GST/HST Registration in Canada (2026): The C$30,000 Test, Voluntary Registration and How to Apply

Every growing Canadian business hits the same question sooner or later: do I need a GST/HST number yet? This guide is for sole proprietors, side-hustlers, new corporations and foreign sellers who want a clear answer for 2026. It explains the C$30,000 small supplier test — including the difference between going over in one quarter and going over across four — who has to register no matter how small they are, when registering early makes sense, how to apply online for your RT account, what changes once you're registered, and how the digital economy rules catch non-resident sellers. Worked C$ examples show exactly when the clock starts.

Quick answer

You must register for GST/HST once your worldwide taxable sales (plus those of associated businesses) exceed C$30,000 in one calendar quarter or over the last four consecutive quarters. Registration is free and done online through Business Registration Online; your account number is your Business Number plus RT0001.

• Apply within 29 days of your effective date of registration

• Taxi and ride-sharing drivers register from their first fare, whatever their sales

• Voluntary registration is allowed — backdated up to 30 days

• Phone registration ended on 3 November 2025; apply online

• Quebec businesses register with Revenu Québec for both GST and QST

Who has to register for GST/HST

Under the Excise Tax Act, anyone who makes taxable supplies in Canada in the course of a commercial activity must register unless they qualify as a small supplier. A taxable supply is any sale, lease or other supply that is taxed at 5%, the HST rate or 0% (zero-rated). Exempt supplies — most residential rent, health care services, financial services and the like — don't count.

The rule catches all business structures: sole proprietorships, partnerships, corporations and trusts. A sole proprietor with two businesses (say, a photography studio and an online shop) registers once, because the CRA looks at the person, not each business line. And it applies whether or not you've incorporated or registered a business name with your province — provincial registration and GST/HST registration are separate steps.

Some people must register regardless of their sales:

• Taxi and commercial ride-sharing drivers — anyone providing taxi services or ride-sharing through apps such as Uber or Lyft must register from the first fare. Food and parcel delivery drivers aren't caught by this rule and use the normal small supplier test.
• Non-residents selling admissions in Canada to a place of amusement, a seminar, an activity or an event.
• Non-residents sponsoring a convention in Canada where more than 25% of attendees are Canadian residents.

Separate rules for non-resident digital sellers and platforms are covered further down.

Do you need to register?

Step 1

Taxable sales in Canada?

Step 2

Taxi or ride-sharing? → register now

Step 3

Over C$30,000 in one quarter or four?

Step 4

Register within 29 days

or stay a small supplier

The small supplier test: C$30,000 in one quarter or four

You stay a small supplier — and can choose not to register — while your worldwide taxable supplies, together with those of associated businesses, are C$30,000 or less in both of these tests:

1. Any single calendar quarter (January–March, April–June, July–September, October–December).
2. The last four consecutive calendar quarters combined.

Count revenue before expenses, including zero-rated sales such as exports and basic groceries. Leave out exempt sales, financial services, sales of capital property (equipment or a building you used in the business) and the goodwill of a business you sell. "Associated" usually means businesses you control or that are controlled by the same people — a holding company and its operating company, for instance — so splitting work between two corporations doesn't reset the clock.

Charities and public service bodies have higher thresholds. A public service body that isn't a charity uses C$50,000. A charity is a small supplier if its gross revenue is C$250,000 or less, or if its taxable supplies are C$50,000 or less.

The two tests and when your registration starts

How you exceed C$30,000	You stop being a small supplier	Effective date of registration	Deadline to apply
In a single calendar quarter	Immediately, on the sale that takes you over	No later than the day of that sale	29 days after the effective date
Over four consecutive quarters (but no single quarter over)	At the end of the month after the quarter you went over	No later than your first taxable sale after you stop being a small supplier	29 days after the effective date

In a single calendar quarter

You stop being a small supplier

Immediately, on the sale that takes you over

Effective date of registration

No later than the day of that sale

Deadline to apply

29 days after the effective date

Over four consecutive quarters (but no single quarter over)

You stop being a small supplier

At the end of the month after the quarter you went over

Effective date of registration

No later than your first taxable sale after you stop being a small supplier

Deadline to apply

29 days after the effective date

Worked example 1: going over in a single quarter

Priya runs a small landscaping business in Mississauga. Her quarterly sales in 2026 were C$4,000 (January–March) and C$16,000 (April–June). In July she signs a large commercial contract and by 22 August her July–September sales reach C$31,200, the extra coming from a C$9,000 invoice issued that day.

The single-quarter test is broken by the 22 August invoice. That invoice is already a taxable supply, so it should carry 13% HST — C$1,170 — and Priya's effective date of registration is 22 August. She must apply within 29 days, by 20 September. If she sends the invoice without HST, she still owes the C$1,170; the usual fix is to issue a revised invoice once she has her number.

Worked example 2: going over across four quarters

Marc, a graphic designer in Halifax, invoices steadily: C$7,500 in each of the last four quarters, ending 30 June. That's exactly C$30,000 — not over the threshold, so he's still a small supplier. In the July–September quarter he bills C$8,200, so the four quarters ending 30 September total C$30,700.

Under the four-quarter test he remains a small supplier until the end of the month after that quarter — 31 October. His first sale after that (say an invoice on 3 November) is his effective date, and it must include Nova Scotia's 14% HST. He then has 29 days to apply. Unlike Priya, Marc gets a short runway to set up his invoicing before tax applies.

Tracking the threshold so it doesn't surprise you

The small supplier rules are easy to understand and easy to miss in practice, because most bookkeeping software reports by fiscal year rather than by calendar quarter. Build a simple tracker: one row per calendar quarter, the taxable sales for that quarter, and a running total of the latest four. Update it when you invoice, not when you get paid — the test counts supplies made, and an unpaid invoice still counts.

Watch for one-off spikes. A contractor who usually bills C$6,000 a quarter but lands a C$28,000 job in a single month has crossed the single-quarter test the moment that invoice and the month's other sales pass C$30,000. If you can see a large contract coming, it is usually simpler to register voluntarily a few weeks ahead so that the big invoice goes out with the right tax from day one.

Keep the tracker even after you register. It is the evidence that your effective date was right if the CRA ever asks, and it helps you confirm which filing frequency you should be on as your sales grow.

Voluntary registration: when registering early pays off

A small supplier can register at any time if it makes taxable supplies in Canada. Your effective date is normally the day you apply, though the CRA will accept a date up to 30 days earlier. Once registered you're in the system fully: you charge GST/HST on every taxable sale, file returns on time even when you owe nothing, and keep the registration until you formally close it.

The main benefit is input tax credits. A registrant recovers the GST/HST paid on business purchases, which matters most in a start-up year with heavy spending. An Ontario café fitting out its premises might pay C$45,000 plus C$5,850 HST for equipment and renovations before selling a single coffee. Registered, it claims the C$5,850 back on its first return — often as a refund. Unregistered, that tax is a sunk cost.

Registration also helps when your customers are businesses. They claim back any GST/HST you charge, so the tax costs them nothing, and some larger clients and government buyers prefer or expect suppliers to have a GST/HST number.

The trade-off shows up when you sell to consumers. They can't recover the tax, so a registered personal trainer in Moncton charging C$80 a session effectively becomes C$92 with 15% HST, or has to absorb C$10.43 of tax by holding the all-in price at C$80. There's also the paperwork: returns, records and, in most cases, mandatory electronic filing.

Registration numbers at a glance (2026)

C$30,000

Small supplier limit

1 quarter or 4 quarters

29 days

Time to apply

from the effective date

30 days

Voluntary backdating

maximum

C$50,000

Public service body limit

C$0

Government fee

registration is free

How to register for a GST/HST account online

Since 3 November 2025, the CRA no longer accepts phone registrations for a Business Number (BN) or program accounts — callers to the business line are redirected online. For most businesses the route is Business Registration Online (BRO), reached by signing in to a CRA account and adding a business account. Representatives with a RepID can use Represent a Client. If you don't yet have a BN, BRO creates one and adds your GST/HST account in the same session.

Register for GST/HST in BRO

1. 1

   Gather your details

   Owners' names, SINs, dates of birth and home postal codes; the business name, type and description of main activity; physical and mailing addresses; your existing BN if you have one.

2. 2

   Sign in and open Business Registration Online

   Sign in to your CRA account, choose to add a business account, then start BRO. Sole proprietors with a temporary SIN starting with 9 must use BRO; directors or partners with one use Form RC1.

   Register for a GST/HST account
3. 3

   Choose the GST/HST program account

   Add the RT program, and while you're there add payroll (RP) or import/export (RM) accounts if you'll need them — leaving the session ends it.

4. 4

   Enter your effective date, fiscal year and estimated sales

   The effective date decides which sales carry tax. Estimated annual taxable sales set your filing frequency: annual up to C$1.5 million, quarterly above that, monthly above C$6 million.

   Tip: Pick the date you actually crossed the threshold — backdating too far creates tax you never collected.

5. 5

   Save your numbers before you leave

   BRO shows your BN and RT number on screen and won't send them to you. Print or save the confirmation.

BRO can't be used in a few situations — reactivating a closed account, a business owned by another business, a business whose owner or director has died, or a Canadian business whose owners are all non-residents. Those follow the alternative methods listed on the CRA's registration page. Non-residents use the CRA's non-resident registration pages; for help, the CRA's BN registration line is 1-866-453-0452.

Quebec. If your business is located in Quebec, you register with Revenu Québec, which administers both the GST and the QST for Quebec businesses. Its small supplier threshold mirrors the federal one.

PST provinces. A GST/HST number does nothing for provincial sales tax. In BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba you register separately with the province if you sell taxable goods, software or services there. Our Canada business registration guide puts the BN, GST/HST and provincial steps in order.

Your GST/HST number: what it looks like and where it goes

Your GST/HST account number has 15 characters: the 9-digit BN, the letters RT and a 4-digit reference — almost always 0001, as in 123456789 RT0001. Additional GST/HST accounts for branches or divisions get RT0002 and so on.

Put the number on every invoice and receipt. The CRA requires a supplier to give its number to a business customer on sales of C$100 or more, because the customer needs it to claim input tax credits, and customers can check it against the CRA's GST/HST Registry. Our GST number lookup guide explains what the registry confirms and the invoice details required at each amount.

Digital economy rules: non-resident sellers and platforms

Since 1 July 2021, three sets of rules make foreign sellers and online platforms collect GST/HST on sales to Canadians. Each uses a C$30,000 threshold measured over any 12-month period, not calendar quarters.

Cross-border digital products and services. A non-resident vendor selling things like streaming, apps, software subscriptions or online courses to Canadian consumers must register once those sales exceed C$30,000 in 12 months. These sellers usually use the simplified regime: a collect-and-remit system with numbers ending RT9999, a December 31 fiscal year, and no input tax credits. If the sale goes through a distribution platform operator that is registered, the platform charges and remits the tax and the sale counts toward the platform's threshold instead of the vendor's.

Qualifying goods in Canada. Non-resident vendors whose goods are shipped from a Canadian fulfilment warehouse or delivered to Canadian buyers, and the platforms that facilitate those sales, must use normal GST/HST registration — the simplified regime isn't available.

Platform-based short-term accommodation. Short-term rentals booked through platforms are taxable, and accommodation platform operators collect GST/HST on stays supplied by hosts who aren't registered. A host who is registered charges and remits the tax on their own.

If you're a Canadian business buying from a simplified registrant — for example, a foreign software service — give it your GST/HST number so it doesn't charge you tax. Tax you pay to a simplified registrant can't be claimed as an input tax credit.

What changes the day you're registered

Registration has knock-on effects worth planning for:

• Charge tax from the effective date. Every taxable sale from that day carries GST/HST at the rate of the province where the supply is made. Our GST/HST rates by province explains which rate to use, and the HST calculation guide shows the formulas.
• File every return, even nil ones. Most registrants must file electronically; paper returns from those required to e-file attract a penalty of C$100 for the first one.
• Claim input tax credits. From your effective date, keep invoices showing your suppliers' GST/HST numbers.
• Consider the quick method. Small service businesses often remit less with the quick method.
• Set up online access. My Business Account lets you file, pay and see notices.

Your first week as a GST/HST registrant

0/6

• Save the BRO confirmation showing your BN and RT0001 number
• Add the number and the correct provincial rates to your invoice template
• Re-issue any invoices dated on or after your effective date without tax
• Note your first return's period and due date in your calendar
• Start a folder for purchase invoices that show suppliers' GST/HST numbers
• Decide whether to elect the quick method before your first return is due

Share Print

Common registration mistakes

Watching only the annual total. A single strong quarter over C$30,000 triggers registration immediately, even if your yearly sales are modest.

Forgetting associated businesses. Two companies owned by the same person count together.

Not charging tax on the sale that crossed the line. That sale is already taxable under the single-quarter rule.

Registering too late. Missing the 29 days window doesn't remove the tax — the CRA can assess the GST/HST you should have collected, plus interest and penalties, without the customer ever having paid it. If you discover you're late, register now with the correct effective date and issue revised invoices where you can.

Using an agent who charges a "government fee". There isn't one.

Official links

• CRA — When to register for and start charging GST/HSTSmall supplier tests and effective dates
• CRA — Register for a GST/HST accountBusiness Registration Online
• CRA — GST/HST for digital-economy businessesNon-resident and platform rules
• CRA — RC4022 General Information for GST/HST RegistrantsThe registrant's guide

What to do next

Add up your taxable sales for each of the last four calendar quarters and the current one. If any quarter is close to C$30,000, set up your invoicing so you can add tax the day you go over, and register through Business Registration Online as soon as you do. Price your services with our Canada GST/HST calculator, issue compliant invoices with the invoice generator, and read the GST/HST overview for filing deadlines.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

When do I have to register for GST/HST in Canada?

Once you stop being a small supplier — that is, when your worldwide taxable sales, including those of associated businesses, go over C$30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over the last four consecutive calendar quarters. You then have 29 days from your effective date to apply. Taxi and commercial ride-sharing drivers must register from their first fare regardless of sales.

Is GST/HST registration free?

Yes. The CRA charges nothing to register for a Business Number or a GST/HST account. You register online through Business Registration Online on canada.ca, and the number is issued during the session. Private agents may charge a fee to do it for you, but the government process itself costs nothing.

Can I register for GST/HST voluntarily?

Yes. A small supplier that makes taxable sales in Canada can register at any time. The effective date is usually the day you apply, but the CRA accepts an effective date up to 30 days earlier. Once registered you must charge GST/HST on taxable sales and file returns, and you can claim input tax credits on business purchases.

What does a GST/HST number look like?

It's your 9-digit Business Number followed by the program identifier RT and a 4-digit reference, usually RT0001 — for example 123456789 RT0001. Corporations, sole proprietors and partnerships all use this format. Simplified registrants under the digital economy rules receive numbers ending in RT9999.

Do Uber and Lyft drivers need a GST/HST number?

Yes. Self-employed taxi and commercial ride-sharing drivers must register for GST/HST from their first fare, even if their sales are under C$30,000. Delivery-only drivers (food or parcels) are treated like other businesses and follow the normal small supplier test.

Do foreign sellers have to register for GST/HST?

Since 1 July 2021, non-resident vendors and platforms selling digital products or services to Canadian consumers must register once those sales exceed C$30,000 over a 12-month period, usually under the simplified regime. Non-residents selling goods held in Canadian fulfilment warehouses must use normal registration. Non-residents carrying on business in Canada follow the regular small supplier test.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 11 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.When to register for and start charging the GST/HST — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 11 October 2026
2. 2.Register for a GST/HST account — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 11 October 2026
3. 3.Businesses: Go online to register for a business number or CRA program account — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 11 October 2026
4. 4.RC4022 General Information for GST/HST Registrants — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 11 October 2026
5. 5.Find out if you need to register: GST/HST for digital-economy businesses — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 11 October 2026
6. 6.FAQ – Application of the GST/HST in relation to electronic commerce supplies — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 11 October 2026
7. 7.Confirming a simplified GST/HST account number — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 11 October 2026