HST vs GST+PST vs GST+QST: Canada's sales-tax regimes for a new business

Direct answer

Canada does not have one sales tax; it has four regimes, and which rate you charge is decided by where your customer is, not where your business sits. Five provinces — Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador — charge a single harmonized tax of 13% to 15% that the Canada Revenue Agency administers through one registration and one return. Three — British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba — charge 5% GST plus a separate provincial tax with its own registration, return and remittance. Quebec charges 5% GST plus 9.975% QST, both administered by Revenu Québec rather than the CRA. Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut charge 5% and nothing else. Two caveats decide most real cases. The $30,000 small-supplier threshold counts worldwide taxable supplies, not sales in your own province. And the provincial taxes set their own thresholds — Saskatchewan sets none at all — which a federal GST registration does not satisfy.

The one sentence in the statute that explains the whole system

Everything here follows from two subsections of the Excise Tax Act. Section 165(1) imposes a single federal tax: "every recipient of a taxable supply made in Canada shall pay … tax in respect of the supply calculated at the rate of 5%." That 5% applies in all thirteen jurisdictions without exception. Section 165(2) then adds a second, separate tax in some places: "every recipient of a taxable supply made in a participating province shall pay … in addition to the tax imposed by subsection (1), tax in respect of the supply calculated at the tax rate for that province." [1]

Read together, the HST stops being mysterious. There is no such thing as a 15% tax; there is a 5% federal tax and a 10% provincial tax that share a base, a return and an administrator and get quoted as one number. New Brunswick says so in its own words: "The HST rate is 15% and is composed of a federal component of 5% (GST) and provincial component of 10%." [16] Newfoundland and Labrador puts it the same way. [17]

What section 165(2) does not do is tell you the rate. It says "the tax rate for that province" and leaves the number elsewhere — which is where the first trap lives.

Do not read the rates out of the statute

The rates sit in Schedule VIII of the Act, and Schedule VIII is out of date. It lists Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador all at 8%, and does not mention Prince Edward Island at all. [3]

Three of those four figures are wrong today. Nova Scotia's provincial component is 9%. [5] New Brunswick's is 10%. [16] Newfoundland and Labrador's is 10%, and its finance department dates the change: "Effective July 1, 2016, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador increased the provincial portion of the HST from 8% to 10%." [17]

So a founder reasoning from the statute — the most authoritative source in the hierarchy — gets three of five HST provinces wrong and misses Prince Edward Island entirely. Rates are set by federal-provincial agreement and given effect by regulation; the consolidated schedule is not where you look them up. Use the CRA's table and the province's own finance page, and check the date on both.

The four regimes

One: HST, in five provinces

Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador are "participating provinces" — five, not six, a count worth fixing in your head because British Columbia briefly harmonized then reverted and stale material still says otherwise. [6]

In these five you charge one tax at one rate, file one return and deal with one government. The CRA "administers the HST on behalf of all the participating provinces," as New Brunswick's page puts it [16], and Newfoundland and Labrador says administration "is performed by the Canada Revenue Agency." [17]

The rate statements are clean: "13% … in the participating province of Ontario"; "14% … in the participating province of Nova Scotia on or after April 1, 2025"; "15% … in any other participating province." [6] So New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador are 15%, Ontario is 13%, and Nova Scotia is the one that moved. This is the administratively cheapest regime in Canada: no second account, no second calendar, no second auditor.

Two: GST plus a provincial sales tax, in three provinces

British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are non-participating provinces, so only the 5% GST applies federally. [6] Each then levies its own retail-stage tax — 7%, 6% and 7% respectively — under its own statute, administered by its own ministry, with its own registration, threshold, return and due date. [4]

These are not variations on the HST but a different kind of tax. The GST/HST is a value-added tax that flows through registered businesses and sticks only to final consumption; a retail sales tax is designed to stick at the point of retail sale, which is why relief comes as an exemption when you buy for resale rather than as a credit when you file. That structural difference is the most expensive thing on this page to get wrong; see recoverability below.

Manitoba's tax is worth naming carefully. The statute is The Retail Sales Tax Act and Manitoba Finance calls it RST, while the CRA's table files the same 7% under a column headed "PST" — same tax, two names, and this page uses RST. [25] [4] Manitoba also settles a question people assume: it does not compound, because the RST "is calculated on the selling price, before the GST … is applied." [25] On a $100 Manitoba sale the customer pays $5 GST and $7 RST, not $7.35.

Three: GST plus QST, in Quebec

Quebec charges the 5% GST plus a Quebec Sales Tax of 9.975%. [4]

What makes Quebec structurally distinct is not the rate but the administrator: it is the only jurisdiction where the federal tax is collected by a provincial revenue body. The CRA states it in its own registrants' guide: "In Quebec, Revenu Québec generally administers the GST/HST. If the physical location of your business is in Quebec, you have to file your returns with Revenu Québec using its forms, unless you are an SLFI for GST/HST or Quebec Sales Tax (QST) purposes or both." [9]

So a Montreal business has two taxes and one counterparty — better than British Columbia's two and two, worse than Ontario's one and one. It also means generic advice telling you to open a GST/HST account with the CRA is wrong for you. Quebec is also where this page's evidence is thinnest: Revenu Québec refused automated access from six paths on 6 September 2026, so every Quebec figure here comes from federal sources actually fetched, and rules only Revenu Québec publishes are flagged unverified where they appear. For the incorporation side, see the Quebec province guide.

Four: GST only, in Alberta and the three territories

Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut levy no general sales tax; the CRA's table shows all four at 5% GST and 0% provincial. [4] One tax, one return, no provincial exposure at home — the simplest regime in the country, and the one that produces the most expensive mistakes, because a founder who has never charged anything but 5% is the one most likely to keep charging 5% into Ontario.

The thirteen jurisdictions, side by side

Combined rate and provincial component first. Every rate in this table comes from the CRA's rate table, which is the only page on canada.ca that carries all thirteen rows. [4] The federal 5% column is section 165(1). [1]

Note on Ontario and Prince Edward Island. These are the only two provincial-component cells on this page that no publisher states. Ontario's own tax pages could not be reached on 6 September 2026 and Prince Edward Island's served a bot-protection interstitial to every fetch path tried. Both figures are therefore arithmetic — the CRA's combined rate less the 5% that section 165(1) imposes — and are presented as arithmetic rather than as a cited provincial statement. Schedule VIII happens to agree that Ontario is 8%, but this page does not rely on it, because the same schedule is demonstrably wrong for three other provinces. [3]

Registration thresholds, and who must register

Two thresholds apply to almost every new business, and they are independent of one another. Clearing the federal one tells you nothing about the provincial one.

Recoverability, and filing frequency

This is the table that decides whether a tax is a cost or a wash.

A word on how the "no input credit" rows are established, because it affects how much weight to put on them. None of the three provincial sources describes an input-credit mechanism, and each instead describes relief working the other way — as an exemption at the moment of purchase. British Columbia says a small seller is "ineligible for certain PST exemptions, such as the exemption for goods obtained solely for resale," which only makes sense where resale relief is granted up front rather than credited later. [20] So the conclusion is solid, but drawn from how relief is structured rather than from a sentence saying "no credit exists."

The consequence for a budget is direct. In Ontario, a 13% tax on your inputs is a timing difference. In British Columbia, the 5% GST is a timing difference and the 7% PST on whatever you consume rather than resell is a real cost that never comes back.

Place of supply: the rate follows your customer

This is the rule that founders get wrong most often, and it is stated plainly: "The rate of tax to charge depends on the place of supply. This is where you make your sale, lease, or other supply." [5] Place of supply is "the province or territory where a taxable sale, lease, or other supply is considered to be made. It determines which GST/HST rate applies." [5]

Nothing in that definition refers to where your business is located, where you incorporated, where your bank is or what address is on your letterhead. One registration can require you to charge four different rates in a single week.

Goods are supplied in "the province in which the goods are delivered" or to which they are shipped. Services are supplied in "the province of the recipient's address if the supplier obtains that address in the normal course of business" — so for a consultancy the rate is set by the client's address on the file, collected in the ordinary way rather than manufactured for tax purposes. Intangible personal property — software licences, rights and the like — runs on the recipient's address, or where the rights may be used, failing which on the participating province "with the highest HST rate." Real property is supplied where the property is situated. [6] That highest-rate default is a genuine hazard: an unresolved place of supply does not resolve in your favour.

The CRA's own worked examples

Three published examples dispose of the "I charge my home rate" instinct.

A furniture store in Vancouver sells a mattress delivered to Toronto and charges 13%, because the place of supply is Ontario — a British Columbia seller, in a province with no HST at all, charging Ontario HST. [5]

An electronics retailer in Winnipeg sells a laptop delivered to Nova Scotia: 14%. If the customer instead picks the same laptop up in Manitoba, the retailer charges 5% GST plus 7% Manitoba tax, because the place of supply is now the non-participating province where the customer took possession. [5]

Same seller, same product, same week — two tax outcomes, decided entirely by where the goods ended up. Build that into your invoicing before your first cross-border sale, not after an assessment.

The $30,000 threshold, and when to register before you have to

Section 148 of the Excise Tax Act sets the number: a person is a small supplier while taxable supplies do not exceed "$30,000 or, where the person is a public service body, $50,000," measured on consideration that became due or was paid during "the four calendar quarters immediately preceding the particular calendar quarter." [2] Status is lost if the threshold is exceeded in any single calendar quarter. [2]

The CRA states the same test operationally and adds the timing. Charities, public institutions and public service bodies use $50,000, and a charity also qualifies where "gross revenue from your first fiscal year is $250,000 or less." [7] Two effective dates follow, and they differ. Exceed $30,000 in a single calendar quarter and your effective date is "no later than the day of the supply that made you exceed $30,000" — the invoice that broke the threshold is itself taxable, with no grace period. Exceed it across four quarters and it is "no later than the day of your first supply after you stopped being a small supplier." [7]

The trap in the word "worldwide"

The threshold is not measured on sales in your own province, or even in Canada. RC4027 puts it in terms: small supplier means "the total amount of all revenues (before expenses) from your worldwide taxable supplies … is $30,000 or less in any single calendar quarter and in the last four consecutive calendar quarters." [15] RC4022 uses the same worldwide basis for registrants generally. [9]

"Before expenses" is the other half of the trap: the test is on revenue, not profit. A consultancy grossing $34,000 and netting $9,000 is over the line.

When voluntary registration pays

A small supplier "may choose to register voluntarily if you make taxable sales, leases, or other supplies in Canada." [7] Registering early is often the right answer, and the arithmetic is simple.

It pays when you buy more than you sell, or sell to businesses. Every dollar of GST/HST on your inputs becomes recoverable, and a business customer does not care what you charge because it recovers the tax too. [11] A pre-revenue company fitting out an office in New Brunswick absorbs 15% on every purchase while unregistered, and recovers all of it once registered.

It costs when you sell to consumers and buy little: prices effectively rise by the tax or your margin absorbs it, and you take on a return and a calendar for a credit you barely use.

There is also a case where staying small costs you money. In a retail-sales-tax province, staying out of the provincial registration can forfeit the resale exemption — BC's small sellers are "ineligible for certain PST exemptions, such as the exemption for goods obtained solely for resale." [20] A BC retailer buying inventory below the threshold pays 7% PST on stock it will resell and cannot get it back. Small-seller status is not automatically cheaper.

Out-of-province and non-resident registration

A federal GST/HST registration is not a licence to sell into a PST province. Each of the three has its own reach, and all three reach sellers who have no premises, staff or presence in the province at all.

British Columbia: four scenarios, only one with a threshold

If you are located in British Columbia, you register if you sell or lease taxable goods, or provide software or taxable services, in the ordinary course of business there. [18] If you are located outside, Bulletin PST 001 sets out four scenarios. [19]

Scenario 1 — goods, from elsewhere in Canada. Register if you do all of: sell taxable goods to BC customers; accept orders from customers in BC; deliver into BC, including by courier; and solicit persons in BC. All four, conjunctively. [19]

Scenario 2 — software and telecommunication services, from elsewhere in Canada. No revenue threshold at all. Supply taxable software for use on a device ordinarily situated in BC, or taxable telecommunication services to BC customers, plus accept orders and solicit — and "you must be registered before … providing software … or providing telecommunication services." [19] A SaaS company in Toronto with one solicited BC customer and $400 of BC revenue is inside this scenario — the most commonly missed obligation on this page.

Scenario 3 — goods, with the $10,000 threshold. The Scenario 1 acts plus gross revenue from BC customers "more than $10,000" in the previous 12 months, or estimated above $10,000 in the next 12. [19] Vapour-product sellers register even below it.

Scenario 4 — inventory in BC, from anywhere in the world. Hold the goods you sell to BC customers in inventory in BC at the time of sale — "e.g. you use a B.C. fulfilment house" — and you must register before selling it. No threshold, in or outside Canada. [19]

On soliciting, the bulletin draws a line worth memorising: "If you have only a website that is accessible from anywhere in the world, which does not target B.C. customers, you are not soliciting sales in B.C. However, if you have a website and also solicit sales in B.C. by other means, such as through targeted internet advertisements, promotional flyers or newspaper advertisements, you are soliciting sales in B.C." [19] One geo-targeted campaign into Vancouver crosses it.

Online marketplace facilitators register in their own right, and failing to register does not help: "If you're required to register, but you do not register, it does not remove your obligation to collect and remit PST. You're still considered a collector." [18] Registration takes up to 21 business days, so it is not a same-week fix.

Coming 1 October 2026. British Columbia is extending PST to accounting, architectural, engineering and geoscience, non-residential real estate, and security services. [18] The small-seller bulletin already names the five classes with the same date. [20] If you run any of those practices and serve BC clients, your position changes weeks after this page's verification date. See the British Columbia province guide.

Saskatchewan: no threshold, and self-assessment on the buyer

Saskatchewan is the outlier in Canada. There is no small-supplier relief from PST: "All businesses operating in Saskatchewan must be licensed or registered with the Ministry of Finance for PST purposes." [22] Depending on the business you get either a vendor's licence number or a registered consumer number. [23] So a one-person consultancy billing $20,000 a year may have no federal registration obligation and still owe a Saskatchewan one: the federal threshold buys you nothing here.

Saskatchewan also puts a duty on the buyer. Where you purchase from "a supplier who did not collect the tax, such as an unlicensed supplier located outside Saskatchewan, you must self-assess and pay the PST directly to the Revenue Division." [22] An unregistered out-of-province vendor therefore saves its Saskatchewan customer no tax — it just moves the paperwork onto the customer, who tends to notice. See the Saskatchewan province guide.

Manitoba: a conjunctive nexus test, or inventory

Manitoba requires an RST number from "any person carrying on a business in Manitoba, except for small businesses with annual taxable sales under $30,000 … before making any taxable sales in the province." [26] Cross the threshold and you get one month to register; applying is free.

The $30,000 matching the federal number is a coincidence, not harmonisation. The federal test looks at worldwide taxable supplies over four consecutive calendar quarters; Manitoba's looks at annual taxable sales. You can be over one and under the other.

Sub-threshold Manitoba businesses do not simply ignore the tax. They "pay RST on their purchases and not collect RST on the selling price," must state on the invoice that RST is included in the price, and "RST must not be itemized on the invoice." [26] The exception is also unavailable to businesses using out-of-province suppliers that do not collect Manitoba RST, to tobacco and liquor sellers, and to out-of-province businesses that have not paid RST on goods bought for resale in Manitoba.

For an out-of-province seller, registration is required where the seller causes the goods to be delivered in Manitoba, and "solicits the order for the sale in Manitoba, directly or through an agent, by advertising or any other means," and accepts orders originating in Manitoba — or, independently, where "the seller holds inventory of taxable goods in the province." [26] Selling only exempt goods, or only goods for resale, keeps you out.

There is a separate trap for buyers: a Manitoba vendor that brings in, "in each of two or more months, within the same calendar year, tangible personal property purchased outside of the province with a fair value of $800 or more," must register and self-assess RST. [26] Two months of ordering equipment from Ontario can create a registration obligation on its own. See the Manitoba province guide.

Quebec: a separate regime this page could not verify

Revenu Québec operates its own consumption-tax administration, including for suppliers located outside Quebec. This page does not state its terms, because it could not verify them: Revenu Québec refused automated access from six distinct paths on 6 September 2026 and no archived copy of the relevant pages was available. Confirm what applies to you at Revenu Québec's basic-rules page [27] and its registration page. [28]

What can be said on federal authority: a business physically located in Quebec files its GST/HST returns with Revenu Québec on Revenu Québec's forms, unless it is a selected listed financial institution. [9] If you sell into Quebec from outside it, treat the QST as a live question rather than an answered one.

Non-residents of Canada: two federal doors

For a business with no presence in Canada, the first question is factual, not formal. Whether you are carrying on business in Canada is "a question of fact requiring consideration of all relevant facts," weighing where your agents are, where delivery happens, where payment is made, whether you hold inventory here and where contracts are made. [15] There is no bright line.

Normal registration. A non-resident carrying on business in Canada and not a small supplier registers in the ordinary way, with the ordinary consequences including input tax credits, against the worldwide $30,000 threshold. Such a registrant must generally post security of "50% of your estimated net tax" for the 12 months after registering, minimum $5,000 and maximum $1 million — waived where you estimate Canadian taxable supplies of "not more than $100,000 annually and your net tax will be between $3,000 remittable and $3,000 refundable annually." [15] That is a real cash-flow event, routinely omitted from incorporation checklists.

Simplified registration, for the digital economy. Since 1 July 2021 a lighter regime applies to non-resident vendors of digital products and services and to distribution and accommodation platform operators. [12] Four categories are caught: cross-border digital products and services; the supply of qualifying goods in Canada; platform-based short-term accommodation; and distribution platform operators facilitating any of them. [13] The threshold is "more than $30,000 CAD" over a 12-month period. [14] Simplified is available for digital products and services and for platform-based accommodation but not for the supply of qualifying goods, and you must choose one: "You may not be registered under both at the same time." [13]

The price of the simpler regime is the figure that should drive the decision: a simplified registrant "would not be allowed to claim input tax credits (ITC)." [14] With meaningful Canadian costs — hosting, contractors, agencies, fulfilment — simplified registration converts all the tax on them into a permanent expense; with near-zero Canadian costs it is far cheaper to administer. Work out your Canadian input tax before picking a door. Track B founders should read this alongside the from-abroad track and /business-address/non-residents/.

First-year mechanics

The business number and the RT account

Registration produces one business number, with sales tax carried on it as a program account. If you already have a BN it is reused; if not, "you will get one at the same time as your GST/HST account registration." [8] GST/HST sits under the RT program identifier, so a first sales-tax account is your nine-digit BN followed by RT 0001.

Decide three things before you start, because the form asks and the answers have consequences: your effective date of registration, your fiscal year for GST/HST, and your total annual revenue. [8] The revenue figure sets your reporting period; the effective date determines the first invoice you must charge tax on.

If you are in Quebec, you are in a different queue

A Quebec-located business does not open its GST/HST account with the CRA. It registers with, files with and remits to Revenu Québec, on Revenu Québec's forms. [9] You will still need a BN from the CRA for accounts Revenu Québec does not administer — corporate income tax, payroll, import/export. Budget for two counterparties even with one sales-tax administrator.

Provincial accounts are separate, always

There is no single window. In British Columbia you register with the province, receive a number in the form PST-1234-5678, and should expect up to 21 business days of processing. [18] In Saskatchewan you register through SETS, the online new-business form, an existing SETS login, or by mail. [23] In Manitoba you register through TAXcess or on paper, free, and will hold two numbers that are not interchangeable: a 7-digit RST number and a 15-digit account number on the return. [26]

Reporting periods and deadlines

Your federal reporting period is assigned by size: annual taxable supplies of $1.5 million or less are assigned annual, with monthly or quarterly on request; $1.5 million to $6 million are assigned quarterly, with monthly available; above $6 million, monthly with no option. [9] Most new businesses land on annual and many should ask for quarterly instead — a refund position filed once a year is a year of free financing given to the government.

Monthly and quarterly returns are due one month after the period ends; annual filers generally file and pay three months after the fiscal year-end; a listed financial institution has six months; and a sole proprietor with a 31 December year-end pays by 30 April but files by 15 June. [10] Note that split — the payment date and filing date differ, and it is the payment date that carries the money. Electronic filing has been mandatory for most registrants since 1 January 2024. [9]

None of the provincial calendars matches the federal one. British Columbia assigns by PST collectable per year, due "on or before the last day of the month following the end of the reporting period"; two details bite — if you were required to register and did not apply, "your filing period is monthly," and you must remit all PST you charged "whether or not you have actually collected it from your customer," including tax charged at an incorrect rate, so a bad debt and a pricing error are both your problem. Filing on time earns a commission of up to $198 per period, one account only. [21] Saskatchewan is due on the 20th of the following month on paper, or the last day of that month if you file and pay electronically, and "if there is no tax to report for the period, you must still file a 'NIL' return." [24] Manitoba is due "no later than 4:30 p.m. on the 20th day of the month following" the period, next working day if the 20th falls on a weekend or holiday, with annual returns by 20 January — the time of day is in the rule. [26]

Claiming back what you paid

You recover GST/HST on purchases "by claiming input tax credits (ITCs) on line 106," and five conditions must all hold: the purchase was for consumption, use or supply in your commercial activities; you were a registrant in the period the tax was paid or became payable; the tax was paid or payable by you; you hold sufficient documentary evidence; and you claim in time. The expense must also be "reasonable in quality, nature, and cost in relation to the nature of your business." [11]

The limit is generous but finite: most registrants must claim by the due date of the return for the last reporting period ending within four years after the period in which the credit could first have been claimed, while listed financial institutions and persons over $6 million in both the current and preceding fiscal years get two years. [11] Documentation is the condition that fails in practice, not the deadline — keep supplier registration numbers on invoices from day one.

Three selling patterns, walked through the rules

A Montreal service business selling Canada-wide

You have one counterparty for both taxes: Revenu Québec administers the GST/HST in Quebec, and a business physically located there files with Revenu Québec on its forms. [9] Ignore any checklist that sends you to the CRA to open a GST/HST account.

On rates, you do not charge 14.975% to everyone. Services follow "the province of the recipient's address if the supplier obtains that address in the normal course of business." [6] So a Montreal consultancy invoicing a Toronto client charges 13%; a Halifax client, 14%; a Fredericton client, 15%; a Calgary client, 5%. [6] One registration, four rates, in one month.

Your provincial exposure outside Quebec is the part to check. Selling services into British Columbia is generally outside BC PST unless you supply software or telecommunication services — and if you do, Scenario 2 has no revenue threshold. [19] From 1 October 2026 the BC expansion reaches accounting, architecture, engineering or geoscience, non-residential real estate and security services. [18] And Saskatchewan's PST reaches services "consumed or used in Saskatchewan," with universal licensing and no threshold — so a single Regina client is worth checking, not assuming away. [22]

QST recoverability on your own inputs is set by Revenu Québec and is not verified here — confirm it before building a cash-flow model on it. [27]

An online seller in Alberta shipping everywhere

You live in the simplest regime — 5% and nothing else at home. [4] That makes you the founder most exposed to the place-of-supply rule, because your instinct is calibrated to one number.

For goods, the place of supply is where they are delivered. [6] The CRA's own example is a Vancouver store charging 13% on a Toronto delivery — a seller in a non-HST province charging HST. [5] Substitute Calgary and the answer is identical: ship to Ontario, charge 13%; Nova Scotia, 14%; New Brunswick, PEI or Newfoundland and Labrador, 15%; within Alberta or into Saskatchewan, Manitoba, BC or the territories, 5% federally. [6]

Then the provincial layer, which your Alberta base does nothing to protect you from. In British Columbia, selling taxable goods to BC customers plus accepting BC orders plus delivering into BC plus soliciting there puts you in Scenario 1 or 3, and Scenario 3 turns on more than $10,000 of BC revenue over the previous or next 12 months; a BC fulfilment house puts you in Scenario 4 with no threshold at all. [19] A plain website that does not target BC is not solicitation; a geo-targeted ad campaign is. [19] In Manitoba, delivery plus solicitation "by advertising or any other means" plus accepting Manitoba orders triggers registration, as does holding inventory there; selling only goods for resale keeps you out. [26] In Saskatchewan, if you do not register your customers must self-assess the PST themselves — a commercial problem as much as a tax one. [22]

If a marketplace facilitator collects payment from your customers, BC puts the registration duty on the facilitator rather than you. [18] Check what your platform actually does. See the Alberta province guide.

A British Columbia consultant with Quebec clients

You are registered federally and, depending on what you supply, provincially in BC. Your Quebec clients raise three separate questions.

GST/HST rate. Quebec is a non-participating province, so a service supplied to a Quebec client attracts 5% GST, not 13% or 15%, and the recipient-address rule puts the place of supply in Quebec. [6]

Where you file that 5%. You are located in British Columbia, not Quebec, so RC4022's rule sending Quebec-located businesses to Revenu Québec does not apply; you file with the CRA as usual. [9] The test is where your business is, not where your customer is.

QST. Whether Quebec requires you to register for and charge QST on services supplied into the province from outside it is exactly the question this page could not verify, and it is not a small one. Do not infer it from the federal answer — put it to Revenu Québec before you invoice. [27] [28]

Your BC PST position, meanwhile, is set by what you supply rather than to whom. Software or telecommunication services put you inside the BC rules regardless of revenue; from 1 October 2026 five professional-service classes join them. [20]

Failure modes

Charging your own province's rate to everyone. The most common and most expensive error. The rate follows the place of supply, and the CRA's own example has a Vancouver store charging 13% Ontario HST. [5] Undercharging leaves you liable for the difference; overcharging is worse in British Columbia, where you must remit what you charged even at an incorrect rate. [21]

Assuming a GST registration covers the provincial tax. It covers nothing outside the five HST provinces. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba each require a separate registration, return and remittance to a different government. [18] [22] [26]

Ignoring PST as an out-of-province vendor. Being in Alberta or Ontario does not exempt you. BC reaches software and telecommunication suppliers with no threshold and inventory-holders from anywhere in the world; Manitoba reaches sellers who deliver, solicit and accept orders. [19] [26] Not registering does not remove the obligation — you are "still considered a collector." [18]

Missing the Quebec specified regime, and treating Quebec as an ordinary GST province. A Quebec-located business files with Revenu Québec, not the CRA. [9] And if you sell into Quebec from outside it, Revenu Québec runs its own registration regime for suppliers outside the province whose terms this page could not verify — an unanswered question, not an absent one. [27] Assuming it does not apply to you is the error.

Assuming Saskatchewan has a small-supplier threshold. It does not. "All businesses operating in Saskatchewan must be licensed or registered." [22] Clearing the federal $30,000 test tells you nothing here.

Measuring $30,000 on local sales or on profit, and missing the single-quarter breach. The test runs on worldwide taxable supplies, before expenses. [15] Exceed $30,000 in one quarter and the supply that took you over is itself taxable, effective that day. [7] One large contract can retroactively make an invoice you already sent tax-inclusive.

Choosing simplified registration with real Canadian costs. A simplified registrant cannot claim input tax credits. [14] If you spend meaningfully in Canada, the administrative saving is dwarfed by the credits you forfeit.

Reading rates out of Schedule VIII, or budgeting PST as recoverable. Three of the schedule's relevant figures are wrong and PEI is missing. [3] And GST/HST comes back while BC PST, Saskatchewan PST and Manitoba RST do not. [11] Model the provincial taxes as a cost on anything you consume rather than resell.

Forgetting nil returns and clock times. Saskatchewan requires a nil return when there is no tax to report; Manitoba's deadline is 4:30 p.m. on the 20th. [24] [26] Both penalise businesses that thought they had nothing to do.

Your annual maintenance calendar

Readiness checklist

• You can name the regime for every province you sell into, and the rate for each. [4]
• Your invoicing system sets the rate from the customer's delivery address or service address, not from your own. [6]
• You have decided your effective date, GST/HST fiscal year and total annual revenue before registering. [8]
• If you are in Quebec, you are registering with Revenu Québec, not the CRA. [9]
• You have run the BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba out-of-province tests against your actual selling pattern. [19] [22] [26]
• You know whether a marketplace facilitator collects on your behalf, and therefore who registers. [18]
• Your budget treats GST/HST as recoverable and PST/RST as a cost. [11]
• If you are a non-resident, you have priced the security deposit and chosen between simplified and normal registration on your Canadian input tax. [15] [14]
• You have a calendar entry for every return, federal and provincial, with the correct time of day where one applies. [26]
• You have put your QST questions to Revenu Québec rather than inferring them from federal rules. [27]

What 2727 can and cannot support

2727 Coworking is a workspace and business-address provider in Griffintown, Montreal. On sales tax the honest scope is narrow, and worth stating precisely because address providers are often marketed as if they changed tax outcomes.

A mailing address does not by itself determine place of supply. CRA's published rules turn on other things: goods are supplied where delivered, services in the province of the recipient's address obtained in the normal course of business, real property where it is situated. [6] Note the direction of that service rule — it looks at the recipient's address, your customer's rather than yours. This page concerns your obligations as a supplier, and the CRA publishes no rule making a supplier's mailing address determinative of place of supply. So no address, at 2727 or anywhere else, sets the rate you charge; your customers' locations and your delivery arrangements do.

Nothing about an address creates or removes a registration duty. The federal threshold runs on worldwide taxable supplies [15] and the provincial tests on delivery, solicitation, orders, inventory and revenue in that province. [19] [26] None asks where your mail goes.

What the space genuinely supports. A real place to meet clients and receive correspondence in Montreal; a Quebec mailing address for a business that has decided, on its own advice, to be a Quebec business; and, for a federal or Quebec corporation, a legitimate registered-office address. It is not a registered office in any other province, and no registry, bank or tax authority is represented as "accepting" it. Where you should carry on business, and where that puts you for tax, is a question for your own accountant and counsel.

For the corporate side of that choice see federal vs provincial incorporation; from outside Canada start at /start-a-business-in-canada/from-abroad/ and /business-address/non-residents/; for the address roles themselves, /business-address/, /business-address/scenarios/federal-corporation/ and /business-address/scenarios/open-from-abroad/.

Where to go next in this research

• The hub: start a business in Canada, and the two tracks — founder inside Canada and founder outside Canada
• The other comparisons: federal vs provincial incorporation and Ontario vs British Columbia vs Alberta vs Quebec for non-residents
• The five HST provinces: Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador
• The GST-plus-provincial provinces: British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
• GST plus QST: Quebec
• The GST-only jurisdictions: Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut
• Tools and the research index

Research method and limitations

Date verified: 6 September 2026. Every rate, threshold, deadline and dollar figure was fetched from an official source on that date and is quoted or cited to it. Nothing was taken from memory or estimated.

Sources and hierarchy. Twenty-six of the twenty-eight references below were fetched directly for this page: the Excise Tax Act on Justice Laws (tier 1), the Canada Revenue Agency (tier 3), and the finance ministries of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador (tier 3). No law-firm, accounting-firm, incorporation-service or blog source was cited, and none was needed. The four PDF bulletins were read with pdftotext, not summarised from a landing page.

Tools used. WebFetch for canada.ca and laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, which refuse curl; curl with a browser user-agent for gov.bc.ca, saskatchewan.ca and gov.mb.ca, which refuse or truncate WebFetch; pdftotext -layout for the bulletins. Search budgets were exhausted before this page began, so discovery ran through a sweep of this cluster's twelve committed province guides and their evidence files, then direct fetches of known official URLs. Where a canada.ca URL 404'd, the parent page was fetched and asked for its own outbound links rather than guessing — four remembered URLs proved wrong and were replaced this way. Full fetch log: sales-tax-regimes-source-pack.md; claim-by-claim mapping: sales-tax-regimes-evidence.md.

What could not be verified, and is therefore not claimed.

• Revenu Québec was unreachable. Six paths were tried on 6 September 2026 — direct curl, WebFetch on the English and French URLs, Cloudflare Browser Rendering, a Quebec residential egress IP, and Playwright-managed Chromium — all returning the same bot-protection refusal. The Wayback Machine holds no snapshot of the target pages and was itself offline. After six attempts the site was left alone rather than hammered. Consequently Quebec's specified registration system for suppliers outside Quebec, QST input tax refunds, and Quebec's own filing frequencies are not stated here. Every Quebec figure that does appear — the 9.975% rate, the 5% GST, and Revenu Québec's role as administrator of both — comes from CRA material that was fetched. References 27 and 28 are places to confirm the rest, not the basis of any figure.
• Ontario's and Prince Edward Island's provincial components have no publisher statement. Three ontario.ca URLs 404'd and princeedwardisland.ca served a bot interstitial to every path. Ontario's 8% and PEI's 10% are arithmetic — the CRA's combined rate less the statutory 5% — and labelled as such.
• "PST and RST are not recoverable" is a conclusion, not a quotation. No provincial source says "there is no input credit"; it is drawn from all four describing relief as an exemption at the point of purchase, as set out above so you can weigh it yourself.
• Not tested. No registration was filed, no return submitted, no ruling requested. Processing times and assessment practice are as published, not as observed.
• Two rate changes are already dated. Nova Scotia's provincial component fell on 1 April 2025 and BC extends PST to five professional-service classes on 1 October 2026, after this page's verification date.

This is educational planning material, not legal, tax, accounting, immigration or banking advice. Sales tax turns on what you sell, to whom and where, and place of supply and carrying on business are fact-dependent determinations. Confirm your position with a Canadian tax professional and, where relevant, with the CRA or Revenu Québec directly.

Frequently asked questions

Which rate do I charge a customer in another province?

The one for the place of supply, which is the customer's side of the transaction rather than yours. Goods are supplied where delivered; services follow the recipient's address you obtain in the normal course of business. [6] The CRA's own example has a Vancouver store charging 13% Ontario HST on a Toronto delivery. [5]

Does the $30,000 threshold count only my sales in my own province?

No — worldwide taxable supplies, before expenses. [15] The statutory test looks at the four calendar quarters immediately preceding the current one, and separately at any single quarter. [2] A business grossing $34,000 across several provinces and countries is over the line even if local sales are small.

If I register for GST/HST, am I covered for provincial sales tax?

Only in the five HST provinces, where one registration carries both taxes. [16] British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba each require a separate provincial registration, return and remittance. [18] [22] [26]

Is there really no small-supplier threshold in Saskatchewan?

Correct, for PST purposes: "All businesses operating in Saskatchewan must be licensed or registered with the Ministry of Finance for PST purposes." [22] The federal $30,000 threshold still governs your GST obligation but has no bearing on the provincial one, so a very small Saskatchewan business can owe a PST registration and no GST registration.

Do I have to register for BC PST if I have no premises in British Columbia?

Possibly, and in two situations with no revenue threshold at all: supplying taxable software or telecommunication services to solicited BC customers means registering before the first supply, and holding inventory in BC at the time of sale — a fulfilment house counts — means registering before selling it, whether you are in Canada or outside it. For goods delivered into BC there is a $10,000 BC-revenue threshold instead. [19]

Does having a website mean I am soliciting customers in a province?

Not on its own in British Columbia: "If you have only a website that is accessible from anywhere in the world, which does not target B.C. customers, you are not soliciting sales in B.C." A website plus targeted advertising, flyers or newspaper ads is solicitation. [19] Manitoba's wording is broader, catching solicitation "by advertising or any other means." [26]

Can I get provincial sales tax back the way I get GST back?

No. GST and the HST provincial component are recovered as input tax credits on your return. [11] The three provincial retail sales taxes have no equivalent credit; relief comes as an exemption when you buy goods solely for resale, which is why BC warns that small sellers are "ineligible for certain PST exemptions, such as the exemption for goods obtained solely for resale." [20] QST recoverability is set by Revenu Québec and was not verified here. [27]

Should a non-resident digital business use simplified registration?

It turns almost entirely on your Canadian input tax, because a simplified registrant "would not be allowed to claim input tax credits (ITC)." [14] With significant Canadian hosting, contractor or agency spend, normal registration usually wins despite heavier administration and the security deposit. [15] With near-zero Canadian costs, simplified is cheaper. You cannot hold both at once. [13]

Why does my Quebec business deal with Revenu Québec instead of the CRA?

Because Quebec administers the federal tax within the province: "In Quebec, Revenu Québec generally administers the GST/HST. If the physical location of your business is in Quebec, you have to file your returns with Revenu Québec using its forms, unless you are an SLFI for GST/HST or Quebec Sales Tax (QST) purposes or both." [9] The rule turns on where your business is physically located, not where your customers are.

Are the rates on this page going to change?

Two changes are recent or scheduled. Nova Scotia cut its provincial component to 9% on 1 April 2025, giving 14%. [5] British Columbia extends PST to five professional-service classes on 1 October 2026. [18] And do not read rates out of Schedule VIII of the Excise Tax Act, which still shows four provinces at 8% and omits Prince Edward Island. [3]

Official references

1. Justice Laws Website: Excise Tax Act, section 165 (imposition of tax)
2. Justice Laws Website: Excise Tax Act, section 148 (small supplier)
3. Justice Laws Website: Excise Tax Act, Schedule VIII (participating provinces and tax rates)
4. Canada Revenue Agency: GST/HST calculator and rates by province and territory
5. Canada Revenue Agency: which GST/HST rate to charge and the place of supply
6. Canada Revenue Agency: GST/HST place-of-supply rules and rates
7. Canada Revenue Agency: when to register for and start charging the GST/HST
8. Canada Revenue Agency: open or manage a GST/HST account and register
9. Canada Revenue Agency: RC4022, General Information for GST/HST Registrants
10. Canada Revenue Agency: GST/HST reporting requirements and deadlines
11. Canada Revenue Agency: calculate input tax credits
12. Canada Revenue Agency: GST/HST for digital economy businesses
13. Canada Revenue Agency: find out if you need to register for the GST/HST as a digital economy business
14. Canada Revenue Agency: get ready to register for the GST/HST as a digital economy business
15. Canada Revenue Agency: RC4027, Doing Business in Canada – GST/HST Information for Non-Residents
16. Government of New Brunswick, Finance and Treasury Board: harmonized sales tax
17. Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Finance: harmonized sales tax
18. Province of British Columbia: register to collect provincial sales tax
19. BC Ministry of Finance: Bulletin PST 001, Registering to Collect PST
20. BC Ministry of Finance: Bulletin PST 003, Small Sellers
21. Province of British Columbia: report and pay provincial sales tax
22. Government of Saskatchewan: provincial sales tax
23. Government of Saskatchewan: apply for a PST number
24. Government of Saskatchewan: file your PST return
25. Manitoba Finance: retail sales tax
26. Manitoba Finance: Bulletin RST 004, Information for Vendors
27. Revenu Québec: basic rules for applying the GST/HST and QST
28. Revenu Québec: registering for the GST and QST