GST SnapGST/HST quick method calculator
The quick method lets you remit a flat percentage of your tax-included sales and skip input tax credits on operating expenses. This works out the exact remittance rate for your situation from the CRA grid, then shows whether it actually beats the regular method for you.
How the quick method actually works
Nothing changes for your customers. You still charge 5% GST, or 13%, 14% or 15% HST, exactly as before, and you still show it on your invoices.
What changes is the arithmetic on your return. Instead of collected tax minus input tax credits, you take your tax-included sales and multiply by a single remittance rate. The gap between the tax you charged and the smaller amount you remit is yours to keep, and it is business income for income tax purposes. In exchange you stop claiming ITCs on operating expenses — rent, software, supplies, fuel, phone.
Two things survive the trade. You can still claim ITCs on real property and on capital assets you would claim capital cost allowance for, such as computers, vehicles and machinery. And you get a 1% credit on your first $30,000 of tax-included eligible supplies each fiscal year.
The CRA remittance rate grid
The rate depends on two things at once: the province your business sits in, which picks the column, and the province each sale is made in, which picks the row. Most small businesses use a single cell, but if you sell across provincial lines you need a separate rate for each.
Businesses that provide services
| Sale made where | Business in a 5% GST province | Business in ON (13%) | Business in NS (14%) | Business in a 15% HST province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GST at 5% | 3.6% | 1.8% | 1.6% | 1.4% |
| HST at 13% | 10.5% | 8.8% | 8.6% | 8.4% |
| HST at 14% | 11.3% | 9.6% | 9.4% | 9.2% |
| HST at 15% | 12.0% | 10.4% | 10.2% | 10.0% |
Businesses that purchase goods for resale
| Sale made where | Business in a 5% GST province | Business in ON (13%) | Business in NS (14%) | Business in a 15% HST province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GST at 5% | 1.8% | 0% + 2.8% credit | 0% + 3.4% credit | 0% + 4.0% credit |
| HST at 13% | 8.8% | 4.4% | 3.9% | 3.3% |
| HST at 14% | 9.6% | 5.3% | 4.7% | 4.2% |
| HST at 15% | 10.4% | 6.1% | 5.6% | 5.0% |
Resale rates are only for you if the cost of goods you bought for resale last fiscal year, including GST/HST, was at least 40% of your total taxable revenue. Otherwise use the service rates, even if you sell physical products. 5% GST provinces are AB, BC, MB, NT, NU, QC, SK and YT; 15% HST provinces are NB, NL and PE.
Who cannot use the quick method
Regardless of revenue, these businesses are shut out:
- Bookkeeping, financial consulting, tax consulting and tax return preparation services
- Legal, accounting and actuarial services provided in professional practice
- Listed financial institutions
- Charities and public institutions
- Non-profits with at least 40% government funding in the year
- Municipalities and designated local authorities
- Non-profit public colleges, school authorities and universities
- Hospital authorities, facility operators and external suppliers
Everyone else needs worldwide taxable supplies including GST/HST — yours and your associates’ — of $400,000 or less, measured over either the first four or the last four of your last five fiscal quarters. Financial services, real property, capital assets and goodwill are left out of that count. You also need a permanent establishment in Canada.
Electing, and the deadline that catches people
You elect with Form GST74 or through the CRA online services, effective on the first day of a reporting period. Miss the deadline and you wait for the next period.
- Monthly or quarterly filers: elect by the due date of the return for the period you want to start in.
- Annual filers: elect by the first day of your second fiscal quarter.
- New registrants whose first return covers less than a full fiscal year: elect by that return due date.
Once elected you have to stay a year before revoking, and once you revoke you wait a year before electing again. So it is worth running the numbers on a realistic year rather than one good quarter.
Common questions
Does the quick method change what I charge customers?
No. You charge the same GST or HST you always did and show it on the invoice. Only what you remit changes.
Is the money I keep taxable?
Yes. The difference between the tax you collected and the smaller amount you remitted is business income, and it belongs on your income tax return.
Why would the quick method ever lose?
Because you give up ITCs on operating expenses. A business with heavy taxable costs — lots of subcontractors, materials, equipment rental — often recovers more through ITCs than the rate spread is worth. The calculator above shows you which side you land on. Service businesses with few taxable inputs usually come out ahead.
What if I sell in more than one province?
Split your sales by the province where each supply was made, apply that row rate to each slice, and add the results. The column stays the same throughout, because that is set by where your business sits.
Still tracking receipts by hand?
If the calculator says the regular method wins for you, those input tax credits are only worth claiming if you can actually document them. GST Snap reads receipts from a photo — vendor, date, GST/HST number, amounts — totals your claimable ITCs, and flags receipts that are missing the supplier registration number the CRA requires.
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