Tax Strategy
Canada GST/HST/PST for ecommerce in 2026: the province-by-province map your Shopify tax setup is probably missing
Canada has no single sales tax rate. GST applies federally at 5%, HST combines federal and provincial tax in five provinces (up to 15%), and Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan each run a separate PST. Your Shopify tax setup needs to match the destination province, not just toggle a single national rate, or you are collecting wrong.
Key Takeaways
- Canada runs five sales-tax systems, not one. Federal GST at 5%, HST at 13-15% in five provinces, separate PST in BC/SK/MB, separate QST in Quebec. A national ecommerce seller can owe filings to five different tax authorities (CRA, BC, SK, MB, Revenu Quebec).
- The CRA $30,000 small-supplier shield does not apply provincially. BC PST triggers at C$10,000 in BC sales. Saskatchewan PST applies from the first sale of cross-border digital services (no threshold). Quebec QST triggers at C$30,000 in QC consumer sales under its own regime.
- Manitoba extended RST to SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS effective 1 January 2026, per current Manitoba Finance guidance. Online platform operators (as defined in Manitoba RST law, which is narrower than the generic marketplace-facilitator concept) must collect RST on cloud services sold to Manitoba customers. The general RST threshold is C$30,000; the cross-border digital-services threshold is C$10,000.
- Non-resident digital sellers lost the small-supplier shield on 1 July 2021. The Excise Tax Act amendments require non-resident vendors and digital platform operators to register and collect GST/HST once C$30,000 in sales to Canadian consumers is exceeded.
- Your Shopify Canada tax setup probably gets at least one province wrong. The default Canada tax setting collects GST/HST but does not handle BC PST registration, SK PST nexus, MB RST, or QST. Each provincial regime requires a separate account and a separate return.
If you sell into Canada from a Shopify or Amazon store, the sales-tax setup is harder than it looks. Canada does not have one sales-tax regime. It has five overlapping ones: federal GST in every jurisdiction, HST in five provinces, separate PST in BC and Saskatchewan, separate RST in Manitoba, and QST in Quebec under its own tax authority. The trap is not the rate table. The trap is that the federal C$30,000 small-supplier threshold does not map to the provincial thresholds, and four provinces have layered marketplace-facilitator rules on top between 2022 and 2026.
This guide covers B2C ecommerce (direct-to-consumer sales into Canada). B2B sales follow different rules around input tax credits, reverse charges, and zero-rated supplies; the rate map below still applies, but the registration and collection mechanics often differ. This is a living index. We refresh the rate table, thresholds, and marketplace-facilitator status when each province publishes a new bulletin. The last refresh ran on 1 June 2026.
The five tax systems Canada actually runs
Federal GST is 5% everywhere. In five provinces, GST is replaced by HST at a combined federal-plus-provincial rate: Ontario 13%, Nova Scotia 14% (down from 15% effective 2025-04-01 per Nova Scotia Finance Bulletin SST-2025-001), and New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island all at 15%. In Alberta and the three territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon), only the federal 5% applies. In the remaining four provinces, GST is collected federally and a separate provincial sales tax is collected on top: BC PST at 7%, Saskatchewan PST at 6%, Manitoba RST at 7%, and Quebec QST at 9.975%. Quebec QST is administered by Revenu Quebec, not by the CRA.
That is five separate tax systems. A national ecommerce seller can owe filings to five different tax authorities (CRA, BC Finance, SK Finance, MB Finance, Revenu Quebec). The combined sales-tax rate the customer sees ranges from 5% in Alberta to 15% in Atlantic Canada.
The data table below shows the per-province breakdown behind the chart.
Province / Territory Tax system GST/HST rate Provincial rate (PST/RST/QST) Combined rate Alberta GST only 5% n/a 5% British Columbia GST + PST 5% 7% PST 12% Manitoba GST + RST 5% 7% RST 12% New Brunswick HST 15% n/a 15% Newfoundland and Labrador HST 15% n/a 15% Northwest Territories GST only 5% n/a 5% Nova Scotia HST 14% n/a 14% Nunavut GST only 5% n/a 5% Ontario HST 13% n/a 13% Prince Edward Island HST 15% n/a 15% Quebec GST + QST 5% 9.975% QST 14.975% Saskatchewan GST + PST 5% 6% PST 11% Yukon GST only 5% n/a 5%
Federal GST/HST: the $30,000 threshold, the four-quarter rule, and the digital carve-out
A Canadian business must register for GST/HST once taxable revenues exceed C$30,000 in any single calendar quarter or over four consecutive calendar quarters. The threshold is rolling. Once you cross it, you have 29 days to register. The applicable rate is then driven by the customer's province: 5% GST in non-HST provinces, the relevant HST rate in participating provinces, plus possibly separate PST/RST/QST in BC, SK, MB, and Quebec.
Effective 1 July 2021, the Excise Tax Act was amended to add simplified GST/HST registration and collection rules for non-resident vendors and digital platform operators selling digital products and services to Canadian consumers. A US apparel brand selling on its own Shopify store from California into Toronto is captured by these rules once it exceeds C$30,000 in sales to Canadian consumers. The small-supplier threshold for the digital-economy regime is measured on Canadian-consumer sales, not on global revenue.
The simplified regime lets a non-resident register, collect, and remit GST/HST without claiming input tax credits. The general regime requires full registration but allows input tax credits on Canadian business inputs. Most US DTC brands selling into Canada land on the simplified path.
BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec: four separate provincial regimes
BC PST triggers for out-of-province sellers at C$10,000 in annual BC sales of taxable goods, software, or telecom services. BC can require registration below the threshold if there is physical presence or inventory in the province (including inventory stored at a 3PL with BC warehouses). Marketplace facilitators must collect BC PST on taxable sales made through their platforms under BC PST-142 and Notice 2023-004.
Saskatchewan has the lowest threshold (zero) for cross-border digital services. PST applies from the first sale, per Saskatchewan Finance PST guidance and PwC Canada's tax-summary page. For goods, SK applies broad nexus: delivering into SK, accepting SK-origin orders, or making goods available in SK can each trigger registration. PST extends to software for use in SK, including SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Online sales platform operators must collect Saskatchewan PST on taxable sales made to Saskatchewan customers.
Manitoba RST has a general C$30,000 registration threshold for out-of-province sellers, with a lower C$10,000 threshold cited in specialized digital-services guidance (PwC Canada tax summary, accessed 2026-06-01). Manitoba extended RST to cloud computing services (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) effective 1 January 2026 per current Manitoba Finance guidance, and online platform operators must collect on cloud services sold to Manitoba customers. The Manitoba RST definition of "online platform operator" is narrower than the BC PST-142 marketplace-facilitator definition. A Shopify store selling its own goods direct is generally not an online platform operator in MB, even though Amazon Marketplace is. Out-of-province vendors must register if they deliver into MB, solicit MB orders, accept MB-origin orders, or hold inventory in MB.
Quebec QST runs through Revenu Quebec, separate from the CRA. Non-resident digital service suppliers must register and collect QST once they exceed C$30,000 in annual sales to Quebec consumers. Quebec runs two parallel registration tracks: a specified-supplier regime (simplified, no input tax credits) and the general system (full registration, input tax credits available). Most cross-border digital sellers land on the specified system.
The data table below shows the thresholds and marketplace-facilitator status side by side.
Jurisdiction Registration threshold (CAD) Marketplace facilitator rule in force Notes CRA GST/HST $30,000 N/A (federal) Trailing 4 quarters or single quarter. Non-resident digital sellers since 2021-07-01. BC PST $10,000 Yes (PST-142) Software and telecom captured. Inventory in BC requires registration regardless of threshold. Saskatchewan PST $0 Yes Cross-border digital services from first sale. SaaS, PaaS, IaaS taxable. Manitoba RST $30,000 ($10,000 digital) Yes Cloud, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS extension effective 2026-01-01. Quebec QST $30,000 Yes Revenu Quebec specified-suppliers regime. Separate from CRA.
The marketplace-facilitator rules: what BC, SK, MB, and Quebec did between 2022 and 2026
The marketplace-facilitator rules pull the platform (Shopify Marketplace, Amazon, Etsy, eBay) into the collection net. The pattern across the four provinces is consistent: the platform that processes payment and facilitates the sale is responsible for registering, collecting, and remitting provincial sales tax on the underlying sellers' transactions.
The practical effect for an individual DTC operator: if you sell only through Amazon Canada, Amazon is typically the registered collector for BC PST, SK PST, MB RST, and QST on those Amazon sales. If you also sell direct via your own Shopify store, the marketplace coverage does not extend to your direct sales. Your Shopify direct sales sit outside the marketplace-facilitator umbrella, and you almost certainly need your own provincial registrations to cover them.
The other common trap: if your Amazon volume is large enough that you are required to register provincially to file information returns or to claim input credits, you may need to register even where Amazon collects on the underlying sale. Each province handles this differently. BC PST-142 spells out the seller-side obligations clearly. SK and MB rules require the underlying seller to verify the marketplace is registered. Quebec runs a separate determination under the specified-supplier regime.
The 1 January 2026 Manitoba SaaS change, and why it matters even if you do not sell software
Manitoba's extension of RST to SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS effective 1 January 2026, per current Manitoba Finance guidance, is the most recent provincial expansion in scope. The headline is the cloud-services tax, but what's actually happening is that provincial governments are widening the sales-tax base to cover digital and intangible supplies that previously fell outside the rules.
Two reasons this matters even if you do not sell software. First, if your ecommerce business uses Canadian-customer-facing SaaS subscriptions (a Canadian customer portal, a Canadian-language subscription product), those subscriptions are now potentially within Manitoba RST scope. Second, the direction of travel is clear: BC, SK, and Quebec already tax broad categories of digital supplies. Manitoba's move signals further expansion is likely. A digital-services audit of your Canadian customer-facing products is worth running now.
Operator playbook: how to set up your Shopify tax engine and stay current with five regimes
Operators treat Canada as a single market like a US state, miss that there are five separate regimes, and find out via Shopify reports or accountant cleanup six months later. The fix is to map the regimes before you launch and to track your sales by province from day one.
What to do this week if you sell into Canada at any scale:
- Track sales by province from day one. Your Shopify tax setup needs to break sales out by province so you can monitor each registration threshold against actual revenue. The default Canada checkbox does not do this. Configure tax overrides per province.
- Decide your registration sequence. Start with CRA GST/HST if you are at or near C$30,000 in Canadian-consumer sales. Add BC PST if you cross C$10,000 in BC sales or hold inventory at a Canadian 3PL with BC warehouses. Add Saskatchewan PST from your first sale if you ship digital services or have any goods sales into SK. Add MB RST and QC QST as your sales into those provinces approach the thresholds.
- Map the marketplace coverage gaps. List every channel you sell on (your own Shopify store, Shopify Marketplace, Amazon Canada, Etsy, eBay, TikTok Shop) and identify which channel is the registered collector for BC, SK, MB, and Quebec. Your own Shopify direct sales almost certainly require your own provincial registrations.
- Plan for five separate returns. A national ecommerce seller can owe one CRA GST/HST return, one BC PST return, one SK PST return, one MB RST return, and one QST return to Revenu Quebec. Filing cadence varies by jurisdiction (monthly, quarterly, or annual depending on volume). Build the calendar before the first return is due.
For the entity-structure question that often sits upstream of this (whether to use a Canadian branch, a Canadian subsidiary, or a US parent for Canadian sales), see our interim CFO services overview and the state-by-state sales-tax exposure guide for the US-side comparison.
Sources and methodology
The federal rate map and small-supplier rule come from the CRA "Charge and collect the tax. Which rate to charge" page and the CRA "When to register for and start charging the GST/HST" page. The 1 July 2021 non-resident digital-economy rules are sourced from CRA "GST/HST for digital-economy businesses: Overview."
BC PST data, including the C$10,000 out-of-province threshold and the marketplace-facilitator framework, are sourced from BC PST Bulletin 142 (Online Marketplace Facilitators and Sellers) and BC Notice 2023-004. Saskatchewan PST scope, including the no-threshold digital-services rule and the SaaS, PaaS, IaaS coverage, is sourced from the PwC Canada "Other taxes" tax-summary page and Saskatchewan PST guidance bulletins.
Manitoba RST data, including the 1 January 2026 cloud-computing extension and the C$30,000 / C$10,000 threshold split, is sourced from Manitoba Finance bulletins and the PwC Canada summary. Quebec QST data for non-resident suppliers is sourced from Revenu Quebec "QST Registration for Suppliers Outside Quebec."
Combined-rate cross-checks were run against Retail Council of Canada "Sales Tax Rates by Province" and FedEx Canada "Canadian Sales Taxes." Where secondary aggregators (fiscal-requirements.com and PwC tax summaries) disagreed on Manitoba and Saskatchewan digital-services thresholds, we cite the secondary source for the general direction and flag the need to confirm against the live provincial bulletin before relying on it for a specific registration decision.
Limitations. The Manitoba 1 January 2026 cloud-services effective date is forward-looking from earlier provincial guidance and should be verified against the current Manitoba Finance bulletin at the time of registration. The Manitoba C$10,000 digital-services threshold is sourced from specialized secondary guidance and may differ from a strict reading of the underlying Manitoba RST regulation. The Saskatchewan goods-nexus rules are broad and case-specific; an operator with marginal SK volume should obtain a specific opinion before relying on a no-registration position.
Update cadence. This guide is refreshed quarterly when provincial bulletins are reissued or when a registration threshold or rate changes. Next update target: September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
do i charge gst, hst, or pst if i ship from the us to canada?
You charge based on the customer's province, not the shipping origin. A US seller shipping to Ontario charges 13% HST. To Alberta, 5% GST. To BC, 5% GST, plus 7% BC PST only if you are registered for BC PST, and BC PST registration is required once you cross C$10,000 in annual BC sales of taxable goods, software, or telecom services, or once you hold BC inventory. Crossing the BC threshold triggers the registration obligation; the collection obligation runs from the date you register, not from the date you crossed the threshold. The customer's delivery address drives the rate, and if you are a non-resident digital seller you may also need to register for GST/HST once C$30,000 in Canadian-consumer sales is exceeded.
does the $30,000 small-supplier threshold apply to my shopify store?
Yes for federal GST/HST, but only for Canadian-consumer sales. The C$30,000 is measured over four consecutive calendar quarters or any single calendar quarter. Once you cross it, you have 29 days to register. The threshold does not protect you provincially. BC PST kicks in at C$10,000, Saskatchewan from the first sale on digital services, and Quebec QST at C$30,000 under its own separate regime.
do i need to register for bc pst if i only have a couple of customers there?
Probably not, unless you sell software or telecom services or you hold inventory in BC. The general BC PST rule for out-of-province sellers triggers at C$10,000 in annual BC sales of taxable goods, software, or telecom services. If you hold inventory in BC (including at a Canadian 3PL with BC warehouses), BC can require registration regardless of revenue.
does my shopify store need to collect quebec qst if i am based in ontario?
If you are an Ontario business selling taxable goods or services to Quebec consumers above C$30,000 in QC sales, yes. Quebec runs its own tax authority (Revenu Quebec) and a separate QST registration system. The federal CRA registration does not cover Quebec. You will file a separate QST return on top of your GST/HST return.
when does saskatchewan pst kick in for my digital product sales?
From the first sale. Saskatchewan does not apply a small-supplier threshold to cross-border digital services. PST applies to SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS for use in Saskatchewan. For goods, Saskatchewan applies broad nexus rules: delivering into SK, accepting SK-origin orders, or making goods available in SK can all trigger registration.
what changed in manitoba rst for saas in 2026?
Per current Manitoba Finance guidance, effective 1 January 2026 Manitoba RST applies to cloud computing services including SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Online platform operators (a narrower definition in MB RST law than the generic marketplace-facilitator concept; Amazon Marketplace is in, a Shopify store selling its own goods direct is generally not) must collect RST on cloud services sold to Manitoba customers. The general RST threshold is C$30,000 of taxable sales into Manitoba; specialized digital-services guidance cites a C$10,000 cross-border threshold. Confirm against the current Manitoba Finance bulletin before configuring your tax engine.
do amazon and shopify collect provincial sales tax on my behalf as a marketplace facilitator?
Sometimes. Amazon and Shopify Marketplace are within scope of BC PST-142 marketplace-facilitator rules and equivalent rules in SK, MB, and Quebec. When the marketplace is the registered collector, you typically do not also need to register for that platform's sales. But if you sell direct via your own Shopify store as well, you almost certainly do need your own registration. Check each platform's tax-collection documentation province by province.
as a us seller into canada do i actually need to register for canadian sales taxes?
Once you exceed C$30,000 in sales to Canadian consumers, the federal digital-economy rules expect you to register and collect GST/HST. Provincially, if you sell into BC above C$10,000 or sell digital services into Saskatchewan from the first sale, those provincial registrations apply on top. The practical answer for a US DTC brand shipping into Canada at any scale: budget for at least CRA and BC registrations, and assume Saskatchewan and Manitoba apply if you sell digital products.