The B.C. government says it is pausing the previously announced PST expansion to professional services.

The controversial expansion was first announced in the last provincial budget and was set to come into effect Oct. 1.

The province says the expansion will be delayed until after Canada’s trade war with the United States is over, in order to offer “breathing room” for businesses facing increasing economic pressure.

“There’s a time to stay the course and there’s a time to adjust. This is a time to adjust,” said Premier David Eby.

“Delaying these changes until well after Trump’s disastrous trade war is over will give businesses some breathing room as they navigate tariffs and bans while pivoting to other markets.”

Under the expansion, several professional services that are currently exempt from having to collect PST — including accounting and bookkeeping, architectural, engineering, geoscientist, commercial real estate fees, and security and private investigation services — would have been subject to the tax beginning Oct. 1.

The announcement of the pause will be welcome news for many small businesses around the province. When the expansion was first announced in February, Chris Gardner, president and CEO of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA), told CityNews the B.C. government “keeps finding new ways to make it more expensive to build.”

“Slapping PST on engineering, architecture, and professional services isn’t clever tax policy; it’s a hidden construction tax that will show up in every project budget in this province,” Gardner said.

“Contractors will price it in, but ultimately, the people paying for housing will foot the bill.”

The provincial government had said the expansion of the PST brought B.C. in line with other provinces in terms of how those services are taxed. Also announced in the budget earlier this year was a new temporary 15 per cent manufacturing and processing investment refundable tax credit for any business investing in buildings, machinery, and equipment used in manufacturing and processing.