Budget-Friendly GST/HST Filing-Frequency Change for Canadian Businesses

GST in British Columbia is 5% for 2026, the same federal rate as everywhere in Canada and unchanged since 1 January 2008. BC also charges a separate 7% provincial sales tax, so most taxable sales come to 12% in total. The two are separate systems: GST is registered and filed with the CRA, PST with the province, and some goods and services are exempt from PST while the 5% GST still applies.

No. Ontario folded its former retail sales tax into the harmonised sales tax, so a single HST replaces the old GST plus PST pair on most sales, and registered businesses charge it, remit it and claim input tax credits on their own purchases. A narrow provincial retail sales tax still applies in a few places, notably certain insurance premiums and benefit plans and private vehicle sales between individuals. Those are administered by Ontario rather than the CRA.

Multiply the pre-tax price by the combined sales tax rate for the province where the sale takes place, then add that amount to the price. In HST provinces it is one rate; elsewhere GST and the provincial tax are applied separately, and in Quebec the QST is calculated on the price before GST rather than on a GST-included amount. Zero-rated and exempt items get nothing added. The place of supply decides the rate, not where your business is based.

GST/HST-exempt supplies include most residential rents, used residential housing, medical and dental services, child care, most educational courses, financial services and many charity or municipal services. No tax is charged, and the supplier cannot claim input tax credits on costs relating to them. Basic groceries, prescription drugs and exports are different: those are zero-rated, taxed at 0% with input tax credits still available. Check the CRA's GST/HST guide for the full lists.

HST in New Brunswick is 15% in 2026 - the 5% federal GST plus a 10% provincial component. New Brunswick raised its provincial component from 8% to 10% effective 1 July 2016, taking the combined rate from 13% to 15%; for an invoice that straddles that date, check the dated table on the CRA GST/HST rates and place-of-supply rules page. It applies to most goods and services supplied in the province, whoever the seller is.

There is no single rate. Personal income tax is layered: federal brackets for 2026 begin at 14% and rise through 20.5%, 26% and 29% to 33%, and each province adds its own bracket set on top of that. Sales tax is separate, with GST at 5%, HST at 13% in Ontario and 14% in Nova Scotia from 1 April 2025. Corporations pay 9% federally on the first $500,000 of active business income.

The Canada Revenue Agency collects federal income tax, GST and HST, and payroll source deductions, and administers provincial income tax for every province except Quebec. Revenu Quebec collects Quebec income tax and QST, which is why Quebec residents file two returns. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba run their own sales taxes, and provinces also levy land transfer, fuel and tobacco taxes. Municipalities charge property tax. The Canada Border Services Agency collects duty and tax on imports.

Canada has no annual tax-free allowance of the kind the United Kingdom applies to capital gains. What you get instead is the basic personal amount, a credit that shelters a first band of income each year, plus targeted reliefs: the principal residence exemption on a qualifying home and the lifetime capital gains exemption on qualifying small business shares or farm and fishing property. Only half of a capital gain is taxable for 2025 and 2026, with no separate yearly allowance.

Yes. EI benefits are taxable income and Service Canada withholds income tax from each payment. The amount held back is often less than you end up owing, because the withholding looks only at the benefit and ignores employment income you earned earlier in the same year. That is why many people who spent part of a year on EI owe a balance. You get a T4E slip and report the total on your return.

Treatment turns on whether the activity is investing or a business. Occasional trades in gold, oil or a commodity ETF held for appreciation are usually capital, so one-half of the gain is taxable for 2025 and 2026. Frequent, leveraged, short-horizon trading, or trading tied to your own business, is more likely fully taxable business income, with losses fully deductible. Physical bullion sales, futures and hedges each have their own treatment, so document your intention from the start.

To add tax, multiply the price by one plus the rate: in Ontario, $100 times 1.13 gives $113 with 13% HST. To find the tax alone, multiply by the rate itself. To strip tax out of a tax-included total, divide by that same figure, so $113 divided by 1.13 returns $100. Quebec is a two-step case, since GST at 5% and QST at 9.975% both apply to the pre-GST price.

Basic groceries are zero-rated for GST/HST, so no tax is charged on items such as milk, bread, fresh produce, meat and eggs. Restaurant meals, most snack foods, carbonated drinks, candy and prepared or catered food are taxable at the combined rate that applies in your province. Zero-rated is not the same as exempt: a grocer still registers for GST/HST and recovers the tax paid on its own purchases through input tax credits.