A $1,000 receipt from an Ontario store holds $884.96 of goods and $115.04 of HST. Type in the total you paid, pick the province, and the calculator strips the tax out to show the price before tax.
How do you take HST out of a total?
The tax was added to a base price, so the total is the base times 1.13 in Ontario or 1.12 in British Columbia. Going backwards means dividing by that same number. The calculator does it for every province and shows the tax on its own line.
Plenty of people multiply the total by the tax rate instead. On a $1,000 Ontario total that gives $130, but the real tax is $115.04, because the 13% was charged on the smaller base. The bigger the bill, the bigger the miss.
Don’t do that.
If you’d rather work it out on paper, there’s a shortcut. The tax is the rate over one hundred plus the rate, so 13 parts out of every 113 in Ontario. Multiply $1,000 by 13 and divide by 113 and you land on the same $115.04.
What do you divide by in each province?
| Where the sale happened | Combined rate | Divide the total by | Price before tax on $1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 13% | 1.13 | $884.96 |
| Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador | 15% | 1.15 | $869.57 |
| Nova Scotia | 14% | 1.14 | $877.19 |
| British Columbia, Manitoba | 12% | 1.12 | $892.86 |
| Saskatchewan | 11% | 1.11 | $900.90 |
| Quebec | 14.975% | 1.14975 | $869.75 |
| Alberta and the territories | 5% | 1.05 | $952.38 |
These match the CRA’s table of GST/HST rates by province and territory, which also lists 7% PST in British Columbia and Manitoba, 6% in Saskatchewan and 9.975% QST in Quebec.
What does this look like on a real bill?
Say a Nova Scotia contractor bills you $1,000, tax included. The combined rate is 14%, so the price before tax is $877.19 and the tax inside it is $122.81. Before 1 April 2025 the same bill would have held more tax, because the province charged 15% until then. The CRA’s notice on the rate change puts it this way:
On October 23, 2024, the Government of Nova Scotia announced its intention to decrease the provincial part of the HST by one percentage point from 10% to 9%, effective April 1, 2025.
Notice 342, Nova Scotia HST Rate Decrease, canada.ca
Try a $500 purchase in British Columbia. You get $446.43 before tax, with $22.32 of GST and $31.25 of PST inside the price, and both taxes are worked out on that $446.43. A $448 receipt in Manitoba is tidier: $400 before tax, $20 of GST and $28 of RST. And a coffee that rings up at $2.26 in Ontario was a toonie before the 26 cents of HST. To go the other way and add tax, use the GST and HST calculator.
Why might my receipt be a cent off?
Cash registers round each line item separately, and on a long receipt with a dozen items those small roundings can pile up until the total sits a cent or two away from what you see here. The calculator also applies the full rate to everything. Basic groceries such as milk and bread, prescription drugs and most exports are zero-rated, which means no GST/HST is charged on them, so dividing their price would invent tax that was never charged.
The province matters too. In Quebec the QST is charged on the price before GST, so the split doesn’t match the other provinces. The GST and QST calculator shows both lines. For British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the GST and PST calculator puts each tax on its own row.
Who actually needs the price before tax?
A small business that records sales gross has to split them to report the tax it collected, and a buyer who wants to compare a quote against a shelf price needs the very same split. A business that’s registered for GST/HST can usually claim back the tax it pays on its own costs, which is another reason owners want the tax on a separate line. And if you’re checking the tax on something big, like a new home, this page pairs well with the new home rebate calculator.
How we checked the figures
The federal rate table sets HST by province: 13% in Ontario, 15% shared by Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador, and 14% in Nova Scotia. PST is 7% in British Columbia, 6% in Saskatchewan and 7% in Manitoba, and the Quebec QST is 9.975%. All of these were checked against the CRA’s rate table. We’re an independent site, and no government body is behind it.
About this calculator
- What it does
- Take GST or HST out of a price that already includes tax and see the price before tax.
- Category
- Sales Tax
- Last checked
- September 30, 2026
- Result type
- Estimate for information only, not tax advice.
Frequently asked questions
How do I take HST out of a total?
Divide the total by the multiplier for your province. In Ontario that's 1.13, so $113 holds $100 of goods and $13 of HST.
Why isn't 13% of the total the tax?
The 13% was charged on the smaller base price. On a $1,000 Ontario total the real tax is $115.04, not $130.
Does it work outside the HST provinces?
Yes. Pick British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta or any other place and it removes the tax that applies there, with each tax on its own line.
Why is my receipt a cent different?
Stores round each line on its own, while the calculator rounds once on the whole total.
Can it handle items with no tax?
No, it assumes the full rate. Milk, bread and prescriptions carry no tax, so leave them out.
Sources and updates
Updated: . How we check rates · Editorial team · Updates