HST Place of Supply Rate Calculator
The rate you charge follows where the supply is made, not where your office is. Work out the correct rate for goods, services, intangibles, real property or freight, and what it costs if past invoices went out at the wrong one.
rate to charge
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How the Place of Supply Was Decided
| Item | The Rule for This Supply | Result |
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This Invoice
| Line | Basis | Amount |
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Rates Across the Country
| Province | Rate | Tax on This Invoice |
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Putting Past Invoices Right
| Item | Basis | Amount |
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Points That Decide This
What to Do Next
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Disclaimer: The rate of tax on a taxable supply depends on the province in which the supply is made, determined under the place of supply rules in Schedule IX to the Excise Tax Act and the New Harmonized Value-added Tax System Regulations. In broad terms, a supply of goods is made in the province in which the goods are delivered or made available to the recipient; a supply of a service is generally made in the province of the recipient’s address obtained by the supplier in the ordinary course of business, subject to a range of specific rules including those for services relating to real property, services performed substantially in the presence of the recipient, and personal services; a supply of intangible personal property depends on the Canadian rights that may be exercised and on addresses of the recipient; a supply of real property is made where the property is situated; and a supply of a freight transportation service is generally made in the province of the destination of the freight. The rules contain many further specific cases, tie-breakers and exceptions that this calculator does not model, and the correct answer for a particular supply can turn on facts it does not capture. Rates change: the Nova Scotia rate was reduced with effect from 1 April 2025, and every rate on this page is an editable input that should be confirmed against current published figures. A supplier that has charged less tax than required generally remains liable for the correct amount whether or not it is recovered from the customer, and a supplier that has charged more may in defined circumstances refund, adjust or credit the excess to the customer within a limited period, after which the customer’s own route is a rebate application. Correcting past periods may require the net tax of those periods to be adjusted rather than the difference simply being included in a current return. This page is general information, not tax advice.
Your Office Does Not Set the Rate
The most common error in cross-border invoicing within Canada is an Ontario business charging 13 per cent on everything because that is the Ontario rate. The rate follows the province in which the supply is made, which is decided by rules that differ by what is being supplied.
Sometimes that is the customer’s address, sometimes it is where goods are delivered, sometimes it is where property sits. Getting it wrong in either direction creates a problem, and the two directions create different problems.
| What You Supply | Broadly Decided By |
|---|---|
| Goods | Where they are delivered or made available |
| Services | The customer’s address obtained in the ordinary course |
| Intangibles, software, licences | Canadian rights and the customer’s address |
| Real property | Where the property is situated |
| Freight transportation | The destination of the freight |
Delivery is the rule for goods, not the customer’s head office. Selling to a company headquartered in Toronto but shipping to their Calgary warehouse is a supply made in Alberta. Invoicing that at 13 per cent overcharges the customer by eight points, and they will notice eventually.
The Address Rule for Services Is Narrower Than It Sounds
For most services the rate follows the address of the recipient that the supplier obtains in the ordinary course of business. Where there is one such address in Canada, that address decides it.
Where there are several, the one most closely connected with the supply is used. That is a real question for a client with offices in three provinces, and the answer should be recorded rather than assumed, because it is the sort of thing that is impossible to reconstruct two years later.
Several categories of service escape the address rule entirely. Services relating to real property follow the property. Services performed substantially in the presence of the individual receiving them follow where they are performed. So a consultant advising remotely and a trainer running a session in a room are on different rules even where the client is the same.
Not Every Province Is 13 or 15
The harmonised provinces do not all share a rate, and the list changed recently. Nova Scotia reduced its rate with effect from 1 April 2025, so invoices to Nova Scotia customers issued before and after that date carry different rates, and software configured years ago may still be using the old one.
In the non-harmonised provinces only the 5 per cent federal component applies to the invoice. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec each have their own separate sales tax with its own registration rules, which is a different question from the one this page answers.
Charging Too Little and Charging Too Much Are Different Problems
If you undercharged, you are generally still liable for the correct amount. The tax was payable whether or not you collected it, so the shortfall comes out of your own pocket unless the customer agrees to pay it. Most registrant customers will, because they recover it anyway, but they are not obliged to.
If you overcharged, the excess was collected as tax and has to be dealt with. There is a route to refund, adjust or credit it to the customer, but only within a limited period. After that the customer’s remedy is their own rebate application, which is more work for them and a poor conversation for you.
A registrant customer makes an undercharge easier to fix. They claim back whatever you charge, so a debit note for the difference costs them nothing in substance. A customer who is not registered bears the extra directly, which is why the same correction lands very differently depending on who you billed.
Correcting the Right Period
Where past invoices carried the wrong rate, the net tax of the periods in which those supplies were made may need adjusting rather than simply throwing the difference into the current return. That matters where the error spans a year end or several reporting periods.
It also matters for interest, which runs from when the tax should have been remitted rather than from when the error was noticed.
What This Calculator Does Not Cover
- The many specific place of supply rules for particular services and situations
- Provincial sales taxes in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec
- Supplies to non-residents and zero-rated exports
- Provincial point-of-sale rebates on particular items
- Digital supplies to consumers and the rules applying to platforms
- Interest and penalties on amounts remitted late
A rate error repeats on every invoice until someone catches it. Our GST/HST filing service covers the place of supply review, correcting past periods properly and setting the invoicing up so the right rate is applied by province from then on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions on charging the right rate across provinces.
Related Calculators and Guides
More tools for GST/HST registrants.
Fix the Rate Once, Not Every Invoice
Send us a sample of invoices by province and we will confirm the place of supply for each type of work you do, quantify what past invoices got wrong, correct the right periods rather than the current one, and set the invoicing up so the rate follows the customer automatically.