GST and HST

One federal tax, several provincial arrangements

The GST applies at 5% across the entire country. What varies is the provincial layer. Five provinces (Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia) have harmonized their provincial sales tax with the GST into a single HST, collected once by the CRA and split behind the scenes. In the rest of the country you either pay the GST plus a separate provincial tax (PST, RST, or QST) charged and administered separately, or, in Alberta and the territories, the 5% GST alone.

Québec is a unique case: the 9.975% QST is a separate provincial tax, but it is Revenu Québec, not the CRA, that administers the GST within the province, the reverse of the usual arrangement anywhere else in Canada.

Sales tax rates by province and territory

Here is what you actually pay at the till in each part of the country. Note that Nova Scotia cut its HST from 15% to 14% on April 1, 2025.

What gets taxed: taxable, zero-rated, and exempt

Most goods and services sold in Canada are taxable at the full rate: restaurant meals, clothing, electronics, haircuts, gasoline, snack foods, professional services, and so on.

Zero-rated supplies are taxed at 0%: basic groceries (milk, bread, vegetables, meat), prescription drugs, and many medical devices. Exempt supplies carry no GST/HST at all: residential rent, most health and dental care, financial services, and sales of used residential housing.

To a shopper, zero-rated and exempt look identical: no tax on the receipt. The difference matters for businesses. A business selling zero-rated goods (a grocer, for instance) can still claim back the GST/HST it paid on its own expenses through input tax credits. A business making exempt supplies (a landlord, a dentist) cannot, so it absorbs the tax on its costs.

The GST/HST credit: getting some of it back

Because sales tax hits lower incomes hardest relative to what they earn, the federal government pays the GST/HST credit: a tax-free amount deposited quarterly to lower- and modest-income households. There is no application; the CRA assesses you automatically when you file your tax return, using your family net income. This is one of several reasons to file a return even with little or no income, alongside preserving benefits tied to the basic personal amount and other credits. Québec pays its own solidarity credit alongside, administered by Revenu Québec.

Buyers of newly built homes may also recover part of the tax through the GST/HST new housing rebates, which reduce the tax on a new home purchase or substantial renovation.

The small supplier rule: who has to charge it

Businesses, including freelancers and side hustles, must register for and charge GST/HST once their worldwide taxable revenues exceed $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters (as of July 2026). Below that threshold you are a small supplier: registration is optional, you charge no tax, but you also cannot claim input tax credits on your expenses. Many small suppliers register voluntarily to recover the tax on their costs, at the price of charging clients and filing returns.

If you cross the threshold, registration is mandatory and you must start charging tax; ignoring it means the CRA can assess you for tax you never collected. Your marginal tax rate is irrelevant here: GST/HST obligations depend on revenue, not profit or income tax bracket.