--- title: "GST/HST Filing for Toronto Businesses: 13% Ontario HST" url: https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-hst-filing-toronto description: "GST/HST filing for Toronto and Mississauga businesses: 13% Ontario HST, returns on your assigned period, place of supply and input tax credits. Ask a CPA." type: service-in-a-city updated: 2026-10-02 summary: "For Toronto businesses, Ontario uses a single 13% harmonized sales tax, made up of a 5% federal component and an 8% provincial component, administered by the Canada Revenue Agency. There is no separate Ontario registration and no non-recoverable provincial layer, so tax paid on business inputs is fully claimable. GST/HST filing is included in monthly bookkeeping from $325 a month." faq_count: 8 publisher: EverStone CPA Inc., a Chartered Professional Accountant firm registered with CPA British Columbia and CPA Alberta service_area: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba language: en-CA contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online --- [Home](https://www.everstonecpa.com/) Toronto HST filing · Toronto # GST/HST filing in *Toronto* Ontario folded its sales tax into the federal one: a Toronto business files one 13% return and recovers all tax on inputs, which changes which planning options pay. EverStone files HST for [Toronto businesses](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accountant-toronto) remotely. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online)[Ask a Free Question](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) **Quick answer:** For Toronto businesses, Ontario uses a single 13% harmonized sales tax, made up of a 5% federal component and an 8% provincial component, administered by the Canada Revenue Agency. There is no separate Ontario registration and no non-recoverable provincial layer, so tax paid on business inputs is fully claimable. GST/HST filing is included in monthly bookkeeping from $325 a month. The work covers the GST/HST return (the GST34), input tax credits, the filing frequency, instalments where they apply and the notice of assessment that follows. At 13%, the flat-rate arithmetic looks nothing like it does at 5%. ## One tax, one registration, one return Ontario harmonized, with consequences beyond what most owners realize. The **13% HST** is one tax, a 5% federal and an 8% provincial component, administered by the Canada Revenue Agency: no separate Ontario registration, provincial return or audit body. For GST HST filing Toronto businesses therefore deal with one registration and one return, filed with the CRA. The bigger effect is on purchases: the full 13% paid on business inputs is recoverable through **[input tax credits](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/rc4022.html)**, not just the federal 5%. Toronto businesses carry no embedded provincial sales tax in their costs, unlike provinces with a separate retail sales tax, where it sticks to every input. The rate and its source are on the [Ontario tax facts page](https://www.everstonecpa.com/ontario-tax-facts). ## The Quick Method arithmetic looks different at 13% The [Quick Method](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/rc4022.html) lets an eligible registrant remit a flat percentage of tax-included sales instead of tracking input tax credits on operating purchases. Customers are still *charged* the normal rate, and a yearly credit on an initial portion of eligible supplies helps smaller registrants. Whether it pays depends on how much tax you pay on operating inputs. A service business with few purchases (consultants, agencies, professional practices, common in Toronto) usually remits less under the Quick Method, because the credits it gives up are small. A business with heavy operating purchases usually does worse. Collecting 13% rather than 5% changes the base the flat rate applies to, so intuition from a GST-only province does not transfer. The answer is arithmetic, and our [Quick Method guide](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/gst-hst-quick-method-canada) works through it. Significant capital purchases are generally still claimable, a common misreading. ## Related companies, and the election that stops tax circulating Toronto has many group structures: an operating and a management company, a services entity billing a professional corporation, a property company renting to a trading company. Intercompany charges carry HST that the recipient claims back, netting to nothing yet moving real cash between entities and across [reporting periods](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/rc4022.html). Where conditions are met, closely related corporations can elect to treat certain supplies between them as made for no consideration, removing the tax. It has real eligibility requirements and does not cover every related-party transaction, but a group with regular intercompany charges should look. See the [election between related corporations](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/gst-hst-section-156-election-related-corporations). ## What is covered - HST registration, or review of your current reporting period - Returns prepared and filed on your assigned schedule - Input tax credits claimed on the full 13%, including capital purchases - Quick Method modelled against the regular method with your actual numbers - Intercompany charges reviewed where a group structure exists - Returns reconciled to the sales ledger rather than to bank activity - CRA correspondence and review requests handled for you ## Remote, with no office visits The same service covers Mississauga, Brampton and the rest of the GTA. The work is done remotely, so which municipality the business sits in changes nothing about how it runs. EverStone, a sole practitioner CPA firm, works online with no Toronto office or Ontario presence, by video, secure document exchange and e-signature. Sales tax is records and returns, so proximity adds nothing. About this article **EverStone CPA** Prepared and reviewed by a CPA at EverStone CPA, serving businesses in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba. Updated September 2026 . [About the firm](https://www.everstonecpa.com/about) · [Send an enquiry](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online) ## Sales tax that applies to a Toronto business Sales tax that applies to a Toronto business Sales tax in Ontario | Tax | Rate | Administered by | | HST | 13% | Canada Revenue Agency | | Separate PST | None | — | | Composition | 5% federal + 8% provincial | — | Source: [Ontario tax facts](https://www.everstonecpa.com/ontario-tax-facts). General information, not advice. [When each GST/HST return is due](https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-filing-deadlines) depends on the reporting period the CRA has assigned. In Toronto, EverStone also works with [agencies](https://www.everstonecpa.com/agency-accountant-toronto), [realtors](https://www.everstonecpa.com/realtor-accountant-toronto) and [restaurants](https://www.everstonecpa.com/restaurant-accountant-toronto). ## Who this is for, and who it is not This fits a Toronto business, registered or about to be, that wants returns on the right frequency with credits claimed. It does not fit someone who wants unreconciled figures submitted: a return is only as good as its books. Filing and bookkeeping are on [the published fee list](https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing). ## What happens when you get in touch GST/HST is federal, so a Toronto filing runs the same way as one filed from anywhere else. - **A free thirty-minute conversation.** What you sell, where your customers are, and what [reporting frequency](https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-filing-deadlines) the CRA currently has you on. - **Frequency and method checked.** Whether your reporting period still suits your revenue, and whether [the quick method](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/gst-hst-quick-method-canada) would leave you better off than claiming credits line by line. - **Filed on time, every period.** The return prepared from reconciled books and filed before the deadline, with instalments tracked if you are an annual filer. [Send an enquiry](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online), or [ask one GST question](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) and get an answer from a CPA. Common questions ## Toronto HST questions **What is the HST rate in Ontario?** 13%, made up of a 5% federal component and an 8% provincial component, collected as a single harmonized tax administered by the Canada Revenue Agency. There is no separate Ontario provincial sales tax registration to hold alongside it. [Ask about your case →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) **Is the provincial part of HST recoverable?** Yes. In a harmonized province the whole 13% paid on business inputs is claimable through input tax credits in the ordinary way. That is the structural difference from a province running a separate retail sales tax, where the provincial layer is a cost that stays in the price. **Does the Quick Method mean charging customers less?** No. You continue to invoice at the normal rate that applies to the sale. What changes is how your remittance is calculated — a flat percentage of tax-included sales rather than tax collected less input tax credits on operating purchases. **Who does the Quick Method usually suit?** Registrants with low operating purchases, because the input tax credits given up are small relative to the saving. Businesses with heavy purchasing generally do better under the regular method. It is an arithmetic comparison with a definite answer, so it is worth modelling rather than assuming. **Can related companies avoid charging HST to each other?** Where the eligibility conditions are met, closely related corporations can elect to treat certain supplies between them as made for no consideration. It is a filing with real requirements rather than an automatic treatment, and it does not extend to every transaction between related parties. **Does EverStone have a Toronto office?** No. The firm serves Toronto businesses entirely remotely. Meetings are by video, documents move through secure exchange, and approvals are signed electronically — no Ontario location exists or is planned. **What does GST/HST filing cost in Toronto?** Toronto businesses pay the same published fees as everyone else. GST/HST filing is included in monthly bookkeeping from $325 a month. A standalone return is quoted in writing after we review your enquiry. [See the published fees](https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing). **Do you work with businesses outside Toronto itself?** Yes. Registrants in Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, Markham and the rest of the GTA file on the same schedule and at the same fee as Toronto businesses; nothing about the service depends on the municipality. ## HST filed and reconciled Returns, input tax credits and the Quick Method question handled by a CPA, remotely. Send an enquiry. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online)[Ask a Free Question](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) ★★★★★ “…have been completing my bookkeeping, taxes and financials for the last 2 years and they have been amazing. Thank you!” R. H. · Google review ## Related services and local guides Nearby cities, the rest of what we do for Toronto businesses, and the reference pages behind this one. [Financial statements for Toronto agencies and consultancies](https://www.everstonecpa.com/financial-statements-toronto) [Bookkeeping for Toronto businesses](https://www.everstonecpa.com/bookkeeping-toronto) [Marketplace GST/HST rules: when the platform collects and when you must](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/ecommerce-marketplace-facilitator-rules-canada) [Bare trusts in Canada: the arrangement and the filing question](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/bare-trust-reporting-canada) [Trades accountant in Toronto](https://www.everstonecpa.com/trades-accountant-toronto) [GST/HST filing in Ottawa](https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-hst-filing-ottawa) [GST/HST filing in Chilliwack](https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-hst-filing-chilliwack) [GST/HST filing in Abbotsford](https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-hst-filing-abbotsford) [Payroll in Toronto](https://www.everstonecpa.com/payroll-services-toronto) [CFO services in Toronto](https://www.everstonecpa.com/cfo-services-toronto) [Accounting & CPA services in Toronto](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accountant-toronto) [GST/HST hub](https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-hst-hub) [GST/HST calculator Work out the tax on any amount](https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-hst-calculator) [Accountants across Ontario](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accountant-ontario) [Ontario tax facts Current rates and thresholds for Ontario](https://www.everstonecpa.com/ontario-tax-facts) [Personal tax accountant in Toronto](https://www.everstonecpa.com/personal-tax-accountant-toronto) ### Starting fees GST/HST and PST filing is included in monthly bookkeeping. Every fee is fixed in writing before any work begins. - **Monthly bookkeeping, HST filing included** from $325 a month *This page* - **Payroll, remittances, T4s and ROEs** included in monthly bookkeeping - **Books, payroll and the year-end T2 together** $500–$700 a month - **Corporate year-end and T2 return** fixed fee, quoted in writing - **Personal tax return (T1)** from $125; self-employed or rental $275–$500 - **Catch-up bookkeeping** from $2,200 per year of records - **Controller or CFO support** controller from $1,650, CFO from $2,750 a month - **One-off advice call with a CPA** $225 plus GST [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=monthly#enquiry-form) --- Source: https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-hst-filing-toronto Prices: https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing · Contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online