File on Time. Claim Every Credit.
Never Overpay the CRA and Revenu Québec.

Registration is mandatory once your taxable revenue — including all taxable and zero-rated supplies — exceeds $30,000 over any four consecutive calendar quarters, or within a single calendar quarter. The threshold applies to cumulative revenue, not just one quarter. You must register within 29 days of the day your revenue first exceeded the threshold. Once registered, you must charge GST/HST and QST on your taxable sales from that point forward. In Quebec, you register for the GST and the QST together with Revenu Québec, and the same $30,000 small-supplier threshold applies.

You can also register voluntarily before reaching $30,000 — which makes sense if you have significant business expenses with GST/HST you would like to recover through Input Tax Credits (ITCs). For example, if you recently purchased equipment or are investing heavily in startup costs, voluntary registration lets you claim back the tax you paid on those expenses right away rather than waiting until you hit the threshold. We help you assess the right timing for your specific situation and revenue trajectory, including whether your industry qualifies for any exemptions or special rules.

Filing frequency is assigned by the CRA — or by Revenu Québec for businesses in Quebec — based on your annual taxable revenue. Businesses with under $1.5 million in taxable revenue file annually; those between $1.5 million and $6 million file quarterly; businesses over $6 million file monthly. You are notified of your assigned frequency when you register, and it is set automatically based on the revenue you reported at registration.

You can request a change to a more frequent reporting period if it helps your cash flow. For example, switching from annual to quarterly filing lets you recover ITCs more often rather than waiting until year-end. Some businesses prefer quarterly filing even if they're below the $1.5M threshold because it prevents a large annual lump-sum payment. Each reporting period has a specific due date: quarterly filers must file and pay by one month after the quarter ends; annual filers by three months after the fiscal year-end. We track all your deadlines and file on time regardless of your assigned frequency. For Quebec businesses, Revenu Québec sets the calendar for your combined GST/QST return, and we track it.

An Input Tax Credit (ITC) is the mechanism that prevents GST/HST from becoming a cost to your business. When you pay GST/HST on a business expense — office supplies, equipment, professional fees, software, phone and internet — you can recover that tax by claiming it as an ITC on your GST/HST return. The ITC offsets the GST/HST you collected from your customers, and you remit only the net difference to the CRA. For the QST, the equivalent is the input tax refund (ITR), claimed on the same combined return for Quebec businesses.

To claim an ITC, you need proper documentation. For amounts under $30, a simple receipt is sufficient. For $30 to $149.99, you need the supplier's name and GST/HST registration number. For $150 or more, you need full invoice details: date, description of the supply, your name, and the supplier's HST number. You have four years from the filing due date to claim ITCs you missed in a prior period. We review all your expenses every filing period and claim every dollar you are entitled to — it is common for businesses to leave unclaimed ITCs on the table without realizing it.

Filing your GST/HST return late triggers an automatic penalty even if you owe nothing. The late-filing penalty is 1% of the unpaid balance on the due date, plus 0.25% of that amount for each complete month the return remains outstanding, up to a maximum of 12 months. Interest compounds daily on any unpaid balance at the CRA's prescribed rate, which is typically 2 to 4 percentage points above the Bank of Canada rate. These are the federal GST/HST rules; Revenu Québec applies its own penalties and interest to late QST returns, and the amounts can differ.

For businesses that are repeatedly late, the CRA can apply a further penalty: 50% of the first late-filing penalty if you failed to file on time within the prior three years. In serious cases, the CRA can register a lien against your business assets or issue a garnishment to your bank to collect unpaid amounts. None of these consequences are necessary. Because we're actively tracking your accounts throughout each reporting period, we are never scrambling at the last minute — your return is filed on time, every time.