Canada's federal GST is 5%, but what a customer actually pays turns on the province, because several fold their own sales tax into a single harmonised rate.
One country, five different rates
Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Yukon charge GST at 5%. New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island charge HST at 15%, Ontario charges 13%, and Nova Scotia charges 14%.
Nova Scotia is the recent mover, its rate having decreased as of 1 April 2025, so quotes and templates written before then may still carry the old figure.
In the provinces that never harmonised, a separate provincial tax sits alongside the federal 5% rather than inside it. Quebec adds QST at 9.975%, British Columbia and Manitoba add 7%, and Saskatchewan adds 6%.
Zero-rated supplies are the exception to all of it, carrying a 0% rate throughout the whole of Canada, so for those the province makes no difference at all.
The small supplier rule
You need not register while you remain a small supplier, which means not exceeding $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. Quarters here are the three-month blocks beginning 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October.
Blow through the figure inside a single quarter, though, and the concession ends at once: registration is required immediately, on the very supply that took you over.
Different numbers apply to the voluntary sector. A public service body that is not a charity has a $50,000 threshold over the same four quarters, while charities and public institutions face two tests: a $250,000 gross revenue test and a $50,000 taxable supplies test.
The day you stop being a small supplier and the day you must start charging are not always the same one. Go over inside a single quarter and you cease that day, with an effective registration date no later than the supply that took you past the figure; go over across several quarters and you cease at the end of the month following the quarter in which it happened.
Once the obligation bites you have 29 days to register. Registering voluntarily is open to anyone making taxable sales, leases or other supplies in Canada, taking effect on the day you request the account or up to 30 days before it.
Self-employed taxi drivers and commercial ride-sharing drivers have to register for the GST/HST even where they are small suppliers.
Canada: common questions
What GST or HST rate applies in my province?
Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Yukon are at 5%. New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island are at 15%, Ontario at 13% and Nova Scotia at 14%.
When do I have to register for GST/HST in Canada?
When you stop being a small supplier, which means exceeding $30,000 across four consecutive calendar quarters. Once the obligation arises you have 29 days to register.
Do taxi and ride-share drivers have to register in Canada?
Yes. Self-employed taxi drivers and commercial ride-sharing drivers register for the GST/HST even while their turnover keeps them within the small supplier definition.
Figures on this page are from the Canada Revenue Agency. Rules change, so check the source before relying on one. Calculator for every other country.
How to add GST or VAT to a price
If you have a price that does not yet include tax, multiply it by one plus the rate. At a 10% rate that means multiplying by 1.1; at 20%, by 1.2.
Total = price × (1 + rate)
So a $200 service at 10% GST becomes $220, of which $20 is tax. The tax itself is the price multiplied by the rate.
How to remove GST or VAT from a total
Work backwards by dividing. The rate went onto the smaller number, so taking the same percentage off the larger one comes up short.
Price before tax = total ÷ (1 + rate)
Tax = total − price before tax
A $110 invoice at 10% GST breaks down to $100 plus $10 of tax. Subtracting 10% of $110 would have given you $99, which is wrong by a dollar, and the error grows with the amount.
Why the tax is never the full rate of the total
A 10% rate adds 10% to the price, but that tax is then only about 9.09% of the resulting total, because the total got bigger. The bar at the top of this page shows that gap. The higher the rate, the wider it gets: at 20% VAT, the tax is one sixth of the total, or 16.67%.
Shortcuts worth memorising
At certain rates the tax inside a total is a clean fraction, which makes mental checks easy.
| Rate | Tax inside a total | Tax as % of total |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | total ÷ 21 | 4.76% |
| 10% | total ÷ 11 | 9.09% |
| 15% | total × 3 ÷ 23 | 13.04% |
| 20% | total ÷ 6 | 16.67% |
| 25% | total ÷ 5 | 20.00% |
Standard rates around the world
The rates below are standard rates, the ones that apply to most goods and services. Many countries also run reduced rates for essentials such as food, books, medicine and transport, so check which band your transaction falls into before relying on a figure.
| Country | Tax | Standard rate |
|---|---|---|
| Austria | VAT | 20% |
| Belgium | VAT | 21% |
| Bulgaria | VAT | 20% |
| Croatia | VAT | 25% |
| Cyprus | VAT | 19% |
| Czech Republic | VAT | 21% |
| Denmark | VAT | 25% |
| Estonia | VAT | 24% |
| Finland | VAT | 25.5% |
| France | VAT | 20% |
| Germany | VAT | 19% |
| Greece | VAT | 24% |
| Hungary | VAT | 27% |
| Ireland | VAT | 23% |
| Italy | VAT | 22% |
| Latvia | VAT | 21% |
| Lithuania | VAT | 21% |
| Luxembourg | VAT | 17% |
| Malta | VAT | 18% |
| Netherlands | VAT | 21% |
| Poland | VAT | 23% |
| Portugal | VAT | 23% |
| Romania | VAT | 21% |
| Slovakia | VAT | 23% |
| Slovenia | VAT | 22% |
| Spain | VAT | 21% |
| Sweden | VAT | 25% |
| Iceland | VAT | 24% |
| Norway | VAT | 25% |
| Russia | VAT | 22% |
| Serbia | VAT | 20% |
| Switzerland | VAT | 8.1% |
| Turkey | VAT | 20% |
| Ukraine | VAT | 20% |
| United Kingdom | VAT | 20% |
| Argentina | VAT | 21% |
| Brazil | ICMS | 17% |
| Canada | GST | 5% |
| Chile | VAT | 19% |
| Colombia | VAT | 19% |
| Mexico | VAT | 16% |
| Peru | VAT | 18% |
| Australia | GST | 10% |
| China | VAT | 13% |
| India | GST | 18% |
| Indonesia | VAT | 11% |
| Japan | Consumption tax | 10% |
| Malaysia | SST | 10% |
| New Zealand | GST | 15% |
| Philippines | VAT | 12% |
| Singapore | GST | 9% |
| South Korea | VAT | 10% |
| Thailand | VAT | 7% |
| Vietnam | VAT | 10% |
| Egypt | VAT | 14% |
| Israel | VAT | 18% |
| Nigeria | VAT | 7.5% |
| Saudi Arabia | VAT | 15% |
| South Africa | VAT | 15% |
| United Arab Emirates | VAT | 5% |
Rates last reviewed September 2026. Governments change them at short notice, so confirm against your own tax authority before you file anything.
Country guides
Each guide keeps this calculator and adds what the country's own revenue authority says about the tax: which rate applies to what, when registering stops being optional, and what falls outside the rate altogether.
Common questions
What is the difference between GST and VAT?
Very little, mechanically. Both are consumption taxes charged at each stage of supply, with businesses claiming back the tax they paid on inputs so that only the final consumer carries the cost. The name is regional: Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India and Canada say GST, most of Europe and much of the world says VAT, Japan says consumption tax. The arithmetic on this page is identical either way.
How do I work out the GST included in a total?
Divide the total by one plus the rate to get the price before tax, then subtract that from the total. At a 10% rate there is a faster route: divide the total by 11. Switch this calculator to "includes tax" and it does either for you.
Why doesn't the tax equal 10% of my total?
Because the 10% was added to the smaller number. Ten per cent of $100 is $10, and that $10 is only 9.09% of the $110 total. Any time you work backwards from a tax-inclusive figure, you divide rather than subtract a percentage.
Which rate should I use?
Pick your country above and the standard rate fills in. Many countries tax food, books or transport in a lower band; if your supply sits in one of those, type that rate into the box instead. Where a supply is zero-rated or exempt, no tax applies at all, though the two differ for reclaim purposes.
How should rounding be handled on an invoice?
This page rounds to the nearest cent and always keeps the three figures consistent, so the base and the tax add exactly to the total. Accounting systems and tax authorities vary on whether rounding happens per line or per invoice, which can shift a total by a cent. If you are reconciling against a system that disagrees, that is usually the reason.
Is this a salary calculator?
No. This one handles sales tax, where net is the price before tax and gross is the price after it. Payroll uses the same two words the other way round: there, gross is your pay before deductions and net is what actually reaches your account. If you are converting a salary, you want a take-home pay calculator for your country, not this page.
Does this send my numbers anywhere?
No. Every calculation runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, logged or stored beyond your last-used country and rate, which stay on your own device.