How to File a GST/HST Return in Canada: 2026 Guide

By InvoiceCast 11 min read Last updated October 2026

Registering for GST/HST changes your invoices right away: you start charging tax to your customers.

The second part comes later. At the end of each reporting period, you tell the government how much GST or HST you charged, subtract the tax you can recover on business expenses, and either remit the difference or claim a refund.

For a freelancer or small service business, the return itself is rarely complicated. What causes problems is a missed deadline, lost expense records, spending the tax you collected, or rebuilding three months of transactions the night before.

This guide covers filing under the regular method, the Quick Method in brief, and what changes if your business is in Quebec.

Next deadline: quarterly filers with a July 1 to September 30 period normally file by October 31. Because October 31, 2026 is a Saturday, the deadline moves to Monday, November 2, 2026. Revenu Québec's 2026 calendar confirms the same date for GST and QST returns filed in Quebec.

Who has to file a GST/HST return?

Once you're registered, you file a return for every reporting period assigned to you, including periods when:

you had no sales;
you collected no GST/HST;
your net tax is zero; or
you expect a refund because your input tax credits exceed the tax you collected.

Registration creates the obligation. A quiet quarter doesn't suspend it.

If you're under the small-supplier threshold and not registered, you don't file. Not sure which side you're on? See our guide to the $30,000 GST/HST small-supplier rule.

How often do you file?

The CRA assigns your reporting period based mainly on your annual taxable supplies.

Annual taxable supplies	Assigned reporting period	You can choose
$1.5 million or less	Annual	Quarterly or monthly
More than $1.5M up to $6M	Quarterly	Monthly
More than $6M	Monthly	—

Most freelancers and small businesses start as annual filers. Filing more often is worth considering in two cases:

You expect refunds. If you're buying equipment or have high start-up costs, your input tax credits may exceed the tax you collect. Annual filing means waiting up to a year for that money.
You want cash-flow discipline. The GST/HST you collect isn't yours. Seeing the balance four times a year makes it much harder to spend by accident.

GST/HST filing deadlines

Monthly and quarterly filers: the return and payment are due one month after the end of the reporting period.

Annual filers: generally three months after your fiscal year-end.

Self-employed individuals with a December 31 year-end: if you're a sole proprietor filing annually, your return is due June 15 of the following year, but payment is still due April 30. Filing late in the window is fine; paying late costs interest.

If a due date falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.

What you need before filing

Under the regular method, gather these totals for the period:

sales and other revenue;
GST/HST you collected or were required to collect;
GST/HST paid or payable on eligible business expenses;
any adjustments;
instalments already paid, if any.

The expense side is where returns go wrong. To claim an input tax credit (ITC), you need supporting documents with the right information on them. Our guide to recovering the GST/HST you pay on business expenses explains what each receipt needs to show.

How the calculation works

GST/HST collected or collectible − eligible ITCs = net tax

A positive result is what you remit. A negative result is a refund.

Example: Ontario consultant

An Ontario consultant bills $20,000 of taxable services in a quarter, all at 13% HST:

HST charged: $20,000 × 13% = $2,600
Eligible expenses of $4,000 before tax, with HST paid: $4,000 × 13% = $520
Net tax: $2,600 − $520 = $2,080

The consultant remits about $2,080, assuming no other adjustments.

To check a figure quickly, use the free sales tax calculator for any province. If you only have a tax-included total, the reverse sales tax calculator works backward to the pre-tax amount and the tax.

The return lines that matter

The CRA's electronic return does part of the math, but knowing the core lines helps you check it.

Line 101, sales and other revenue. Your revenue for the period, not the tax.
Line 103, GST/HST collected or collectible. Note the word collectible: tax is reportable when you invoice, not only when the customer pays.
Line 104, adjustments that increase net tax.
Line 106, input tax credits. GST/HST paid or payable on eligible business expenses.
Line 107, adjustments that reduce net tax.
Line 109, net tax. What's left after ITCs and adjustments.

The final lines settle the balance: line 110 for instalments already paid, line 111 for rebates, then a balance line, and either a refund claimed or a payment due (lines 113 to 115).

Specialized situations, such as real property, builders, imported services or mixed taxable and exempt activities, add schedules and rules beyond this guide.

On the Quick Method?

If you elected the Quick Method, your return works differently. Instead of tracking ITCs on most expenses, you remit a set percentage of your tax-included sales, so line 103 is calculated with your remittance rate. ITCs are generally limited to capital purchases, and you get a 1% credit on the first $30,000 of eligible supplies each year. Eligibility and rates are on the CRA's Quick Method pages.

How to file online

Electronic filing is mandatory for most registrants for reporting periods starting on or after January 1, 2024. Charities and selected listed financial institutions are the main exceptions.

You can file through:

GST/HST NETFILE on the CRA website;
My Business Account, where you can also confirm your reporting periods and due dates;
accounting software certified for GST/HST electronic filing; or
your accountant, through the CRA's Represent a Client service.

Quebec registrants file their combined GST and QST return with Revenu Québec, through its online services for businesses.

Invoicing tools like InvoiceCast don't submit returns. They give you the figures to enter; the filing itself happens in one of the channels above.

Whichever channel you use, the steps are the same:

Confirm the reporting period in your CRA account.
Enter your sales total (line 101).
Enter GST/HST collected or collectible (line 103).
Enter your ITCs (line 106).
Add any adjustments (lines 104 and 107).
Review the calculated net tax (line 109).
Apply instalments and rebates (lines 110 and 111).
Submit, and save the confirmation number.
Pay any balance by the payment deadline.

Check your reporting period first. Filing the right numbers for the wrong period is a surprisingly common mistake.

What changes if your business is in Quebec?

A Quebec business does not charge HST to Quebec customers. It charges 5% GST and 9.975% QST as two separate taxes, both calculated on the pre-tax price.

Revenu Québec administers both, so Quebec registrants generally file one combined GST and QST return with Revenu Québec, not one with the CRA and another with Quebec. The logic is the same, run twice:

GST collected − GST input tax credits (CTI) = net GST
QST collected − QST input tax refunds (RTI) = net QST

For the Quebec workflow, deadlines and instalments in detail, see our French guide: Déclaration de TPS et de TVQ au Québec : quand et comment la produire.

Paying your balance

Filing and paying are separate actions. If your return shows an amount owing, the payment has to reach the tax authority by the payment deadline.

Payments of $10,000 or more must generally be made electronically. In Quebec, the same threshold applies separately to GST and to QST on a combined return.

Leave a few business days for your bank to process the payment.

Annual filer? You may still owe quarterly instalments

Annual filing doesn't always mean one annual payment. If your net tax is $3,000 or more for both the current and the previous year, you generally have to pay quarterly instalments, due one month after the end of each fiscal quarter.

So an annual filer can make four payments a year and still file a single return. Most new registrants first hit this in their second year.

Common mistakes

Filing only when you owe money. Registered businesses still file nil returns.

Using bank deposits as your tax ledger. GST/HST is generally reportable when you invoice, not when the money arrives.

Forgetting ITCs. Nobody sends a notice saying you claimed too little.

Claiming ITCs without records. Keep the supplier invoices behind every claim.

Spending the tax you collected. The CRA treats collected GST/HST as money held in trust. A separate account for it solves the problem.

Confusing the filing and payment deadlines. Especially for annual self-employed filers: file by June 15, pay by April 30.

Charging the wrong province's rate. The return can't fix wrong invoices. The rate depends on where the supply is made, not where you are; see which sales tax to charge an out-of-province client and how to calculate and charge GST, HST and QST.

What happens if you file late?

If you file late and owe tax, the CRA charges a penalty of 1% of the amount owing, plus 25% of that 1% for each full month the return is late, up to 12 months. Interest applies to unpaid balances on top of that.

The cheapest penalty to avoid is the filing one. File on time even if you can't pay in full, and deal with the payment separately.

How long to keep records

Keep sales invoices, purchase invoices and receipts for six years from the end of the year they relate to. You don't send receipts with an electronic return, but the CRA can ask for them later.

Make the next return a reconciliation, not a reconstruction

A GST/HST return should be the last step of your bookkeeping, not the first.

If every invoice already carries the right GST, HST or QST, and every expense keeps its tax breakdown, filing is a matter of checking totals. That's how InvoiceCast is built: each invoice applies the right tax for your client's province, with GST and QST on separate lines in Quebec, and expenses are recorded with their tax split out.

On the Pro plan, the tax filing report puts it together for any period: tax collected minus claimable input tax credits, by tax component, for each business you run. It's built from the invoices and expenses you've recorded in InvoiceCast, so anything billed or bought outside it needs adding. InvoiceCast doesn't file for you: you take those totals to NETFILE, My Business Account or Revenu Québec's online services and submit the return there.

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GST/HST return FAQ

When is a quarterly GST/HST return due?

One month after the end of the reporting period. If that day falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. For the July–September 2026 quarter, that's November 2, 2026.

Do I need to file a GST/HST return if I had no sales?

Yes, if you're registered and a return is expected for that period. File a nil return.

What is an input tax credit?

An ITC lets a registrant recover the GST/HST paid or payable on purchases and expenses used in commercial activities. See our full guide to input tax credits.

Can I file my GST/HST return myself?

Usually, if you have straightforward taxable sales and ordinary expenses. Real estate, cross-border structures, mixed taxable and exempt activities, elections or large adjustments are good reasons to involve an accountant.

Is GST/HST the same in Quebec?

No. Quebec uses GST plus QST rather than HST, and Revenu Québec administers both, so Quebec registrants generally file one combined return.

Official sources

This article provides general information, not tax or accounting advice. GST/HST and QST rules vary with your business and transactions. Check CRA or Revenu Québec guidance, or speak with a qualified professional, when your situation is unclear.