A Complete Guide to Sales Tax Across Canada’s Provinces — GST / HST / PST / QST, Everything in One Place (2026)

Updated: 2026-06-17｜Tax rates and rebate amounts change easily; official announcements take precedence.

When you shop in Canada, you’ll notice that the price tag and the final amount at checkout don’t match — because sales tax here is added “on top of” the listed price, rather than being shown tax-inclusive as in Taiwan or Europe. When I first arrived, this really confused me too: the shelf clearly said $9.99, yet it came to over eleven dollars at the register. Getting your head around the acronyms GST, HST, PST and QST — and exactly how much your own province charges and what items are tax-exempt — helps you set your budget right in your head ahead of time.

Canada’s sales tax actually has only two layers. The first layer is the federal tax (GST, Goods and Services Tax), a flat 5% that is uniform nationwide and charged in almost every province. The second layer is the provincial tax, which works differently from province to province and can be grouped into three types: some provinces combine the provincial and federal taxes into a single levy called HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) — for example, Ontario and Nova Scotia; some provinces charge a separate PST (Provincial Sales Tax) on its own — for example, BC and Saskatchewan; and Quebec has its own QST (Quebec Sales Tax). Manitoba’s provincial tax is called RST, but it operates the same way as PST — charged separately.

An Overview of 2026 Sales Tax Rates by Province

The table below sets out the combined tax rate for each province, so you can directly check the one where you live or plan to travel.

The ranking is clear at a glance from the table: Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut charge only 5% GST, making them the places with the lowest sales tax in all of Canada; at the other end, Quebec (14.975%) and the three Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland (all 15%) are the highest. Nova Scotia was also 15% originally, but as of April 1, 2025 it cut the provincial portion by 1 percentage point, bringing the combined rate down to 14% — so if you have an old receipt from before April 1, 2025 showing 15%, that is correct, and you’ll only see 14% afterward.

Not everything is taxed. The items that are tax-exempt at the national GST/HST level are mainly basic groceries (fresh produce, bread, meat, fruits and vegetables, and dairy products from the supermarket), prescription drugs and medical devices (wheelchairs, hearing aids, etc.), agricultural products, children’s car safety seats, and goods being prepared for export out of the country. Conversely, common items that are taxable include dine-in and takeout meals from restaurants, cafés and fast food, alcohol and tobacco, adult clothing and electronics, entertainment spending such as movie tickets, delivery-platform orders (the likes of DoorDash and Uber Eats), and processed foods such as cookies, potato chips and carbonated drinks. One easy trap to fall into is this: a whole bag of bread bought at the supermarket is tax-exempt, but the same thing sold as a prepared dish on the spot in a café is taxable — the dividing line falls roughly between “basic ingredients” and “ready-to-eat / processed food.”

BC’s PST has its own list of exemptions, which is not entirely the same as the federal GST, and a few rules that are especially useful for newcomers are worth remembering. In BC, clothing for children under 14 is exempt from PST, but adult clothing is subject to PST — this differs from the United States, where clothing is tax-exempt in quite a few states, so don’t apply your U.S. experience here. As of 2024, purchasing an electric vehicle (EV) in BC is exempt from PST. Also note that foreign digital services are subject to BC PST too: for software and SaaS subscriptions like Netflix and Adobe, that extra 7% will show up on your bill.

Quebec’s QST is calculated in a slightly special way. In earlier years, QST was once computed on a tax base that already included GST; under the current system, GST and QST are each calculated on the pre-tax price separately and are not stacked on each other, so the two are in fact levied in parallel on the same pre-tax amount. In practice people are used to saying “Quebec’s rate is about 15%” (5% + 9.975%), and for everyday budgeting this rough figure is enough.

Tourist Rebates and Low-Income Rebates: Two Commonly Misunderstood Things

Many people assume that, as in Europe, you can claim a tourist tax refund on purchases made in Canada — but this is actually an outdated impression. Canada scrapped its general Visitor Rebate Program back in 2007, and ordinary purchases can no longer be refunded today. The only exception still remaining is the Short-Term Accommodation Rebate: foreign non-resident travellers can apply for a refund of the GST/HST on short-term overnight accommodation such as guesthouses and hotels, but they need to have the invoices and application form ready. It’s worth noting that if you are a newcomer holding a work or study permit, you are generally treated as a “resident” for tax purposes and do not qualify for this traveller rebate.

Another thing often confused with this is the GST/HST Credit the government gives to low-income residents. This is paid out quarterly to offset the sales tax you pay day to day, and is a completely different matter from a tourist refund. It is calculated and issued automatically by the CRA after you file your taxes each year, with no separate application needed. Taking the July 2025 to June 2026 benefit year as an example, according to figures published by the Canada Revenue Agency, a single person can receive up to about $533 CAD for the full year, a couple up to about $698 CAD, with about an additional $184 CAD for each child under 19; the lower your income, the more you receive, and once you exceed a certain threshold no more is paid (the amounts are indexed and adjusted annually, so please refer to CRA announcements). It’s worth noting that the government has announced this GST/HST Credit will be replaced from July 2026 by the “Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB)”, with a one-time top-up also to be paid in June 2026 during the transition; for the payment rules thereafter, it’s advisable to keep an eye on the latest CRA announcements.

Finally, let me share a few of the most commonly asked practical questions about before and after checkout. First, does the price tag include tax or not? Canadian retail generally lists the pre-tax price, with tax added at the register, so the Subtotal (pre-tax) and Total (tax included) on your receipt will differ by a fair bit; some restaurant menus thoughtfully note “+ taxes.” Second, are there any legitimate ways to save on tax? Buying big-ticket items in Alberta is indeed a recognized way to save on tax, and quite a few people will deliberately drive to Alberta to buy appliances or even cars; but be aware that if you are a BC resident and drive the car back to use in BC, BC may, under its tax law, charge the PST after the fact, so it isn’t entirely avoidable. Third, how is online shopping calculated? When you buy something from an e-commerce site within Canada, the rate is based on “the province of the delivery address”; if you order from an overseas website such as one in the U.S., when the goods’ value exceeds the duty-free threshold, you also have to pay import duty and GST/HST upon entry — this part is often underestimated, so it’s best to factor it in before placing your order.

If you’re a newcomer who has just arrived, we suggest reading this alongside our Essential Newcomer Settling-In Checklist to sort out, in one go, the steps closely tied to tax refunds such as filing taxes, your SIN and a bank account; and if you want to assess which province is the most cost-effective to move to, you can also refer to our Complete Comparison of Cost of Living by Province to factor the sales-tax differences into your overall cost of living.