When Do I Need to Register for GST? Registration and Filing Explained

You need to register for GST/HST once your business stops being a “small supplier”, which for most businesses means your worldwide taxable revenue goes over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter, or over the last four consecutive calendar quarters. Below that, registering is optional. Once you are registered, you charge the tax, file a return for every reporting period, and pay what you owe by the deadline for your filing frequency.

Here is how each piece works, with the CRA’s own pages linked as you go.

The $30,000 small supplier test

The CRA’s small supplier threshold for most businesses is $30,000 of worldwide taxable revenue, before expenses. A few points trip people up:

• It is revenue, not profit. You count sales before any expenses come off.
• It includes associates. Revenue from businesses associated with yours counts toward the total.
• Some revenue is left out. Financial services, sales of capital property and goodwill do not count.
• Charities and public institutions use different tests. If you run a non-profit or charity, check the CRA page for the thresholds that apply to you.

There are two ways to cross the line, and they change when you have to start charging.

Over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter

If you go over $30,000 in one calendar quarter, you stop being a small supplier on the sale that takes you over. Your effective date of registration is no later than the day of that sale, and you charge GST/HST from that date, including on the sale that crossed the threshold.

Over $30,000 across four quarters

If no single quarter is over $30,000 but the last four consecutive calendar quarters together are, you have a little more time. You stop being a small supplier at the end of the month following the quarter in which you went over. You must be registered by your first sale after that point and charge the tax from your effective date.

In the CRA’s examples, you have 29 days from your effective date of registration to register.

Some businesses must register from day one

Self-employed taxi and commercial ride-sharing drivers must register even if they are small suppliers. So must certain non-residents, such as those who sell admissions in Canada.

Should you register voluntarily?

If you are a small supplier making taxable sales in Canada, you may register voluntarily. Your effective date is usually the day you ask for the account, or up to 30 days before.

It is a real choice with trade-offs:

Reasons to register early

• You can claim input tax credits (ITCs) for the GST/HST you pay on business purchases.
• Most of your customers are GST/HST-registered businesses that can claim back what you charge them.
• You expect to pass $30,000 soon anyway, and would rather set up your pricing and invoices once.

Reasons to wait

• Most of your customers are consumers, for whom the added tax is a real price increase.
• You do not want the record keeping and filing deadlines yet.

Once you are registered you charge the tax and file returns like any other registrant, so weigh it against your actual customers and costs. If the decision is tied up with incorporating or a larger tax plan, that is a question for your accountant.

How to register

You can register through the CRA’s Business Registration Online, which the CRA describes as the fastest way to get a business number (BN) and a GST/HST account. You need a CRA account to use it. If you do not have a BN yet, you get one at the same time. The BN is not mailed to you, so save or print it during the session. Form RC1 is the paper alternative.

Have this ready:

• your name, SIN, date of birth and home postal code;
• the business name, type and a description of your main activity;
• the names and SINs of all owners;
• physical and mailing addresses;
• the effective date you are registering from, and your estimated annual revenue (a reasonable estimate is fine for a new business).

What BC businesses charge

British Columbia is not an HST province. The CRA’s GST/HST rates table lists BC at 5% GST. Businesses in HST provinces charge a single combined rate instead, and the rate depends on where the supply is made, not where your business is based, so a BC business selling into another province may need to charge that province’s rate. The CRA’s place-of-supply rules decide which applies.

BC also has its own provincial sales tax (PST), which is separate from GST/HST and administered by the Province of British Columbia, not the CRA. Whether you need to register for PST, and what it applies to, is covered on the Province of BC’s PST pages.

How often you file

The CRA assigns a reporting period based on your annual taxable supplies:

Annual taxable supplies	Assigned reporting period
$1,500,000 or less	Annual
More than $1,500,000 up to $6,000,000	Quarterly
More than $6,000,000	Monthly

You can choose to file more often than assigned by filing Form GST20 or through your CRA account. Moving to a less frequent period is more restricted: only after 12 months, and only if your supplies have dropped below the threshold for your assigned period. Your period does not change on its own if revenue falls.

When returns and payments are due

From the CRA’s reporting requirements and deadlines:

• Monthly and quarterly filers: the return and payment are both due one month after the end of the reporting period.
• Most annual filers: the return and final payment are due three months after your fiscal year-end.
• Sole proprietors with a December 31 year-end: if you are an individual with business income and a December 31 fiscal year-end, your payment is due April 30 and your return is due June 15.

If a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday recognized by the CRA, a return or payment received on the next business day is on time.

Note the sole proprietor rule: the return is not due until June 15, but the money is due April 30. Paying on the later date means interest on the balance.

File every period, even quiet ones

The CRA’s guide for registrants, RC4022, says to file a return for every reporting period, even if you have no net tax to remit and are not expecting a refund.

How to file

Almost every registrant must file electronically. The CRA requires all GST/HST registrants except charities and selected listed financial institutions to file online for reporting periods that begin in 2024 or later. The CRA’s filing options include:

• My Business Account (or Represent a Client, for an authorized representative), which has GST/HST NETFILE built in. You do not need an access code when you file this way.
• The GST/HST NETFILE form, which works without a CRA account but needs your 4-digit GST/HST access code.
• Your bank, if it participates, through Electronic Data Interchange.
• Accounting software, through GST/HST Internet File Transfer.
• TELEFILE, by phone.

Whichever you use, the return is only as good as the books behind it. Your sales, the GST/HST you collected and the ITCs you claim should all come straight from reconciled accounts.

What happens if you file late

The CRA’s GST/HST filing penalties are:

• Late filing: if you owe money, 1% of the amount owing plus a quarter of that 1% for each complete month the return is late, up to 12 months. If you owe nothing or are due a refund, this penalty does not apply.
• Interest: charged on an overdue balance.
• Ignoring a demand to file: $250, on top of any other penalty.
• Not filing electronically when required: $100 the first time, $250 for each later return.
• Inaccurate reporting: generally at least 5% and up to 10%.

If you are behind by more than a period or two, our guide to catching up on bookkeeping walks through getting the books current first, and when to bring in an accountant.

Where a bookkeeper fits

GST/HST is mostly a record-keeping job: recording the tax on every sale and purchase, reconciling it monthly, and filing on time. That is what we do. Our GST/HST filing service prepares and files your returns from reconciled books, and it is built into our monthly bookkeeping packages from Essential up: annual or quarterly filing on Essential, quarterly on Steady and Growth, and monthly or as needed on Complete Care. On Micro Business Essentials it is an add-on. Packages start from $150 a month plus applicable taxes, with the final fee set after a review of your records.

What we do not do is decide your tax strategy. Whether to incorporate, how to structure the business, or how to handle a complex dispute with the CRA are questions for an accountant. We can act as your authorized representative for GST/HST reviews and audits, and for objections that turn on your records.