GST/HST Rates by Province: A Complete Guide

Canada’s goods and services tax (GST) and harmonized sales tax (HST) system funds federal and participating provincial governments. If you run a business, provide taxable services, or sell goods in Canada, understanding when you must register, which rate applies, and how to recover the tax you pay on inputs is essential.

GST/HST Rates by Province (2026)

*Quebec administers its own QST separately through Revenu Québec. Businesses in Quebec register for both GST (with CRA) and QST (with Revenu Québec).

Note: Nova Scotia cut its HST from 15% to 14% on April 1, 2025. For the add/extract/reverse arithmetic on any of these rates, see How GST/HST Is Calculated in Canada.

In HST provinces (Ontario, Maritime provinces), the federal and provincial portions are collected together as one tax and remitted to the CRA.

The $30,000 Registration Threshold

You must register for a GST/HST account when your total taxable revenues exceed $30,000 in any single calendar quarter, or over four consecutive calendar quarters.

“Total taxable revenues” means revenues from taxable (including zero-rated) supplies — it excludes exempt supplies. The $30,000 threshold applies to the revenues of you and any associates combined, preventing fragmentation.

When you cross $30,000 the deadline depends on how you crossed it:

• In a single calendar quarter — you stop being a small supplier immediately. Your effective date of registration is no later than the day of the supply that made you exceed $30,000, and you must register within 29 days of that effective date.
• Over four (or fewer) consecutive calendar quarters, but not in a single quarter — you are “no longer a small supplier at the end of the month following the quarter in which you exceed $30,000”, and your effective date of registration is no later than the day of the first supply you make after that. That extra month does not exist in the single-quarter case.

Small supplier: If your revenues are $30,000 or below, you are a “small supplier” and registration is optional. You can voluntarily register even below the threshold — which is often beneficial if you have significant business inputs to recover.

Taxable, Zero-Rated, and Exempt Supplies

Not everything is taxed at the standard rate:

Businesses making only exempt supplies generally cannot register or recover input tax credits.

Input Tax Credits (ITCs): Recovering GST/HST You Pay

The GST/HST is designed to be a tax on final consumers, not on businesses. Registered businesses recover the GST/HST paid on business purchases through Input Tax Credits (ITCs).

Net GST/HST remittable = GST/HST collected on sales − ITCs (GST/HST paid on purchases)

Example: A web design agency in Ontario:

• Invoices clients: $100,000 + 13% HST = $113,000 collected. HST collected = $13,000
• Pays for software, equipment, office rent (all taxable): $20,000 + 13% HST = $22,600. HST paid = $2,600
• ITCs = $2,600
• Net HST remittable to CRA = $13,000 − $2,600 = $10,400

To claim an ITC, you need supporting documentation (typically an invoice or receipt showing the supplier’s GST/HST registration number, the tax amount, the date, and a description of the supply).

Filing Frequency

Your filing frequency depends on your annual taxable revenues:

Annual filers must still make quarterly instalment payments if their net tax for the previous fiscal year was $3,000 or more (and the current year’s net tax will also be $3,000 or more). Note the boundary: exactly $3,000 is inside the rule, not outside it.

The Quick Method (Simplified Accounting)

Small businesses with taxable revenues of $400,000 or less per year (including HST) can elect to use the Quick Method (also called the Simplified Method). Instead of tracking actual ITCs, you remit a flat percentage of your HST-inclusive revenues.

The remittance rate for a service business with its permanent establishment in Ontario, making supplies in Ontario, is 8.8% of HST-inclusive revenues. (Rates differ by province and by whether you sell goods or services — a goods reseller in Ontario is on 4.4%.)

Do not forget the 1% credit. Guide RC4058: “you are entitled to a 1% credit on the first $30,000 of revenue from your eligible supplies (including the GST/HST) on which you must collect the GST at 5% or the HST at the applicable rate in each fiscal year.” So the effective rate is not flat:

The credit is conditional: “To qualify for the 1% credit, your quick method election must be in effect at the beginning of a fiscal year, or if you are a new registrant, on the day you became a registrant.”

Example: A freelance consultant in Ontario, annual HST-inclusive revenue of $90,000:

HST collected: $90,000 × 13/113 = $10,354 Quick Method remittance before the credit: $90,000 × 8.8% = $7,920 Less the 1% credit on the first $30,000: −$300 Net tax remittable: $7,620

Retained vs remitting everything collected: $10,354 − $7,620 = $2,734

That last line is a comparison against remitting all the tax collected, which is not what the regular method asks for — under the regular method you remit tax collected minus your ITCs, and the Quick Method gives those up. The real saving is $2,734 less the ITCs you forgo, which is why the method suits service businesses with few taxable inputs and suits an input-heavy business badly.

The Quick Method is often advantageous for service businesses with few inputs. You cannot claim ITCs under the Quick Method (except for certain capital property).

Import and Digital Services

Non-resident suppliers of digital services (streaming, software, apps) to Canadian consumers must register for GST/HST under a simplified registration regime if their Canadian revenues exceed $30,000 in 12 months.

Businesses importing goods pay GST at the border, generally recoverable as an ITC.

Key Takeaways

• HST provinces (Ontario, NS, NB, NL, PEI) have rates of 13–15%; other provinces collect GST at 5% separately from provincial sales tax.
• Register for GST/HST when taxable revenues exceed $30,000 in a quarter or four consecutive quarters.
• Registered businesses recover GST/HST paid on business inputs through ITCs.
• Net remittance = GST/HST collected − ITCs.
• The Quick Method simplifies accounting for businesses under $400,000 in revenue; remittance rates are typically lower than the actual net tax.