Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Canada’s digital services tax, aimed at big tech companies, has been repealed. The government announced on June 29, 2025 that it would rescind it, and Bill C-15 received royal assent on March 26, 2026. What you may still pay is ordinary GST/HST on digital subscriptions from abroad. We cover both meanings of digital tax.
What happened to the digital services tax?
It targeted large technology companies earning money from Canadian users, and a payment was due 30 June 2025. The Department of Finance’s news release put it plainly:
The June 30, 2025 collection will be halted.
Department of Finance Canada news release, canada.ca
That legislation came in Part 2 of Bill C-15, the Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1, which received royal assent on March 26, 2026 according to the Parliament of Canada bill page. A KPMG summary of the enacted bill says Part 2 repeals the Digital Services Tax Act, treats the repeal as in force from June 20, 2024, and gives anyone who paid tax, penalties or interest under it a refund with interest. We confirmed the assent date on the official page and the repeal details only from that summary, so check the consolidated act if you need the exact wording.
For an ordinary person there was never a line on a tax return for it. The tax fell on the companies, and any refund goes to the companies that paid it.
Do you pay tax on Netflix and app subscriptions?
Yes, in most cases. When a foreign company sells digital products or services to someone in Canada who isn’t a GST/HST registrant, the CRA rules require GST/HST to be charged at the rate for that person’s province. Here are the rates the CRA page gives.
| Where you live | Rate charged |
|---|---|
| Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec | 5% GST |
| Ontario | 13% HST |
| Nova Scotia | 14% HST |
| New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island | 15% HST |
Those are the federal amounts only. Provincial sales tax in places like British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and Quebec’s QST, are separate systems, and the CRA page we used doesn’t cover them. So a bill in those provinces may show more than the table.
What does that look like on a $20 subscription?
In Ontario, a $20 monthly plan carries $2.60 of HST, so you pay $22.60. The GST/HST calculator shows it. Move to Nova Scotia and the tax becomes $2.80, for a total of $22.80.
Already have a total and want the pre-tax price? The HST reverse calculator works backwards from what your card was charged.
Over a year, $2.60 a month comes to $31.20 in Ontario. Small on its own, though five $20 subscriptions add up to $13.00 a month, or $156 a year, and nobody notices because it’s a few bucks buried in each bill.
How does a vendor know which province you’re in?
The CRA tells vendors to look at things like your billing address, payment details and IP address. Two or more Canadian indicators, with fewer than two foreign ones, point to a Canadian customer. The same logic then picks the province. If your bill shows the wrong province’s rate, message the seller.
That matters if you’ve moved. Update the billing address on each account, or a company may keep charging the old province’s rate until it has fresh information.
Did the repeal change what you pay on a subscription?
No. The digital services tax was charged to the companies, not added to your bill, so cancelling it doesn’t lower a streaming price on its own. Whether a company raised prices because of it, or lowers them now, is a business decision we can’t see. The GST/HST on your invoice works the same way it did before.
What should you do about a charge that looks wrong?
Compare the tax line with the rate for your province in the table. If it’s off, contact the seller and ask which province they’ve recorded for you. Keep the invoice, since it’s the proof if the answer takes a while. If the amount is right, there’s nothing to do and nothing to claim, because ordinary consumers can’t get GST/HST on personal subscriptions back. Our page on GST and HST in Nova Scotia shows how one of those rates works in practice.
Does any of this matter if you run a business?
It can. If you’re a GST/HST registrant, the rules for foreign digital suppliers are different from the consumer case above, and the CRA has a separate set of pages on the digital economy. We didn’t confirm the business side in enough detail to summarize it, so read those pages. For the income side of a small business, the corporate tax calculator gives an estimate, and we’d treat any small business rate it shows as approximate.
Selling digital products yourself changes the picture too. Add up the numbers before assuming you’re small enough to be exempt.
Common mistakes with digital tax
People expect a separate “digital tax” line on an invoice. There isn’t one. What you see is ordinary GST/HST, sometimes labelled with the province.
Another mistake is treating the cancelled tax as something you can claim back. Refunds go to the companies that paid it, and there is no personal claim.
Where did we check this?
In November 2026 we re-checked the royal assent date of Bill C-15 on the Parliament of Canada page. The June 29, 2025 announcement comes from the Department of Finance news release, and the repeal and refund details from a law firm summary of the enacted bill. The GST/HST rates and the rules for locating customers come from the CRA page on cross-border digital products or services, which we read earlier and did not reopen this month. Example figures come from our GST/HST calculator. We have not verified provincial sales taxes. For rates by province, see sales tax in Canada by province and territory. We are an independent site, and no government body is behind it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Canada’s digital services tax still in force?
No. The government announced on June 29, 2025 that it would rescind it and halted the June 30 collection. Bill C-15 received royal assent on March 26, 2026, and a law firm summary says its Part 2 repeals the Digital Services Tax Act and gives payers a refund with interest.
Did the digital services tax affect me directly?
No. It was charged to very large technology companies earning money from Canadian users, not to individuals, and there was never a line for it on a personal return. Its repeal does not lower a subscription price on its own, and any refund goes to the companies that paid.
Do I pay GST/HST on foreign streaming and apps?
Generally yes. When a non-resident vendor sells digital products or services to someone in Canada who is not a GST/HST registrant, the CRA rules require tax at the rate for that person’s province. That is 5% GST in several provinces, 13% HST in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia and 15% in other Atlantic provinces.
What GST/HST applies to a $20 subscription in Ontario?
Ontario charges 13% HST, so a $20 monthly plan carries $2.60 of tax and you pay $22.60. Over a year that is $31.20 of tax. In Nova Scotia the tax is $2.80 and the total $22.80. Provincial sales taxes in some provinces, and Quebec’s QST, are separate and not shown here.
How does a vendor decide which province I live in?
The CRA tells vendors to weigh indicators such as your billing address, payment details and IP address. Two or more Canadian indicators with fewer than two foreign ones point to a Canadian customer, and the same logic picks the province. If you moved, update the billing address on each account.
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