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Sales tax by province runs from 5% in Alberta to 15% in the Atlantic HST provinces, and that gap is real money. A $1,000 purchase costs $1,050 in Alberta, $1,130 in Ontario and $1,149.75 in Quebec. Same shelf, same price tag, three different totals at the till.
Why so much variation? Ottawa charges a 5% GST everywhere. Each province then decides what to add, and there are three ways it does that.
Three systems, one country
In the first, the province adds nothing. Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut charge GST only. That’s the whole bill.
In the second, the province runs its own tax beside the GST. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba charge a provincial sales tax (PST, called RST in Manitoba). Quebec does the same with its QST. You pay two taxes, and the seller reports them to two governments.
In the third, the two taxes are merged into one HST, and the CRA collects it all. Ontario and the four Atlantic provinces work this way.
Sales tax rates by province
Here’s the rate on an ordinary taxable purchase, before any special rules for particular goods. We built the table from the CRA’s GST/HST pages and our own data file.
| Province or territory | What you pay | Combined rate |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta, Yukon, NWT, Nunavut | 5% GST | 5% |
| British Columbia | 5% GST + 7% PST | 12% |
| Saskatchewan | 5% GST + 6% PST | 11% |
| Manitoba | 5% GST + 7% RST | 12% |
| Ontario | 13% HST | 13% |
| Quebec | 5% GST + 9.975% QST | 14.975% |
| Nova Scotia | 14% HST | 14% |
| New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, PEI | 15% HST | 15% |
Nova Scotia is the one that moved recently. The CRA says the province cut its share of the HST to 9% on April 1, 2025, which dropped the rate from 15% to 14%.
On April 1, 2025, the Government of Nova Scotia decreased the provincial portion of the HST to 9%, resulting in an HST rate of 14% in Nova Scotia.
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What does $1,000 cost in each province?
Rates on their own are abstract. Take a $1,000 purchase and run it through the GST and HST calculator.
In Alberta the tax is $50.00. In Saskatchewan it’s $110.00, and in British Columbia or Manitoba $120.00 (the GST and PST calculator splits that into $50.00 GST and $70.00 PST). Ontario comes to $130.00 of HST, Nova Scotia $140.00, and New Brunswick $150.00.
Quebec is $149.75, which looks odd next to a round 15%. It’s $50.00 of GST plus $99.75 of QST. Quebec figures its tax on the price before GST, so the two don’t stack on each other. You can test your own price in the GST and QST calculator.
So the spread between the lowest and highest province on that $1,000 is $100, which is small on a pair of shoes and painful on anything big. On a $40,000 car it’s $4,000. People near a provincial border ask whether shopping across it saves anything, and for in-person buying, where the tax follows the place you take the item and not where you live, it usually doesn’t. We’d check the CRA’s place of supply rules before planning a big purchase around that.
Everyday sizes look different. On a $200 winter jacket the tax is $10.00 in Calgary, $26.00 in Ottawa, $29.95 in Montreal and $30.00 in Moncton. The gap is $20 between the extremes, a few bucks you’d barely notice at the till, though it adds up across a year of shopping.
Where the rate you pay comes from
The CRA says the tax to charge depends on the place of supply, which means where the sale is treated as happening. For a shop counter that’s the shop. For online orders and deliveries it gets more involved, and businesses have to follow the CRA’s place of supply rules rather than guess.
A business owner should also know that GST/HST registration is triggered by sales over the small supplier threshold. The CRA’s general information guide for GST/HST registrants defines a small supplier as one whose taxable revenue is $30,000 or less in a single calendar quarter and over the last four consecutive quarters. PST and QST have their own separate registration with the province.
How do you read a receipt in each system?
Check the tax lines on your next receipt. In an HST province you’ll see one line, often labelled HST or TVH. In Saskatchewan, Manitoba or British Columbia there are two, GST and PST or RST. In Quebec the two lines are GST (TPS) and QST (TVQ). Try it on a $50 item. Ontario adds $6.50. Saskatchewan adds $2.50 of GST and $3.00 of PST, $5.50 in all. Quebec adds $2.50 of GST and $4.99 of QST, $7.49, with the QST rounded to the cent.
If the lines on your receipt don’t match what you expect, ask the shop before you leave. Mistakes happen more often on online orders shipped across provincial lines.
Mistakes that cost people money
The biggest one is assuming every item carries the full rate. It doesn’t. Some goods and services are taxed at a lower rate or not at all, and provincial taxes have their own exemptions that differ from the federal list. We haven’t tested the lists here, so check the CRA or your province for the item in question.
That matters for our own tools too. The GST and PST calculator applies one flat 12% to everything in British Columbia. If you’re pricing something that BC treats differently, such as restaurant meals, the result will run high.
The second mistake is backing tax out of a total the wrong way. Dividing $113 by 1.13 gives $100.00 and $13.00 of Ontario HST. Taking 13% of $113 gives $14.69, which is wrong. The HST reverse calculator does it the right way round.
Third, rates change. Manitoba’s 7% looked unchanged on the CRA page we read, but we didn’t check the province’s 2026 budget. Quebec’s 9.975% matches Revenu Québec’s published rules. If a figure matters to you, look at the source.
Where we got these figures
Federal GST and HST rates and the Nova Scotia change come from Canada Revenue Agency pages on GST/HST rates. Provincial rates for British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec come from our 2026 sales tax data file, retrieved on September 29, 2026. The worked examples are calculated with the same maths the calculators use. This is an independent guide, separate from any government body.
Frequently asked questions
Which province has the lowest sales tax?
Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut charge only the 5% GST. Nothing is added on top.
Which province has the highest sales tax?
New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island charge 15% HST. Quebec is close behind at 14.975% once GST and QST are added.
What's the difference between GST, HST and PST?
GST is the federal 5%. HST blends it with the provincial tax into one rate collected by the CRA. PST is a separate provincial tax charged beside the GST.
Why does Quebec's tax not equal 5% plus 9.975% of the total?
QST is worked out on the price before GST, not on the price with GST added. On $1,000 that gives $50.00 GST and $99.75 QST.
Does Nova Scotia still charge 15% HST?
No. The CRA says the rate dropped to 14% on April 1, 2025, after the province cut its part of the HST to 9%.
- GST, HST, PST and QST explained for every province
Which GST, HST, PST or QST applies where you shop or sell in Canada, the 2026 rates for every province, who must register and how to add or remove tax