Do You Need to Register for GST/HST?

What is the small-supplier limit, and which sales count?

For most Canadian sole proprietors, partnerships and corporations, the small-supplier limit is $30,000 in one calendar quarter or across four consecutive calendar quarters. Count gross revenue before expenses from worldwide taxable supplies, including zero-rated supplies and sales by businesses associated with you at the start of the quarter (CRA; Excise Tax Act, section 148).

For GST/HST, people and businesses may be associated through control. For example, a sole proprietor may need to count sales of a corporation they control; family ties alone do not answer the control question (CRA: definitions).

The test uses calendar quarters beginning in January, April, July and October, even if your business has a different fiscal year. Count an amount when it becomes due or is paid before becoming due, rather than only when cash arrives (CRA: small suppliers). A sole proprietor cannot restart the limit by using another business name. A partnership or corporation tests its own sales plus its associates' sales; being separate legal entities does not itself keep associated sales out (CRA). If you make only exempt supplies, you generally cannot register (CRA).

Do sales to customers outside Canada count?

Yes. Worldwide taxable sales count toward the Canadian small-supplier limit, even when a qualifying export is zero-rated or a taxable supply is made outside Canada (CRA; Excise Tax Act, section 148).

Counting a foreign sale toward registration does not mean charging Canadian tax on it. Exported goods and services can be zero-rated only when their conditions are met; keep shipping records or evidence of the customer's non-resident status as applicable (CRA: imports and exports). For the tax treatment of a Canadian freelancer's US invoices, see Canadian freelancers with US clients.

When must I register and start charging?

The date depends on how you cross $30,000. If your own taxable supply in Canada takes one calendar quarter over the limit, apply the GST/HST rules to that supply; a qualifying zero-rated sale still has no tax to collect. If the limit is crossed only across consecutive quarters, small-supplier status ends after the following month (CRA; CRA: imports and exports).

In either mandatory-registration case in the table, apply within 29 days of the effective date. Charge tax from that date on supplies taxed at a positive rate, even if you apply later (CRA).

If an associate's sale or your supply made outside Canada takes the group over the limit, your own obligation to register is tied to your first taxable supply in Canada after you cease to be a small supplier (Excise Tax Act, sections 148 and 240). Register within 29 days after that first supply. You can choose an earlier effective date if eligible, but then you must account for tax from that date (CRA: small suppliers; CRA: voluntary registration).

Do taxi and ride-sharing drivers register from the first fare?

Yes. A self-employed taxi operator or commercial ride-sharing driver must register effective with their first taxable passenger fare, even as a small supplier, and apply within 29 days of that fare. GST/HST is usually included in the fare, so the driver must identify and remit the tax within it (CRA; Excise Tax Act, section 240).

Food or parcel delivery alone follows the normal small-supplier test. If you do both, taxable sales from both activities count toward that test. Below the limit, mandatory registration generally covers only passenger rides unless you ask the CRA to extend it to all your Canadian commercial activities; the CRA confirms the extension date in writing. When the single-quarter or rolling test ends your small-supplier status, registration covers your other taxable sales too (CRA: sharing economy; Excise Tax Act, section 148 and section 240).

Do sales through a marketplace or rental platform count?

Yes. A Canadian seller's taxable marketplace sales and taxable short-term accommodation count toward the seller's small-supplier test, even if a platform collects GST/HST on a transaction. The platform rules expressly preserve these sales for that test (Excise Tax Act, section 211.23; section 211.13). Who collects tax depends on the type of sale and whether the seller is registered.

These collection rules do not cover every marketplace sale. Check services, digital products and goods shipped from outside Canada separately; do not assume the platform collected tax (CRA: qualifying goods).

Keep platform statements showing gross sales, fees, customer locations, tax collected and your registration status. Platform collection does not replace your own threshold calculation. For rental-specific tax treatment, see GST/HST on residential property. For reporting platform income, see How self-employed income is taxed.

Should I register voluntarily below the limit?

You may register voluntarily if you make taxable supplies in Canada. Registration can allow input tax credits on eligible business purchases, but it also requires you to charge applicable tax, file returns and remain registered for at least one year unless you stop commercial activities (CRA).

Compare the tax on your expenses with the work of filing and the effect of charging tax to customers who cannot recover it. A voluntary effective date is usually the request date or up to 30 days earlier; a corporation cannot choose a date before incorporation (CRA). See Filing GST/HST and input tax credits for credit eligibility and return rules.

How do I register, and what should I gather?

Register a GST/HST program account through the CRA's Business Registration Online (BRO) system if you have a CRA account and can use BRO. If you cannot use it, CRA generally directs you to mail Form RC1; a sole proprietor with a temporary SIN beginning with 9 must use BRO. If you already have a business number, use it; otherwise, you can obtain one during registration. Quebec businesses generally register for GST/HST through Revenu Québec (CRA; Revenu Québec).

The online applicant also needs identity information. Save the business number during the registration session; CRA says it will not send it afterward. BRO cannot register a business owned by another business, such as a partnership with a corporate partner (CRA).

What rate do I charge in another province or outside Canada?

Use the place-of-supply rule for the particular goods or service, not simply the province where your business is based. For shipped goods, the delivery destination generally determines the province; for many services, it is the Canadian customer address obtained in the normal course of business, with exceptions (CRA).

A zero-rated supply has no GST/HST to collect, regardless of the province. The rates below apply to other taxable supplies (CRA).

These rates come from the CRA's current place-of-supply page. A qualifying export can be zero-rated; a sale made outside Canada can fall outside Canadian GST/HST. Neither result follows merely from a foreign billing address, so check the supply and export evidence (CRA: imports and exports).

Do I also need QST or PST registration?

Possibly. GST/HST registration does not settle Quebec QST or the separate sales taxes in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Each jurisdiction has its own rules for what is taxed and who registers (Revenu Québec; Saskatchewan; Manitoba).

Revenu Québec says a business carrying on commercial activities in Quebec generally registers for both GST and QST once worldwide taxable supplies and associates' supplies exceed $30,000. Some Quebec activities require QST registration even for a small supplier, including retail fuel and new tires (Revenu Québec). See Provincial sales tax for the separate provincial tests.

What if I crossed the limit without registering?

First establish the correct effective date; then calculate GST/HST on taxable supplies from that date, including sales where you did not charge the customer. CRA says you remain liable for tax you were required to charge, and it belongs on the return for the period when it should have been charged (CRA: RC4022).

1. Rebuild gross taxable sales by calendar quarter, including associated businesses and foreign sales. Identify the first sale affected under the single-quarter or four-quarter rule.
2. Separate taxable Canadian sales, qualifying zero-rated exports, supplies made outside Canada and exempt supplies. Reconcile invoices and platform statements, including tax the platform collected. Check whether each contract or invoice says tax was included, added separately or left unstated before calculating uncollected tax or asking customers to pay more (CRA: RC4022).
3. Register and request the right effective date. The online system allows an effective date only within the past 30 days. For an earlier mandatory date, send the CRA a written request signed by an owner, partner, director or Level 2 authorized representative. Most businesses need a sales breakdown and supporting records; taxi and ride-sharing drivers instead state when they first supplied taxable rides. CRA decides whether to allow the requested date (CRA).
4. File the affected GST/HST returns and report tax you should have charged. Review eligible input tax credits and claim deadlines in Filing GST/HST and input tax credits.

For interest or penalties, see Penalties, interest and relief. If you are considering coming forward before a CRA review, see Reviews, audits and voluntary disclosure.

Can I cancel if sales drop?

You can ask the CRA to close your GST/HST account once you are again a small supplier and have been registered for at least one full year. A taxi operator or commercial ride-sharing driver who still provides taxable rides must remain registered even if sales are below the normal limit (CRA).

Do not stop charging tax merely because sales fell. Wait for the effective closure date, file final returns and check whether tax is due on business property held when registration ends; CRA's closing rules can treat property as sold (CRA).

Example

Illustrative amounts in Canadian dollars. An unregistered consultant with no earlier taxable sales or associates bills C$12,000 in January–March and C$11,000 in April–June. In July–September, the consultant bills C$6,000 before a C$5,000 domestic invoice. That invoice brings the quarter to C$11,000, but the rolling four-quarter total to C$34,000. No single quarter exceeds $30,000, so the consultant remains a small supplier through October and must charge tax from the first taxable supply in Canada after October ends.

If instead the July–September quarter alone had reached C$29,000 before that C$5,000 invoice, the whole invoice would be the first sale on which the consultant must charge GST/HST. If the consultant forgot to charge, the tax would still be owed. The customer's province and the type of service determine its rate.

Different for you?

• You are a US or other foreign business: the normal and digital-economy registration routes differ. See Non-resident and digital sellers.
• You have US clients and need the tax treatment of their invoices: see Canadian freelancers with US clients.
• You sell accommodation or residential property: see GST/HST on residential property.
• You sell into Quebec, British Columbia, Saskatchewan or Manitoba: check the separate rules in Provincial sales tax.
• You missed years of GST/HST returns as a sole proprietor: see Catching up on unfiled returns.
• Your corporation missed years of GST/HST returns: see Catching up on unfiled corporate returns.
• Your crossing date involves associated businesses, several platforms or uncollected tax: gather quarterly sales, invoices, platform statements and customer locations, then use bookkeeping support to reconstruct the periods.