Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
The sugar tax in Newfoundland and Labrador is gone. The province scrapped its sugar sweetened beverage tax at 12:01 a.m. on 1 July 2025. Until then it added $0.20 a litre to sweet drinks, which worked out to 7 cents on a 355 ml can. If you’re reading a price tag today, there’s no such charge in it.
How did the Newfoundland sugar tax work?
It started on 1 September 2022, and the province’s Department of Finance set the rate at $0.20 per litre, prorated by container size. The tax sat on ready-to-drink and dispensed drinks with added sugar: soft drinks, sweetened iced tea, sports and energy drinks, slush and fountain drinks. Wholesalers collected it and passed it on to the province.
Shoppers rarely saw it. Retailers didn’t have to show the tax on the receipt, so it was folded into the shelf price. And the HST landed on top of it, because the province applied HST to the price including the sugar tax.
What did a can, a bottle and a case cost in sugar tax?
The maths is simple: litres times $0.20. The province’s own circular uses the 355 ml can (7 cents) and the box of 12 (84 cents) as examples, and the rest follow the same rule.
| Container | Litres | Sugar tax at $0.20 a litre |
|---|---|---|
| 355 ml can | 0.355 | $0.07 |
| 500 ml bottle | 0.5 | $0.10 |
| 1 litre bottle | 1 | $0.20 |
| 2 litre bottle | 2 | $0.40 |
| Box of 12 cans | 4.26 | $0.84 |
Syrups, flavoured powders and frozen concentrates had their own rates, and a few products were exempt. Small single containers under 75 ml were exempt, as were drinks with 1.1% alcohol or more.
How much extra did the HST add?
Take a box of 12 cans priced at $6.00 before any tax (we picked that number, it isn’t a real shelf price). The sugar tax adds $0.84, so the taxable price becomes $6.84. The GST/HST calculator shows 15% HST of $1.03 on that, and a total of $7.87. So the sugar tax really cost you about 97 cents on that box once HST came along for the ride. Just shy of a loonie, in other words.
A plain $3.00 drink with no sugar tax carries $0.45 of HST at the same 15% rate. If you need to back the tax out of a receipt total, the HST reverse calculator does it in one step.
What did it add up to over a year?
Picture Sam in St. John’s who buys two boxes of 12 a month for the family. That’s 24 boxes a year at $0.84, or $20.16 of sugar tax. Add 15% HST on top and the yearly cost is about $23. Not nothing, but it was never a budget-breaker, and the bigger effect was on the shelf price the shop chose to charge.
Heavy fountain-drink or 2 litre buyers paid more, of course. A 2 litre bottle carried $0.40 of sugar tax, or about 46 cents once the HST was counted. Run your own habit through the same sum: litres per year, times $0.20, times 1.15.
What was left out of the tax?
Not every sweet-tasting thing counted. 100% fruit and vegetable juice wasn’t taxed. Neither was a drink that got its sweetness from sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose or stevia, because the test was whether the maker added sugars, and it was read off the ingredient list. Coffee or tea made for you at a cafe wasn’t taxed either, though a bottled version with sugar in the ingredients was.
Chocolate milk was exempt too, unless the maker called it a shake or milkshake. Those details only matter as history now, but they explain why an old receipt may not show the same charge on every drink.
What happened to retailers and the money?
Wholesalers and retailers were told to stop charging the tax on 1 July 2025. Retailers holding stock on which they’d already paid the tax could apply for a refund, and the applications had to go in after that date. The province’s notice on the elimination of the tax sets no firm deadline for those refund applications, so anyone in that position should ask the province’s Tax Administration Division (1-877-729-6376) rather than sit on it.
The government said programs paid for by the tax would carry on, including school breakfast and lunch programs and the physical activity tax credit. It didn’t say what would replace the revenue, and we haven’t tried to guess.
Why might an old price list still show the tax?
Because pages written in 2022 rarely get updated. A blog, a store flyer or an old price comparison can quote a sugar tax that no longer exists. Check the date, and check gov.nl.ca.
Prices on the shelf also don’t always drop on a clear day. Retailers were allowed to claim back tax paid on stock they already held, so a few shops may have adjusted slowly. If a drink still seems dear, ask the till staff, nicely.
Mistakes to avoid when you look this up
Don’t assume other provinces have the same tax. We didn’t confirm any other Canadian sugary drink tax, so check your own province’s finance site before you budget around one. And if you run a small shop and paid the tax on unsold stock, don’t wait around: the refund route is with the provincial tax office, not the CRA. For your own grocery costs, the budget calculator gives you a monthly picture, and the percentage calculator shows how much of a price is tax.
Where we got these figures
The rate, the 355 ml example, the exemptions and the HST rule come from the Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Finance information circular (updated 20 February 2025). The repeal date comes from the province’s notice and its news release of May 2025. The 15% HST figure is from the calculator, which uses the 2026 provincial rate. This is an independent site, not a government one.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a sugar tax in Newfoundland now?
No. The province eliminated its sugar sweetened beverage tax at 12:01 a.m. on 1 July 2025.
How much was the Newfoundland sugar tax?
It was $0.20 per litre of ready-to-drink beverage, prorated by container size. A 355 ml can carried 7 cents and a box of 12 cans carried 84 cents.
When did the sugar tax start?
It took effect on 1 September 2022.
Was HST charged on the sugar tax?
Yes. The province's circular says HST applied to the total price including the sugar tax.
Could shops get money back when the tax ended?
Retailers holding stock they'd paid the tax on could apply for a refund after 1 July 2025. Ask the provincial Tax Administration Division for the current process.
- How Canadian income tax works: brackets and credits
How federal and provincial Canadian income tax stack up, what marginal and average rates mean, and how credits and deductions change your bill
- Newfoundland and Labrador income tax in 2026
How Newfoundland and Labrador income tax works in 2026: eight brackets, a basic personal amount that changes mid-year, the 15% HST and the calculators