GST/HST invoice requirements in Canada

A GST/HST invoice in Canada must show your GST/HST number, the customer's details, an itemised list of what you supplied, and the GST/HST shown separately with its rate — currently 5%, 13%, 15%, with 5% as the usual rate for most services.

The Canada rule that catches people out

5% GST applies federally, then provinces differ. HST is 13% in Ontario and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and PEI; Quebec adds QST on top of GST; British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba charge a separate PST. Use the combined rate for the province you are billing into, not the one you live in.

What Canada adds to the document

Beyond the universal fields: your GST/HST number (formatted like 123456789 RT0001), and the GST/HST rate and amount shown separately from the net on each line.

Rates

5%, 13%, 15%. Most service work sits at 5%. Nova Scotia moved its HST rate in 2025 — check the current provincial figure before invoicing there.

Rates change. Checked to mid-2026 and a starting point, not tax advice. The current source is the Canada Revenue Agency — and if you are near a registration threshold, twenty minutes with an accountant beats a search engine.

When you have to register for GST/HST in Canada

C$30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive quarters. Below it you are a "small supplier" and do not charge GST/HST — though many register voluntarily to reclaim input tax credits.

Most systems test this on a rolling twelve months rather than your financial year — which is where the expensive mistakes happen.

Which GST/HST rate applies to what

There is no reduced rate as such; the variation is geographic. 5% GST alone in Alberta and the territories; HST at 13% in Ontario and 15% in the Atlantic provinces; GST plus a separate provincial tax in BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec. Zero-rated categories include basic groceries, prescription drugs and exports.

How often you file in Canada

Filing frequency follows revenue: annual below $1.5 million, quarterly up to $6 million, monthly above it. Smaller suppliers can elect the Quick Method, which remits a flat percentage instead of tracking every input credit — usually less work and occasionally cheaper.

Quebec is a separate system

QST is administered by Revenu Québec rather than the CRA, with its own registration and its own returns. A business selling into Quebec may need to register there separately even if it is already registered federally. Treating Quebec as "another province" is the most common Canadian invoicing error.

The Quick Method

Small businesses can elect a Quick Method that remits a fixed percentage of GST-inclusive revenue instead of tracking every input credit. For a service business with few purchases, it usually comes out ahead. For anyone buying significant materials, it usually does not — the arithmetic is worth doing once rather than assuming.

GST/HST on a discounted invoice

Bill CA$4,100 with a 5% discount shown on the document and the GST/HST is CA$194.75, not CA$205 — the discounted value is what gets taxed. Discounts, deposits and advance payments covers the cases where that stops being obvious.

Invoicing a customer outside Canada

Exports are generally zero-rated. Within Canada, the place-of-supply rules mean you charge the rate of the customer's province, not yours — a Toronto consultant billing a Calgary client charges 5%, not 13%.

Charging tax to a client in another country sets out the general shape; the first time it comes up it is worth an hour with an accountant.

Record keeping in Canada

Six years from the end of the year to which they relate. Retention rules mean the document, not a row in a ledger.

Set your country once in EstimateBill and the tax is labelled correctly on every invoice after that — GST and GSTIN in India, VAT in the UK, Sales Tax and EIN in the US, across 58 countries.