What to take away
- The rate follows the place of supply, not the location of your office or the customer’s head office.
- Goods generally follow where they are delivered or shipped; services often follow the customer’s Canadian address.
- Exports can be zero-rated, but only when the specific conditions are met and you keep the evidence.
Start with three questions
The Canada Revenue Agency says the rate you charge depends on three things: the type of supply, where the supply is made and who it is made to. Type of supply asks whether the sale is taxable, zero-rated or exempt. Where it is made is the place-of-supply question. Who it is made to matters because some purchasers do not pay GST/HST on certain supplies.
Work through them in that order. Many mistakes come from skipping straight to the customer’s address and applying a rate, when the supply itself was zero-rated or the place of supply was somewhere else. If a customer asks why your invoice shows a different rate than a competitor’s, these three questions are usually where the explanation sits.
Current GST/HST rates by province
For taxable supplies, the CRA lists these rates, which were current when the page was checked on October 24, 2026. Ontario is 13% HST. Nova Scotia is 14% HST, reduced from 15% on April 1, 2025. New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island are 15% HST. Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Yukon charge 5% GST only.
If you invoice an HST customer, show the total HST rate rather than splitting it into federal and provincial parts. Nova Scotia is worth checking in your accounting software, because an old 15% setting will over-charge tax on new invoices. The CRA mentions transitional rules for the change, so an invoice that straddles April 1, 2025 should be reviewed rather than assumed.
Place of supply for goods
For most goods, the place of supply follows delivery. If you deliver the goods to the buyer, the province of delivery generally governs. If you mail or courier them, it is the province they are sent to. If you ship them to a destination named in the carriage contract, or hand them to a carrier you retained for the buyer, it is the province they are shipped to.
The CRA gives an example: a laptop sold in Winnipeg and delivered to Nova Scotia carries 14% HST, while the same laptop picked up by the buyer in Winnipeg is treated as a Manitoba sale. Where legal delivery happens under your sales terms does not override a shipment to another province: the CRA treats goods you ship to an Ontario address as delivered in Ontario even if the contract says delivery happens in Alberta. Specified motor vehicles and longer-term leases have their own rules, so ask before applying the general approach to them.
Place of supply for services
Services are less intuitive. Under the general rules, you start with the customer’s home or business address in Canada, if you obtain one in the normal course of business. If you hold several addresses, use the one most closely connected to the service. If you only have a billing address, the rules point to the most closely connected Canadian address of the customer.
Where no Canadian address is available, the fallback depends on where the service is performed and whether that is mostly in participating provinces. Many services have special rules, including services on goods, on real property, location-specific events, computer-related services and telecommunications. Collect a proper service address at the start of an engagement, because it is the fact that most often decides the rate.
When exports are zero-rated
Zero-rated means taxed at 0%, not exempt. You still have a taxable supply, so you can generally claim input tax credits on related costs. For goods, the CRA describes three routes. The buyer takes delivery in Canada and exports the goods as soon as is reasonable, meeting several conditions. You ship, courier or hand the goods to a carrier for delivery outside Canada. Or the buyer is a registrant authorized to issue you an export certificate.
If none of those conditions applies, you must charge GST/HST. For services, work performed wholly outside Canada is not charged GST/HST. Certain services to a non-resident, such as some advisory, professional, consulting or electronically supplied services, can be zero-rated, but not when they are supplied to an individual while that individual is in Canada, and some categories also require the customer to be unregistered. Do not assume that every foreign customer qualifies; the list has exceptions.
Customers in Quebec and the western provinces
GST/HST is only one layer. Quebec’s QST and the provincial sales taxes in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are separate taxes administered under their own rules. For example, the CRA notes that where PST is charged, you calculate the GST on the price without the PST.
This article does not cover when an Ontario business must register for or collect QST or PST. Those obligations can depend on the nature of your sales and your connection to the province, and they are set by the provincial authorities. If you sell regularly into those provinces, confirm your obligations with the relevant provincial tax authority before the first invoice.
A simple illustrative comparison
Suppose an Ontario consultant bills a client $1,000 for work. These numbers are illustrative only. If the service is taxable and the client’s connected Canadian address is in Ontario, 13% HST gives $130. If the connected address is in Nova Scotia, 14% gives $140. If it is in Alberta, 5% GST gives $50. If the client is an unregistered non-resident and the service qualifies for zero-rating, the tax is $0.
The same $1,000 produces four different invoices, which is why a single default tax code is risky. Set up separate codes for each rate and for zero-rated sales, and check that your invoicing tool lets you choose by customer, not by your own province. The GST/HST calculator tool can help you test a price at each rate.
Records to keep and when to ask for help
For exported goods, keep satisfactory evidence that the goods left Canada, which is the standard the CRA uses; shipping documents showing the destination are the usual starting point. For zero-rated intangible property, the CRA says to verify and keep evidence of the customer’s registration status and residency, and in some cases physical location, at the time of supply. Keep the customer address you used, the contract and the invoice together.
Talk to an accountant before you zero-rate a new type of sale, sell into several provinces for the first time, or sell to a customer whose status is unclear, such as a non-resident who may be in Canada when the service is delivered. A registrant should also confirm how each rate and zero-rated sales are reported on the return. The goal is a file that shows why each invoice carried its rate.
Sources & editorial notes
Sources checked October 24, 2026. The examples are illustrative and provide general information. Discuss how the guidance applies to your circumstances with your accountant.
- Charge and collect the GST/HSTCanada Revenue Agency
- GST/HST rates and place-of-supply rulesCanada Revenue Agency
- GST/HST: Imports and exportsCanada Revenue Agency
- GST/HST and PST rates by provinceCanada Revenue Agency
Rules and guidance can change. Use the current official source and confirm the treatment for your facts. To flag an error, contact Sora.