Refunds
Vehicle PST refund after purchase
If you’ve already registered your privately purchased vehicle and paid PST, a completed appraisal may still support a refund of the difference, as long as the Ministry receives your complete application within 30 days of registration.
The journey, in order
- Read the deadline guide firstUnderstand the separate deadline before doing anything else.
- Check whether the appraisal-based refund path may fitYou have already registered the vehicle and paid PST.
- Start the Underbook reviewBegin with the vehicle and purchase information.
- Provide the requested condition and evidence detailsSupply the information needed for review.
- Pay only if proceeding is worthwhilePayment is requested only after review supports continuing.
- Receive the refund-support packageReceive the signed appraisal, FIN 320, checklist and instructions.
- Complete and submit the Ministry application yourselfFIN 355/MV is the separate application form; you sign and send the complete set to the Ministry.
Essential facts
- This path is for a vehicle you have already registered and paid PST on.
- The Ministry must RECEIVE your complete application within 30 days of registration.
- The current FIN 355/MV instructions list mail and courier submission routes.
- A refund assessment depends on actual PST paid, supported taxable treatment and verified evidence — not a preliminary benchmark difference.
- An incomplete application can be returned — and the resubmission date is then the one that counts.
- Underbook prepares the package. You sign and send it; the Ministry decides.
Who this is for
This path is for a vehicle already registered in your name, with PST already paid at ICBC. If you haven’t registered yet, the simpler path is described in Appraisal before registration instead — an appraisal used before registration avoids this deadline-driven process entirely.
What Underbook provides
For refund-path customers, Underbook prepares a refund-support package that includes your signed appraisal and FIN 320, a FIN 355/MV application draft, a plain-language checklist and instructions for what to send with your application. A draft still needs your review, any corrections and the proper applicant signature.
Who does what
You are responsible for signing and submitting the refund application. The BC Ministry of Finance makes the final refund decision — not ICBC, not your Autoplan broker, and not Underbook. Underbook prepares the package; it does not file the application on your behalf.
What the Ministry needs to receive
The two documents Underbook prepares are not the whole submission. The Ministry needs the application to arrive complete. The supporting paperwork depends in part on the legal applicant:
Prepared by Underbook
- Your Motor Vehicle Appraisal, FIN 320
- A FIN 355/MV refund application draft, for you to review, complete and sign
Yours to gather
- Your bill of sale
- Your validated Transfer/Tax Form (APV9T)
- Proof of your vehicle purchase, such as a cancelled cheque or bank statement
- Applicant-specific identification under FIN 355/MV document 12: photo ID for an individual or sole proprietor; an incorporation certificate for a corporation not registered in BC
Underbook’s refund intake needs your APV9T; a separate bill of sale is optional for Underbook. Your Ministry proof-of-purchase and identification attachments are separate: do not upload them to Underbook. What to gather before you start is in the Vehicle appraisal document checklist.
Receipt, not postmark
The rule that decides the refund
The Ministry must receive your application within 30 days of the date the vehicle was registered — not post it, not start it. The current FIN 355/MV instructions list mail and courier routes. Check those instructions for the correct address and any change to the accepted filing method.
Sending an incomplete application is not a safe way to meet that deadline. An incomplete application can be returned to you, and the date that counts then becomes the date they receive your resubmission — which may be after the 30 days have run out. Send it complete the first time.
Underbook makes no promise about how long the post takes. What must arrive, and by when, is stated above; how quickly your carrier delivers it is something Underbook can’t know. See The appraisal-based refund deadline for how the 30 days are counted.
The applicant and the refund amount
Individual, joint and business purchasers must use the correct legal applicant details, consistent with the purchase and tax records. The current form asks an individual or sole proprietor for photo ID; a corporation not registered in BC supplies its incorporation certificate. Follow the form’s applicant-specific requirements for your situation.
The applicant who paid the tax signs the application. If a corporation or society paid it, a director or an employee with delegated signing authority signs. A third-party adviser cannot sign in place of the applicant. Underbook does not sign or file the application for you.
A refund review uses the PST actually paid, the supported taxable treatment and verified evidence. A preliminary benchmark comparison or before-registration saving does not establish an eligible government-refund amount. The Ministry makes the final decision; no government refund is guaranteed.
When Underbook will and won’t take this on
Because the deadline is receipt-based and the package has to be assembled, signed and posted by you, Underbook looks at how much of the 30 days is actually left before offering the refund-support service:
- 15 or more days remaining
- The ordinary process applies.
- 8 to 14 days remaining
- Offered, with a clear timing warning.
- 5 to 7 days remaining
- Offered, with a stronger warning. If you go ahead, send the complete package the day our documents reach you.
- 2 to 4 days remaining
- Still offered, but only after you confirm you understand the Ministry must receive the complete application before the deadline, that sending it is not enough on its own, and that you may need the fastest delivery option available to you.
- 0 to 1 days remaining
- Underbook does not offer the refund-support service.
A declined service is not an expired claim
If Underbook declines because 1 day or less remains, that is a statement about Underbook’s service, not about your legal position. Your statutory window may still be open, and you remain free to pursue the refund yourself or through someone else.
Underbook makes no representation that any delivery service will get your application there in time. That is why the shortest bands ask you to decide with the facts in front of you, rather than having the decision made for you.
The two forms involved
FIN 320 is the government Motor Vehicle Appraisal form included with your signed appraisal. FIN 355/MV is the separate refund application you complete and submit yourself to request the refund — the checklist Underbook provides tells you what to send with it. More about the appraisal form itself is in FIN 320 vehicle appraisals.
No refund is guaranteed. Underbook reviews every submission before requesting payment, and tells you plainly if the refund path doesn’t appear likely to help before asking you to pay anything.
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