Skip to main content
Book a free consultation

GST/HST

GST/HST for short-term rentals in Ontario: when to charge it

Renting out a cottage, a condo or a spare room for a few nights can look like simple rental income, but the GST/HST rules treat a stay of less than a month very differently from a long-term tenancy. Whether you must register depends on how long guests stay and how much taxable revenue you earn. Booking platforms add a further layer. This article walks through the questions in order, using Ontario’s 13% HST as the reference point.

Sora Accounting & Tax · General information · Editorial policy
Updated · 5 min read

Length of stay decides how a rental is taxed

A rental splits by length of stay into taxable short-term stays and exempt long-term tenancies, then by revenue into registered and small supplier outcomes.

Visual labels: Under one month; One month or more; Over $30,000: register; Under $30,000: optional.

See the sourced 2026 Ontario tax guide: rates, limits and deadlines →

What to take away

  • Stays under one month at more than $20 a night are generally taxable; residential rentals of a month or more are generally exempt.
  • Registration is generally required once taxable revenue passes $30,000 under the small supplier test, and you may register earlier on a voluntary basis.
  • A platform’s tax collection does not replace checking your own position, and the income tax rules for short-term rentals are a separate question.

When a short-term rental is taxable

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) defines short-term accommodation as a rental where the same individual occupies the unit continuously for less than one month. Those stays are taxable, as long as the charge is more than $20 per night. Residential rentals where the same individual occupies the unit for a month or more are generally exempt, and so are rentals at $20 or less a day.

The CRA’s rental guidance adds two qualifiers. The one-month test applies to a unit in a residential complex, which includes a house, a condo or an apartment. A unit that is not in a residential complex, such as a hotel room, is usually taxable whatever the length of stay, and a hotel or motel stops being a residential complex when 90% or more of its unit rentals are expected to be for periods under 60 days. Daily or weekly billing does not by itself matter; what counts is the period of continuous occupancy by the same individual.

Do you have to register?

Being a taxable supply does not mean you must charge tax straight away. Most small operators begin as small suppliers. You are a small supplier if your taxable revenue does not exceed $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. If you exceed $30,000 in a single quarter, you stop being a small supplier on the supply that put you over, and you must charge from that sale. If you cross the amount over several quarters, you stop being a small supplier at the end of the month after the quarter in which you passed it.

The revenue counted is before expenses and covers worldwide taxable supplies from all your businesses and those of your associates. Long-term rentals that are exempt are not taxable supplies. Once you must register, you have 29 days from your effective date of registration to do so, and you charge tax from that effective date. The registration checker and the registration questions guide help you test your numbers before the deadline arrives.

What a booking platform changes

If you are registered for GST/HST, you continue to charge and collect tax on your taxable stays, including bookings made through a platform. If you are not registered, an accommodation platform operator that is registered must charge and collect the tax on the stays it facilitates, and on its own booking or service fees charged to guests.

Two cautions follow. First, the CRA describes who must collect under the platform rules; it does not say that a platform charging tax on your behalf settles your own registration question. Second, the platform rules do not tell you how to count that income against the $30,000 limit, so ask your accountant before assuming either way. Keep each platform’s payout reports, since they show gross bookings, fees and any tax collected.

Charging tax and showing it to guests

In Ontario the HST rate is 13%. Nova Scotia is 14%, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island are 15%, and the other provinces and territories charge 5% GST. The rate depends on where the supply is made, so a unit in Ontario carries the Ontario rate.

For illustration only, a $200 night at 13% carries $26 of HST, so the guest pays $226 and the $26 is not income to you. It belongs in a tax account and is reported on your return. Keep the tax visible as its own amount in your records, and ask your accountant how separate cleaning or service fees should be treated and what your guest receipts need to show.

Input tax credits on your rental costs

Once registered, you can generally recover the GST/HST you pay on expenses used to earn taxable rental revenue through input tax credits. Typical items include supplies, repairs, cleaning, furnishings and some professional fees. Furniture and appliances used to furnish a rental are generally capital property, which has its own rules.

Where a property is partly personal, the CRA says credits are prorated in the same way as the expenses you deduct for income tax. You also need supporting invoices that show the supplier’s details and the tax paid. The CRA also lets you register voluntarily below $30,000 to claim credits, though you then charge tax on every taxable stay and may have to stay registered for at least a year. The input tax credit entry and our voluntary registration article cover that trade-off in more depth.

Income tax is a separate question

GST/HST registration does not decide how your income is reported. The CRA treats accommodation sharing income as rental income when you provide only basics such as heat, utilities, parking and laundry, and as business income when you add services such as meals or cleaning. Rental income goes on Form T776, and business income on Form T2125.

The CRA also notes that, for income earned after 2023, section 67.7 of the Income Tax Act denies deductions for non-compliant short-term rentals, meaning units in places that do not permit short-term rentals or that miss local registration, licensing or permit rules. If you rent only part of a home, only expenses for the rented part are deductible. Confirm your municipal requirements before you rely on any expense claim.

Records to keep

Keep a booking log with the dates of each stay, the nightly price and whether the guest stayed a month or more, because that is what separates taxable from exempt revenue. Add platform statements, payout reports, invoices for expenses, and a note of the days the property was used personally.

Reconcile the tax you charged to your bank deposits each period, so the HST does not get spent as revenue. The usual retention period for GST/HST records is six years from the end of the year they relate to.

When to ask for help

Get advice if your stays straddle the one-month line, if you rent through a corporation or with a partner, if you own several units or associated businesses, or if you may have crossed $30,000 without registering.

Bring your booking log, platform reports, a list of expenses and the dates of any personal use. The GST/HST service page describes what Sora can help with, and the first-return article explains what happens once you are registered.

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.

Rules and guidance can change. Use the current official source and confirm the treatment for your facts. To flag an error, contact Sora.