Chapter 3: Goods and services tax and harmonized sales tax (GST/HST)

On this page..

• What is GST/HST?
• Should you register for the GST/HST?
  • Small supplier
  • Effective date of registration
  • Voluntary registration
• How to register

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What is the GST/HST?

The GST is a tax that applies to most supplies of goods and services made in Canada. The GST also applies to supplies of real property (for example, land, buildings and interests in property) and intangible property such as trademarks, rights to use a patent, digitized products downloaded from the Internet and paid for individually.

The participating provinces harmonized their provincial sales tax with the GST to implement the HST. Generally, the HST applies to the same base of goods and services as the GST. In some participating provinces, there are point‑of‑sale rebates equivalent to the provincial part of the HST on certain designated items. For more information, see Guide RC4022, General Information for GST/HST Registrants.

Should you register for the GST/HST?

You have to register for the GST/HST if:

• you provide taxable supplies in Canada; and
• you are not a small supplier.

You do not have to register if:

• your only commercial activity is the sale of real property, other than in the course of a business (although you do not have to register for the GST/HST in this case, your sale of real property may still be taxable and you may have to charge and collect the tax). For more information, see Guide RC4022; or
• you are a non resident who does not carry on business in Canada (see Guide RC4027, Doing Business in Canada – GST/HST Information for Non‑Residents).

Small supplier

You are a small supplier and do not have to register if you meet one of the following conditions:

• you are a sole proprietor and your total revenues from taxable supplies (before expenses) from all your businesses are $30,000 or less in the last four consecutive calendar quarters or in any single calendar quarter;
• you are a partnership or a corporation and your total revenues from taxable supplies (before expenses) are $30,000 or less in the last four consecutive calendar quarters or in any single calendar quarter; or
• you are a public service body (charity, non‑profit organization, municipality, university, public college, school authority, or hospital authority) and meet certain conditions. For more information, see Guide RC4082, GST/HST Information for Charities.

Total revenues from taxable supplies means your worldwide revenues from your supplies of goods and services that are subject to the GST/HST (including zero‑rated supplies), or that would be subject to the tax if supplied in Canada. It does not include goodwill, financial services, and sales of capital property. You also have to include the total revenues from taxable supplies of all of your associates in this calculation. For more information about taxable supplies, see Guide RC4022.

Note
If your total revenues from taxable supplies are over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive calendar quarters, you are no longer a small supplier and you have to register for the GST/HST.

Exception
Taxi and limousine drivers and non resident performers selling admissions to seminars, performances, and other events must register for the GST/HST, even if they are small suppliers.

Effective date of registration

The effective date of your GST/HST registration depends on when you go over the small supplier threshold amount of $30,000. If your revenues are over the threshold amount in one calendar quarter, you are considered a registrant and must collect the GST/HST on the supply that made you go over the threshold amount. Your effective date of registration is the day of the supply that made you go over the threshold amount. You have 29 days from this day to apply for registration.

If you are under the threshold amount in one calendar quarter, but you are over the threshold during four consecutive calendar quarters, you are considered to be a small supplier for those four calendar quarters and a month following those quarters. Your effective date of registration would be the day the first supply was made after you cease being a small supplier. You have 29 days from this day to register for the GST/HST.

Voluntary registration

If you are a small supplier and you are engaged in a commercial activity in Canada, you can choose to register voluntarily, even though you do not have to. If you register voluntarily, you have to charge and remit the GST/HST on your taxable supplies of goods and services, and you can claim ITCs for the GST/HST paid or payable on purchases related to these supplies. You have to stay registered for at least one year before you can ask to cancel your registration. For more information, see Guide RC4022.

If you choose not to register, you do not charge the GST/HST (other than on certain taxable supplies of real property), and you cannot claim ITCs.

How to register

Before you can register for a GST/HST account, you need a business number (BN). Your BN will be your business identification for all your dealings with us. For more information, see The business number.

If you are incorporated, you may already have a BN and a corporate income tax account.

Note
It is the person or business entity that registers for the GST/HST. For example, it is the partnership that registers and not each partner.

If the physical location of your business is in Quebec, see Are you doing business in Quebec?

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