GST/HST Filing Tracker
Updated
Collected, paid, and what you actually owe — per period, with the net calculated
Quick answer: A free workbook tracking GST/HST by reporting period — period start and end, filing due date, sales before tax, tax collected and tax paid — with the net calculated. It turns a filing into reading off a total. No sign-up.
If a period on this tracker is already overdue, the sooner it is filed the smaller the interest. How GST/HST filing works here, or ask about a late period.
On this page
What is in the GST/HST filing tracker
- Period start
- Period end
- Filing due
- Sales (before tax)
- GST/HST collected
- ITCs (tax paid on purchases)
- Net owing
- Paid on
- Notes
Ships with one worked example row and live formulas — the totals recalculate as you add rows, and the example is labelled so you know to delete it.
GST/HST causes the most surprises for a structural reason: you collect it during the period and pay it after, so the money sits in your account for months. Treat it as revenue and the deadline arrives without the cash. Due dates are on the GST filing deadlines page.
The return itself is arithmetic — tax collected on sales, less input tax credits on purchases, equals the net owing or refundable. The difficulty is never the sum. It is that neither figure exists in a usable form unless someone has been tracking it, so the days before a filing deadline get spent assembling numbers that could have been maintained continuously.
This sheet keeps both sides by period, calculates the net, and shows a running total of what you should be holding. Filing then becomes transcription.
The single change that prevents most GST/HST trouble is moving the tax collected into a separate account as it comes in. It is not your money, and an account that holds it is an account that cannot accidentally spend it. This sheet then tells you what should be sitting in that account at any point, so the balance can be checked against the figure rather than hoped about until the filing deadline.
Want the updated version each year?
Tax figures and filing dates move. Leave your email and we will send the refreshed copy when it changes. That is all we use it for. The download above works either way.
Before you use it
- Registration is generally required once revenues pass the small-supplier threshold, and the obligation starts with the sale that crosses it.
- Input tax credits generally require a supporting document showing the supplier’s GST/HST number.
- Filing frequency depends on your revenue. Confirm yours rather than assuming it is annual.
- GST/HST collected is money held on the CRA’s behalf. Keeping it in a separate account is the simplest way to never be short at filing.
Common questions about GST/HST Filing Tracker
Why does GST/HST catch people out?+
Is the return itself complicated?+
When do I have to register?+
How do I avoid being short at filing time?+
General information, not tax advice. This worksheet is a general aid for Canadian business owners. It does not account for your circumstances and does not create a professional relationship. Speak to a CPA before acting — send an enquiry.
Talk to a CPA about this
One CPA, start to finish. Fixed fees in writing before work begins, and no obligation.
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Starting fees
GST/HST and PST filing is included in monthly bookkeeping. Every fee is fixed in writing before any work begins.
- Monthly bookkeeping, sales tax filing includedfrom $325 a monthThis page
- Payroll, remittances, T4s and ROEsincluded in monthly bookkeeping
- Books, payroll and the year-end T2 together$500–$700 a month
- Corporate year-end and T2 returnfixed fee, quoted in writing
- Personal tax return (T1)from $125; self-employed or rental $275–$500
- Catch-up bookkeepingfrom $2,200 per year of records
- Controller or CFO supportcontroller from $1,650, CFO from $2,750 a month
- One-off advice call with a CPA$225 plus GST