GST/HST filing in Ottawa

Two regimes, one commuter belt

No other Canadian city sits this close to a sales tax boundary this significant. On the Ontario side, a single 13% HST covers federal and provincial tax together, is administered by the Canada Revenue Agency, and is fully recoverable by registered purchasers through input tax credits. Cross into Quebec and the structure changes entirely: 5% GST applies alongside a separate Quebec sales tax at 9.975%, calculated on the selling price excluding the GST.

There is one further wrinkle that catches accountants, never mind business owners. Under an agreement between the federal and Quebec governments, Revenu Québec administers the GST/HST within Quebec as well as the QST — it processes registrations, returns, remittances and rebates for both. So a business with a Quebec footprint is not simply adding a provincial tax to a federal one it already knows; in some respects it is dealing with a different administrator for the federal tax too.

Which side of the line a sale falls on

For an Ottawa seller, the question is not where the business is but where the supply is made. GST/HST is charged at the rate for the place of supply, and for many services that turns on the address of the recipient obtained in the ordinary course of business rather than on where the work was performed. A consultancy in Ottawa billing a client in Gatineau is therefore not automatically making an Ontario supply just because the desk is in Ontario.

Where sales into Quebec become substantial, a separate question arises: whether the business is required to register for QST and collect it. Suppliers outside Quebec can fall within the QST net in defined circumstances, and the analysis depends on the nature and volume of what is being supplied into the province rather than on a single bright line. It is a determination to make deliberately once the Quebec side of the business becomes real, rather than a matter to leave until a Revenu Québec enquiry arrives. Our guide to the place of supply rules covers the federal analysis that sits underneath it.

The Ontario side, and what harmonisation is worth

For the Ontario portion of the business, the position is comparatively clean. One registration, one return, one administrator, and the whole 13% paid on inputs recoverable through input tax credits. There is no separate Ontario provincial registration and no non-recoverable provincial component sitting in your cost base. The rate composition and its source are tabled on the Ontario tax facts page.

Reporting periods for the federal side are assigned on annual taxable supplies: monthly and quarterly filers file and pay one month after the period ends, while annual filers with a December 31 fiscal year-end file by June 15 with the balance due April 30. Annual filers whose net tax last year was $3,000 or more also owe quarterly instalments during the year. The deadlines page sets them out.

What is covered

• HST registration and returns filed on your assigned reporting period
• Place of supply determined for sales made into Quebec
• Assessment of whether QST registration is required for your Quebec activity
• Input tax credits claimed on the full 13% for Ontario purchases
• Instalment obligations flagged for annual filers before a notice arrives
• Returns reconciled to the sales ledger by jurisdiction
• Correspondence with the CRA, and with Revenu Québec where applicable

Remote, from the other side of the country

EverStone is a one-CPA firm operating from a single office in Abbotsford, British Columbia. There is no Ottawa office and none is planned; Ottawa businesses work with the firm entirely online through video meetings, secure document exchange and e-signature. Sales tax across a provincial boundary is a rules-and-records problem rather than a geographic one, and having one accountant hold both sides of it matters far more than being nearby. See how fees are agreed before anything starts.