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Sales tax compliance across provinces comes down to three jobs: charge the right rate for where the sale is made, register once you pass $30,000 in taxable sales, and keep records for six years. The hard part is the first one, because the same $2,500 sale carries $125.00 of tax in Alberta, $325.00 in Ontario and $374.38 in Quebec.
Which rate applies to a sale?
The CRA calls it the place of supply: the province or territory where a sale is treated as made. That place sets the GST/HST rate, and it isn’t always where your shop is. The CRA has separate rules for goods, services, real property and digital items, and boiling them into one rule here would mislead you. For each product type, read the place of supply guidance before you assume the buyer’s address or yours decides it.
What we can give you is the rate once you know the place. Use the table below for goods, priced at $1,000 before tax.
| Where the sale is made | Tax layout | Tax on $1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 13% HST | $130.00 |
| New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, PEI | 15% HST | $150.00 |
| Nova Scotia | 14% HST | $140.00 |
| Saskatchewan | 5% GST + 6% PST | $110.00 |
| British Columbia | 5% GST + 7% PST | $120.00 |
| Quebec | 5% GST + 9.975% QST | $149.75 |
| Alberta and the territories | 5% GST | $50.00 |
Who has to follow sales tax compliance rules, and when?
A small supplier has no duty to register. The CRA sets that line at $30,000 of taxable sales, either in a single calendar quarter or over four calendar quarters in a row, for most businesses. Its general information guide for GST/HST registrants has the definition. If one single quarter takes you past it, you start charging GST/HST on the sale that crossed the line.
When you cross it over several quarters, you stay a small supplier until the end of the month after the quarter that put you over. After that, you charge on your next sale. Either way you’ve got 29 days from your effective date to register. Miss that and you’re collecting tax you haven’t told anyone about, which is an expensive place to be.
Take Jordan, who sells hand-poured candles from a home studio in Halifax. Four quarters in a row of about $8,000 each adds up to $32,000, which is over the line even though no single quarter was close. Jordan stays a small supplier through the following month, then charges tax from the next sale and has 29 days from that day to register.
Provincial taxes are separate. BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba each have their own PST or RST, and the CRA doesn’t collect it. Quebec’s QST is handled by Revenu Québec. One business selling in four provinces can end up with four accounts. The registration rules for the provinces other than Quebec weren’t something we could confirm, so check the provincial site of each one where you sell. The guide to GST, HST and PST compares the systems, and our page on GST and PST in Manitoba shows the 7% provincial tax with examples.
What does a cross-province invoice look like?
Say you sell equipment for $2,500 before tax. The GST/HST calculator gives $325.00 of HST in Ontario, for a total of $2,825.00. In Alberta it’s $125.00 of GST and $2,625.00. For Quebec, the GST and QST calculator shows $125.00 of GST and $249.38 of QST, a total of $2,874.38.
That’s a $249.38 spread on one product. If your price list is tax-included, your margin moves by province unless you adjust. The reverse HST calculator shows what’s left of a tax-included price after the tax comes out, for example $1,000 of price from a $1,130 Ontario total.
Where do businesses get this wrong?
Usually in a few dull places. One rate on every invoice, because the billing software was set up for the home province. A rate table that still says 15% for Nova Scotia, when the HST there dropped to 14% on 1 April 2025. Tax-included prices that nobody split into base and tax. Each of these is a spreadsheet fix, not a legal puzzle.
The BC figure needs a warning too. The GST/PST calculator applies 12% to everything, but BC’s PST doesn’t cover all goods and services, so it will overstate the tax for exempt items. It’s fine as a quick estimate for taxable goods. It’s the wrong tool for a mixed invoice.
One habit saves a lot of grief: keep a single rate sheet with the date you last checked each line, and put a reminder on your calendar for January and July. Rates do change, as Nova Scotia’s did, and the person who notices first is usually the customer who sees an odd total. Write down who owns that sheet, even if the answer is just you.
How do you spot-check your invoices?
Once a quarter, pull five invoices from different provinces and check the rate against the table. It takes twenty minutes and it’s cheaper than finding the mistake at tax time. Check the total too: base plus tax should match what the customer paid. If you find one wrong invoice, look for the others from the same period, because a bad setting rarely produces just one.
If you want to see what a formal review would check, our guide to a sales tax compliance audit goes through the steps, and the rates by province guide explains the layouts in the table.
What records should you keep?
The CRA says to keep GST/HST records for six years after the end of the year they relate to. That means sales and purchase invoices, receipts, bank statements and anything else that supports a return. Keep them somewhere you can reach them quickly, on paper or on disk. If you’d like to dispose of them early, you need to ask your tax services office in writing and wait for the answer.
What this page is based on
Rates and the $30,000 small supplier limit come from the Canada Revenue Agency, and the records rule from its record keeping pages. BC, Saskatchewan and Quebec tax rates come from the provincial governments. They were rechecked in November 2026, and Manitoba Finance confirms the 7% rate. The Manitoba 7% rate is confirmed on Manitoba Finance's retail sales tax page, but it is left out of the table because the rules for registering there differ. This is an independent guide, separate from any government body.
Frequently asked questions
When must I register for the GST/HST?
Once you pass $30,000 of taxable sales in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive calendar quarters. If a single quarter does it, you charge tax from the sale that took you over. Otherwise you stop being a small supplier at the end of the month after the quarter. You then have 29 days from your effective date to register.
Does the province where I sell change the GST/HST rate?
Yes. The rate depends on the place of supply, which can be the buyer's province or yours depending on the kind of sale. On a $2,500 sale, tax is $125 in Alberta, $325 in Ontario and $374.38 in Quebec. The CRA has separate rules for goods, services, real property and digital items.
Is PST part of the GST/HST return?
No. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba run their own PST or RST, and Quebec's QST goes through Revenu Québec. A business selling in several of these can end up with several accounts and returns. The CRA does not collect provincial sales tax, so check each province's own registration rules.
How long do I keep GST/HST records?
The CRA says to keep records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, including sales and purchase invoices, receipts and bank statements. To destroy them sooner you need written permission from the CRA, using Form T137 or a written request to your tax services office.
Did the Nova Scotia HST rate change?
Yes. It went from 15% to 14% on April 1, 2025, when the provincial part fell to 9%. The CRA's rate page shows the current rate and links to the transitional rules. Check any price list or billing software that was set up before spring 2025, since an old 15% rate would overcharge customers.
- 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