Quick answer: GST20 is the election that changes how often you file GST/HST. Filing more often is always open to you. Filing less often is not — the CRA keeps you on your assigned period until you elect out of it.
Step by step: how to change your GST filing frequency.
Changing your reporting period changes your deadlines for years afterwards. Ask us first, before the election goes in.
Changing your filing frequency is a short form with a long tail of returns behind it. We handle the election and the filings that follow it.
This page is about the form: what GST20 is, who files it, and when the change takes effect. For whether to change at all, and the 12-month rule that governs moving to a less frequent period, see how to change your GST filing frequency.
On this page
What the form is
Your reporting period is assigned, not chosen. The CRA sets it from your annual taxable supplies in the previous fiscal year: $1,500,000 or less is annual, more than that up to $6,000,000 is quarterly, and above $6,000,000 is monthly. Charities are assigned annual.
Form GST20 is how you elect out of the period you were assigned. If you were assigned annual or quarterly, you can elect a more frequent period at any time.
Moving the other way is harder. If you were assigned monthly or quarterly, you can only elect a less frequent period once your taxable supplies have sat below the threshold of your assigned period for 12 months.
Who files it
Any GST/HST registrant who wants to file on a different cycle from the one the CRA assigned.
Usually it is a business in a regular refund position electing monthly or quarterly filing to get refunds sooner.
The form at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| $1,500,000 or less | Assigned annual |
| Over $1,500,000 up to $6,000,000 | Assigned quarterly |
| Over $6,000,000 | Assigned monthly |
| Electing more often | Available to annual and quarterly filers at any time |
| Electing less often | Only after 12 months below your assigned threshold |
What to have ready before you file
The delay is rarely the form; it is gathering what it asks for. Have ready the current period, the period elected, the effective date, your annual taxable supplies and, for a less frequent period, proof the twelve-month condition is met.
Gathering it first surfaces problems early (a missing account number, an uncalculated balance, a mismatched date) while they can still be fixed, not after a rejected filing.
What catches people out
The period does not adjust itself downward. The CRA is explicit: if your annual taxable supplies fall below the threshold of your assigned period, your reporting period will not change automatically. Without an election you keep the period you had, so a shrinking business can spend years filing monthly for no reason.
Filing more often pays if you usually claim refunds, because input tax credits come back with each return instead of once a year.
The revenue figure is not simply your sales. Annual taxable supplies include zero-rated supplies and the taxable supplies of your associates, and exclude supplies made outside Canada, zero-rated exports, exempt supplies, sales of capital real property and goodwill.
A late, amended or revoked election carries a penalty of the lesser of $8,000 and $100 for each complete month from the election’s original due date to the date the request reaches the CRA in a form it finds satisfactory. The CRA will generally not process the election until it is paid.
How it is filed
Send it to the CRA or file through My Business Account. The change applies from the fiscal period elected, not to deadlines already passed.
| Situation | Effective date | File the GST20 by |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly to annual | First day of a fiscal year, or of a fiscal quarter | Three months after the start of the fiscal year it takes effect in |
| Annual to quarterly or monthly, quarterly to monthly | First day of a fiscal year | Two months after the effective date |
| New registrant choosing a period | The effective date of registration | On or before that date |
| Worked timeline: December year-end, quarterly to annual for 2027 | January 1, 2027 | March 31, 2027; the October-to-December 2026 return is still filed quarterly, and the first annual return (for 2027) is due March 31, 2028 |
Keep the signed copy and the working papers together. A review asks for the file showing how the figures were reached, not just the form.
Common questions about GST20
How do I change how often I file GST?+
Can I file less often now that my revenue has dropped?+
Why would I choose to file more often?+
What counts toward the revenue threshold?+
Where this comes from
- CRA — Make changes to your GST/HST account, reporting period
- CRA — RC4022, General information for GST/HST registrants (reporting periods and election timing)
- CRA — Penalty for accepting a late, amended or revoked election
General information current as of , not advice for your situation. Elections are unforgiving about dates — confirm yours before you file. Please speak with a CPA about your circumstances.
Related reading
- Prescribed interest rates on arrears
- GST/HST filing deadlines by frequency
- Instalments for annual GST filers
- All CRA forms we cover
Other CRA forms
Who does this work
Changing the reporting period changes every deadline that follows it. The filing has to keep up with the election, which is where the penalty usually comes from.
Elections are date-driven and unforgiving. Email us before the deadline rather than after — we quote the work in writing first.
Email us about GST20Have a question about this?
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Changing a reporting period changes how often the books have to be closed, which is a question about the bookkeeping and filing that follow the election.
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