QST in Quebec (2026): Rate, Registration, Filing, Input Tax Refunds and Worked Examples

Running a business in Quebec means charging two consumption taxes on most sales — the federal GST and the Quebec Sales Tax (QST, or TVQ in French) — and dealing with Revenu Québec rather than the Canada Revenue Agency for both. This guide is for owners, freelancers and bookkeepers who want the 2026 QST rules in one place: the rate and how to calculate it, when you must register, how filing and instalments work, how to recover QST through input tax refunds, the quick method, the zero-rating that started in July 2026, and what changes if you sell into Quebec from another province. Every rule is checked against Revenu Québec and Quebec Finance publications as of October 2026, with worked examples in Canadian dollars.

Quick answer

The QST is 9.975%, charged on the price before GST, so most taxable sales in Quebec carry 14.975% in total. You must register once your taxable sales pass C$30,000 in a quarter or over four quarters. Revenu Québec administers both GST and QST for Quebec businesses: you register once, file one combined return online, and recover QST on business purchases as input tax refunds (ITRs).

• C$100 sale: C$5.00 GST + C$9.98 QST = C$114.98

• Return due one month after a monthly or quarterly period; three months after year-end for annual filers

• Annual filers owing C$3,000 or more pay quarterly instalments

• Since 15 July 2026, some snack foods, toilet paper and tissues are QST zero-rated (GST still applies)

• Tobacco, fuel, alcohol, new tire and vehicle sellers must register for QST whatever their size

What the QST is and who administers it

The QST is Quebec's value-added sales tax, levied under the Act respecting the Québec sales tax. It works like the GST: every registered business in the chain charges QST on its sales and recovers the QST paid on its inputs, so only the final consumer bears it. Since 2013 the QST has been calculated on the selling price excluding GST, which is why the combined rate is a straight 5% + 9.975% = 14.975%.

The big administrative difference from the rest of Canada is who you deal with. For businesses located in Quebec, Revenu Québec administers the GST as well as the QST. You register for both with Revenu Québec, file a single GST/HST and QST return through its online services, and call Revenu Québec — not the CRA — about your sales tax account. Your income tax and payroll for federal purposes still involve the CRA, but sales tax doesn't.

Supplies fall into the same three categories as for GST. Taxable supplies carry both taxes. Zero-rated supplies are taxable at 0% — basic groceries, prescription drugs, many medical devices and exports — so you charge nothing but can still claim ITCs and ITRs on your costs. Exempt supplies carry no tax and give no right to recover tax on related costs: most residential rent, health care services, many educational services and financial services. The GST and QST categories match for almost everything, with a few deliberate differences such as the July 2026 zero-rating covered below.

QST at a glance (2026)

9.975%

QST rate

on the price before GST

14.975%

Combined GST + QST

C$30,000

Small supplier threshold

quarter or 4 quarters

C$3,000

Instalment trigger

annual filers

How to calculate GST and QST

Revenu Québec allows two methods, and both give the same answer. In the two-step method, the till calculates 5% GST on the price and then 9.975% QST on the same price. In the one-step method, it applies 14.975% to the price in one go. Older registers that can't handle three decimals may use 9.97% or 14.97% internally, but those rounded rates must never appear on a receipt.

Rounding follows the half-cent rule: a fraction of half a cent or more rounds up, anything less rounds down. You may total all the taxable items on a bill and round once rather than rounding each line.

To pull the taxes back out of a tax-included price, divide by 1.14975. A C$574.88 receipt contains C$500.00 of price, C$25.00 of GST and C$49.88 of QST. Our guide to calculating HST covers reverse calculations in more depth, and our GST/HST calculator handles them for any province.

Who must register for the QST

The basic rule is identical to the GST rule. You must register if you carry on commercial activities in Quebec and your worldwide taxable supplies, including zero-rated supplies and those of associated businesses, exceed C$30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over the four preceding calendar quarters. GST and QST amounts themselves, financial services, sales of capital property and goodwill are left out of the count. Below the line you're a small supplier and registration is optional. Public service bodies such as charities and non-profits have a different, higher threshold.

On timing, Revenu Québec asks that you apply for QST registration before you make your first taxable supply in Quebec other than as a small supplier, and for GST registration before the 30th day after your first taxable sale outside small-supplier status. In practice you do both in the same application.

Some businesses must register regardless of size:

• GST and QST: anyone operating a taxi business (including drivers working through a ride-hailing operator under agreement, which have special rules), and non-residents charging admission to events in Quebec.
• QST only, even as a small supplier: retail sellers of tobacco, fuel and alcoholic beverages (other than holders of a reunion permit), sellers or lessors of new tires, and businesses that sell road vehicles (other than their own capital property) or lease them for 12 months or more.

Hobbies don't qualify. An individual or partnership of individuals that carries on an activity with no reasonable expectation of profit, or that makes only exempt supplies, cannot register.

Should a small supplier register voluntarily?

Registering early lets you claim ITCs and ITRs on start-up costs: a C$3,000 laptop bought in Montreal carries C$150 of GST and C$299.25 of QST you can recover only if you're registered. Business clients often expect a supplier to have GST and QST numbers. The trade-off is that you must then charge 14.975% on all taxable sales, which matters if your customers are consumers. Once registered, you must stay registered for at least one year, and registering for QST means registering for GST too.

How to register with Revenu Québec

Registration is free. New businesses that aren't yet known to Revenu Québec use the Register a New Business online service, which also covers source deductions, corporation income tax and clicSÉQUR access. Businesses already registered with Revenu Québec for something else add consumption taxes through My Account for businesses. The paper alternative is form LM-1-V, Application for Registration. Quebec's Démarrer une entreprise service (in French) bundles registrations with several Quebec departments if you're starting from scratch.

Register for GST and QST in Quebec

1. 1

   Check your total taxable supplies

   Add up worldwide taxable sales, including zero-rated sales and those of associated businesses, for the current quarter and the last four quarters.

2. 2

   Choose the right online service

   Use Register a New Business if Revenu Québec has no file for you; use My Account for businesses if it does. Form LM-1-V is the paper route.

   How to register for the GST and QST
3. 3

   Pick your effective date and fiscal year

   Your GST and QST fiscal years must match, and usually match your income tax year. The effective date decides which sales must carry tax.

4. 4

   Elect a filing frequency if you want a shorter one

   Revenu Québec assigns monthly, quarterly or annual filing based on your sales; you can choose a more frequent period.

5. 5

   Put both numbers on your invoices

   Your confirmation shows your GST number (BN + RT0001) and your QST number (ending in TQ0001). Registered customers need them to claim ITCs and ITRs.

Filing your GST/QST return, deadlines and instalments

Revenu Québec assigns your filing frequency from your and your associates' total annual taxable sales made in Canada, using the same thresholds as the CRA: annual filing up to C$1.5 million, quarterly above that and monthly above C$6 million. You can always opt for more frequent filing, which helps if you expect refunds.

GST/QST deadlines

1 month after period-end

Monthly and quarterly returns and payment due

3 months after year-end

Annual return and payment due

End of month after each fiscal quarter

Instalments due for annual filers owing C$3,000+

30 April

Payment due — individuals with business income, Dec 31 year-end

15 June

Return due — same individuals

Online filing is mandatory for reporting periods starting on or after 1 January 2024 for all registrants except charities. You can file through My Account for businesses, the GST/HST and QST Returns express service (using a clicSÉQUR express access code), or a financial institution's online service that files and pays in one transaction. Payments of C$10,000 or more must be made electronically.

Instalments. If you file annually and your net GST, or your net QST, was C$3,000 or more last year and is expected to be that much this year, you pay four quarterly instalments, each due one month after the end of a fiscal quarter. Because the QST rate is roughly double the GST rate, you can owe QST instalments without owing GST instalments — a business with C$2,000 of net GST typically has around C$4,000 of net QST.

Seasonal businesses can ask for designated reporting periods: periods with total tax and adjustments of C$1,000 or less for which no return is filed, the amounts being carried to the next return. You must request them in writing at registration or before the first designated period begins, and they generally aren't available to annual filers.

Restaurants and taxis have an extra layer: Quebec's mandatory billing rules require bills to be produced with a sales recording module (SRM) or sales recording system. Business customers spending C$500 or more can ask for a copy that shows their name and payment terms for ITC/ITR purposes.

Input tax refunds: recovering the QST you pay

An input tax refund (ITR) is the QST twin of the GST input tax credit. You claim it on the return for the QST you paid on purchases used in your commercial activities — rent, equipment, supplies, software, professional fees. ITRs and ITCs reduce your net tax; if they exceed what you collected, Revenu Québec refunds the difference.

You generally have four years to claim, counted from the filing deadline of the return on which you could first have claimed. The window shrinks to two years for listed financial institutions and for businesses whose taxable sales exceeded C$6 million in each of the two previous fiscal years, unless at least 90% of their sales are taxable.

Large businesses used to be denied ITRs on road vehicles, fuel, energy, telecom and some meal and entertainment costs. Those restrictions were phased out between 2018 and 2020 and since 2021 large businesses claim 100% of ITRs on those items, though the general 50% limit on meals and entertainment still applies to everyone.

Your claim is only as good as your paperwork. The supplier's invoice or receipt must show certain details depending on its total value.

Worked example: a Montreal design studio's quarter

Atelier Pixel, a two-person graphic design firm in Montreal, files quarterly. In July to September it bills Quebec clients C$48,000 before tax. Its taxable purchases — studio rent, software subscriptions, a new monitor and supplies — total C$12,000 before tax, all bought from registered Quebec suppliers.

• GST collected: C$48,000 × 5% = C$2,400
• QST collected: C$48,000 × 9.975% = C$4,788
• ITCs: C$12,000 × 5% = C$600
• ITRs: C$12,000 × 9.975% = C$1,197
• Net GST: C$2,400 − C$600 = C$1,800; net QST: C$4,788 − C$1,197 = C$3,591
• Total remitted on one return by 31 October: C$5,391

The firm's real tax cost is zero — it collected C$7,188 from clients and kept C$1,797 to cover what its own suppliers charged.

The quick method for GST and QST

Small businesses can elect the quick method if their worldwide taxable sales, including zero-rated sales and those of associates, for four consecutive fiscal quarters within the last five did not exceed C$400,000 including GST/HST under the GST system and C$418,952 including QST under the QST system. You keep charging the full rates, but instead of tracking ITCs and ITRs on everyday expenses you remit a fixed percentage of your tax-included sales and keep the difference. You can still claim ITCs and ITRs on capital property.

Revenu Québec's QST quick-method rates are 6.6% for most service businesses and 3.4% for retailers and wholesalers buying goods for resale, with a 1% reduction on the first C$31,421 of QST-included sales each year. Service firms with few taxable costs usually come out ahead; retailers with large taxable purchases often don't, so run both calculations — Revenu Québec has a tax reduction calculator for this — before electing. Firms providing legal, accounting, actuarial, bookkeeping, tax-preparation or financial consulting services, charities and listed financial institutions can't use the method. Our quick method guide works through the federal side.

What changed in 2025–2026

QST zero-rating from 15 July 2026. Quebec's Information Bulletin 2026-4, published on 25 May 2026, removed QST — but not GST — from a set of products sold in grocery stores and similar outlets: sweetened baked goods, ice cream and puddings that were taxable because they were sold in single servings or packs of fewer than six; fruit salads and cut-fruit or vegetable platters; salted or seasoned nuts and seeds; granola-bar and trail-mix type snacks; and toilet paper and paper tissues. The relief doesn't apply in establishments where nearly all food sales are taxable (most restaurants), to vending machines, or to catering. Grocers needed new tax codes: a single-serving muffin now carries 5% GST and 0% QST.

GST vs QST on grocery items since 15 July 2026

Item sold in a grocery store	GST	QST
Single-serving muffin or ice-cream cup	5%	0% (zero-rated)
Cut-fruit or vegetable platter	5%	0% (zero-rated)
Salted or seasoned nuts, trail mix, granola bars	5%	0% (zero-rated)
Toilet paper and paper tissues	5%	0% (zero-rated)
Fresh fruit, milk, bread (basic groceries)	0%	0%
Same snacks from a vending machine or caterer	5%	9.975%

Single-serving muffin or ice-cream cup

GST

5%

QST

0% (zero-rated)

Cut-fruit or vegetable platter

GST

5%

QST

0% (zero-rated)

Salted or seasoned nuts, trail mix, granola bars

GST

5%

QST

0% (zero-rated)

Toilet paper and paper tissues

GST

5%

QST

0% (zero-rated)

Fresh fruit, milk, bread (basic groceries)

GST

0%

QST

0%

Same snacks from a vending machine or caterer

GST

5%

QST

9.975%

Nothing changed on the rate. As of October 2026 we found no change to the 9.975% QST rate announced for 2026.

Online filing. The mandatory e-filing rule for periods from 2024 is now fully in effect; non-charity paper returns are out.

Selling into Quebec from another province

Canadian businesses located outside Quebec don't charge QST simply because a customer lives there. They may, however, be required to register with Revenu Québec under one of two systems. The specified system — a simplified registration with a QST number containing "NR" — is aimed at suppliers outside Quebec selling to Quebec consumers, including digital platforms and accommodation platforms. The general system — a regular QST number containing "TQ" — applies to suppliers that store or deliver property in Quebec. A business caught by both registers only under the general system. Revenu Québec publishes the list of registered suppliers outside Quebec so customers can check numbers.

If you're an Ontario or Alberta seller with Quebec customers, check Revenu Québec's page for suppliers outside Québec before your sales grow; the place-of-supply rules for GST/HST are summarized in our GST/HST rates by province guide.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

• Charging QST on the GST. The QST base excludes GST. If your system calculates 9.975% on a GST-inclusive price, you overcharge by about 0.5% of every sale — fix the tax code and refund or credit customers.
• Filing GST with the CRA. A Quebec-located business files GST with Revenu Québec. A return sent to the CRA can leave your Revenu Québec account showing a missed filing.
• Missing supplier QST numbers. ITRs on purchases of C$100 or more need the supplier's QST number. Ask for it before paying, and check it against Revenu Québec's registry.
• Forgetting QST instalments. Annual filers often notice only the GST instalment rule. Net QST crosses C$3,000 much sooner.
• Old tax codes after July 2026. Grocers and convenience stores still charging QST on single-serve snacks, toilet paper or tissues are overcharging. Update POS tables and correct earlier periods.
• Registering late. You owe GST and QST on every taxable sale from the date you stopped being a small supplier. Register at once with the correct effective date; if you can't recover the tax from customers, treat past prices as tax-included.

Official Revenu Québec and Quebec Finance links

• Registering for the GST and QSTThreshold and mandatory registration
• How to registerOnline services and form LM-1-V
• Calculating the taxes9.975%, 14.975% and rounding
• Filing frequency and deadlinesMonthly, quarterly, annual
• Claiming ITRs and ITCsFour-year limit
• Information Bulletin 2026-4 (French)QST zero-rating from 15 July 2026

What to do next

Add up your taxable sales for the last four quarters to see whether you've crossed C$30,000, then register with Revenu Québec and set your invoices to show both numbers and both taxes. Use the GST/HST calculator to check 14.975% totals, and read our GST/HST guide for the federal rules that apply alongside the QST.

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

Frequently asked questions

What is the QST rate in Quebec?

The Quebec Sales Tax (QST) is 9.975%, charged on the selling price before GST. With the 5% GST the combined rate is 14.975%. On a C$100 taxable sale a Quebec business charges C$5.00 GST and C$9.98 QST, for C$114.98. Some items are zero-rated (basic groceries, prescription drugs, exports) and others are exempt.

When do I have to register for QST?

When your worldwide taxable supplies, plus those of associates, exceed C$30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive quarters. Until then you are a small supplier and registration is optional. Taxi businesses must register from the start, and sellers of tobacco, fuel, alcohol, new tires or road vehicles must register for QST whatever their sales.

Do I register for GST with the CRA or with Revenu Québec?

If your business is located in Quebec, Revenu Québec administers both your GST and your QST, so you register for both together using its Register a New Business service or My Account for businesses. You file one combined GST/HST and QST return with Revenu Québec, not a separate GST return with the CRA.

When is the GST/QST return due?

Monthly and quarterly returns are due one month after the end of the period. Annual returns are generally due three months after the fiscal year-end; individuals with business income and a December 31 year-end may file by June 15 but must pay by April 30. Returns for periods starting on or after 1 January 2024 must be filed online, except by charities.

What is an input tax refund (ITR)?

An ITR is the QST equivalent of an input tax credit. A QST registrant recovers the QST it paid on purchases used in its commercial activities by claiming ITRs on its return. You generally have four years to claim, and the supplier's invoice must show the information Revenu Québec requires — including the supplier's QST number on purchases of C$100 or more.

Do Ontario or other out-of-province businesses charge QST?

Only if they are registered for it. Canadian businesses outside Quebec that sell to Quebec consumers can be required to register under Revenu Québec's specified system (numbers containing NR), and those that store or deliver goods in Quebec may need the general system (numbers containing TQ). Check Revenu Québec's page for suppliers outside Québec before selling into the province.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 12 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.Registering for the GST and QST — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
2. 2.Details Concerning Small Suppliers — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
3. 3.How to Register for the GST and QST — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
4. 4.Calculating the Taxes — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
5. 5.Filing Frequency — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
6. 6.Filing GST/HST and QST Returns — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
7. 7.Who Can Use the Quick Method of Accounting? — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
8. 8.GST and QST Instalments — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
9. 9.Claiming ITRs and ITCs — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
10. 10.Preparing Invoices — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
11. 11.Phasing Out of Restrictions on Input Tax Refunds for Large Businesses — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
12. 12.QST Registration for Suppliers Outside Québec — Revenu Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
13. 13.Bulletin d'information 2026-4 — Ministère des Finances du Québec · accessed 12 October 2026
14. 14.Businesses prepare for QST grocery relief — KPMG in Canada · accessed 12 October 2026