Affordable Monthly GST/HST Filing for Canadian Businesses

Ontario HST is 13% for 2026: the 5% federal GST plus an 8% provincial component, unchanged since 1 July 2010, and the CRA collects all of it. A $100 taxable purchase therefore carries $13 of HST. The rate follows the place of supply, so an Ontario delivery takes 13% even if you invoice from another province. Basic groceries and prescription drugs are zero-rated; most long-term residential rent is exempt and carries no HST.

Long-term residential rent is exempt, so a landlord charges no GST/HST on it and cannot claim input tax credits on the related costs. Commercial and office rent is taxable at the rate for the province: 5% GST, or the HST rate where HST applies. Short-term accommodation is generally taxable as well. Exempt is not zero-rated, because zero-rated supplies are taxed at 0% but still allow input tax credit recovery. Confirm the treatment before setting rents.

Divide the total by one plus the tax rate expressed as a decimal. That gives the amount before tax, and subtracting it from the total leaves the tax portion. Going the other direction, multiply the pre-tax amount by the rate to get the tax and add the two together. Use the combined rate for the province of supply, and avoid rounding at each step so the tax you report matches the figures on your invoices.

Alberta is the only province with no provincial sales tax, and the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon have none either. In all four you pay just the 5% federal GST in 2026. Everywhere else adds something, all at 2026 rates: HST of 13% in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island; a separate PST of 7% in British Columbia and 6% in Saskatchewan; Manitoba's retail sales tax (RST) of 7%; and QST of 9.975% in Quebec.

Take-out and delivered prepared food is taxable in Ontario, so 13% HST normally applies. Ontario's point-of-sale rebate removes the provincial part on qualifying prepared food and beverages sold under a set dollar limit, leaving only the 5% federal part, which is why a small coffee-and-muffin order can show less tax than a large one. Basic groceries you take home, such as bread, milk and produce, are zero-rated and carry no GST/HST at all.

Unpaid property tax is not normally reported to Canadian credit bureaus, so paying it late does not usually show up in your score on its own. The risk is different: a municipality can add interest, register the arrears against title and eventually start a tax sale, and if you borrow to clear the bill that loan does affect your credit. Check your municipality's tax collection page for its arrears process.

For a 2025 personal return filed online the CRA targets about two weeks, and a non-resident return up to sixteen weeks. A paper return runs on a considerably longer standard because it is handled manually. Anything selected for review, filed with missing slips or sent with an out-of-date address takes longer. Online filing for 2025 returns opened 23 February 2026 and closes 29 January 2027.

A private creditor cannot take a refund from the CRA directly. CRA itself can apply your refund against tax you owe, and under federal set-off it can be redirected to other government debts such as defaulted student loans or benefit overpayments. Once the money reaches your bank account it is an ordinary asset, so a collection agency holding a court judgment and a garnishment order can seize it there. Unpaid tax is not reported to credit bureaus, although CRA can register a lien.

Line 23600 is not on the T4. It is a line on the T1 income tax return, where it reports net income after deductions. The T4 gives you employment income in box 14 along with the amounts withheld, and those figures feed into the return that produces line 23600. When a lender, a benefit application or a sponsorship form asks for line 23600, take it from your filed return or your notice of assessment in CRA My Account.

Line 105 on the electronic GST/HST return is the total tax you collected or that became collectible in the period, at 5% GST, 13% in Ontario, or 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island for 2026. Remitting means sending CRA that figure less your input tax credits. Tax collected is a liability, not revenue, so show it as its own invoice line with your GST/HST number.

The TD1, Personal Tax Credits Return, tells an employer or payer how much tax to withhold from each payment. You complete a federal TD1 and a provincial or territorial one when you start a job or begin drawing a pension, and again whenever your circumstances change, claiming the credits you are entitled to. More credits claimed means less tax withheld. For deductions the TD1 does not cover, such as RRSP contributions or support payments, use Form T1213 instead.

Yes, in three separate layers. Federal excise duty is built into the price before the product reaches the shelf, each province or territory adds its own tobacco tax, and GST/HST then applies to the selling price including those taxes. The duty and the provincial tax are charged by quantity of product rather than as a percentage of price, which is why the shelf price differs so much between provinces.