Quick answer: GST44 lets the buyer and seller of a business elect so that GST/HST does not apply to the sale. Both sign it, but the filing deadline belongs to the purchaser, and it runs from their next GST/HST return, not from closing.
What the form is
GST44 is the GST/HST Election Concerning the Acquisition of a Business or Part of a Business. The CRA describes its purpose simply: “use this form to elect to not have GST/HST apply to the sale of a business or part of a business”.
Without it, a business sale is a taxable supply and the purchaser has to fund GST/HST on the whole purchase price, then recover it later as an input tax credit. On a seven-figure deal that is a serious amount of cash tied up for months for no net tax.
The election under subsection 167(1) removes that cash-flow problem rather than changing the tax outcome. It is joint: the supplier and the recipient complete it together.
Who files it
Anyone buying or selling a business, or a part of a business capable of being carried on separately.
It can now be submitted electronically through the File an election service in My Business Account or Represent a Client, rather than on paper.
The form at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Legislation | Subsection 167(1) |
| Who signs | Supplier and recipient, jointly |
| Who files | The purchaser |
| Due | By the due date of the purchaser’s GST/HST return for the first reporting period in which tax would otherwise have been payable |
| The 90% test | The buyer must acquire all or substantially all — generally 90% or more — of the property needed to carry on the business |
What to have ready before you file
Most of the delay on these is not the form, it is assembling what the form asks for. Have the agreement of purchase and sale, evidence that substantially all of the property needed to carry on the business is included, the registration status of both parties, and the closing date the election has to align with to hand before starting.
Gathering it first also surfaces the problems early, a missing account number, a balance nobody has actually calculated, a date that does not line up — while there is still time to fix them rather than after a filing has been rejected.
What catches people out
The election cannot be used if the seller is a registrant and the purchaser is not. Registering the buyer is therefore a closing item, not an afterthought.
The 90% test is about capability, not tidiness. The buyer must be acquiring all or substantially all of the property that can reasonably be regarded as necessary to be capable of carrying on the business. Anything the purchaser needs but is not acquiring under the agreement has to fall within the remaining 10% of fair market value.
The deadline is the purchaser’s, and it is easy to miss because it is not the closing date. It is the day the purchaser has to file the GST/HST return for the first reporting period in which they would otherwise have had to pay the tax.
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
The purchaser files it with their GST/HST return for the period in which the acquisition happened. Both parties have to be registrants, and the election has to be jointly made even though only one of them files it.
Whichever route applies, keep the signed copy and the working papers behind it together. An election is only as defensible as the file that shows how the figures in it were arrived at, and that file is what a review asks for rather than the form itself.
Common questions about GST44
Who actually files the GST44?+
When is it due?+
What is the 90% test?+
Can we use it if the buyer is not GST-registered?+
Where this comes from
- CRA — GST44 form page
- CRA — GST/HST Memorandum 14-4, Sale of a Business or Part of a Business
- CRA — Penalty for accepting a late, amended or revoked election
General information current as of August 2026, 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
- Share sales and the lifetime exemption
- Winding up a corporation
- Section 85 rollovers
- All CRA forms we cover
Other CRA forms
Who does this work
GST44 sits inside a larger transaction. Whether the sale qualifies as substantially all of the business, and what the agreement has to say, are settled before the election is filed.
If that is where you are, the service page for structure a business purchase or sale sets out what the engagement covers and how it is quoted.
Elections are date-driven and unforgiving. Email us before the deadline rather than after — we quote the work in writing first.
Email us about GST44Have a question about this?
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The election is one clause in a transaction with income tax consequences on both sides, and the tax advice a sale of a business needs covers those.
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