entitled to, and although leaving it unfiled isn’t a compliance risk, it is leaving cash on the table.

Your Money

Whiskey never wonders if the stick is worth the walk, he just goes and gets it. That's really all the PSB rebate is: money that's already yours, sitting in the yard waiting for someone to go get it. At Bookkeeping Solutions, that's exactly what we take care of for your church. Reach out at www.mybookkeepingsolution.ca so we can help claim yours.