GST, HST, QST and PST for courier companies: the basics by province

Sales tax is the part of running a courier business in Canada that most owners learn by making a mistake. You invoice a customer in Ottawa for a delivery to Gatineau and wonder whether that is Ontario HST or Québec GST plus QST. You start delivering in British Columbia and wonder whether PST applies to courier work. You pass a revenue threshold and realise you should have registered months ago.

The takeaway: for courier services, the province that matters is usually where the delivery ends, not where your office is, and the tax is charged on your delivery fee, not on the goods you carry. Get those two ideas right and most of the rest is setup.

The taxes, in one table

Canada has a federal goods and services tax (GST). Five provinces have harmonised their provincial tax with it as a single HST. Québec runs its own QST alongside GST. Three provinces charge a separate provincial sales tax. The rest charge GST only.

The rates below are the general rates at the time of writing (October 2026). Check them before you set up invoicing.

Do you need to register?

For GST/HST, a business is generally a small supplier while its taxable sales, together with those of associated businesses, stay at or under $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. Small suppliers do not have to register, but may register voluntarily. Once you pass the threshold, you have a limited time to register and start charging.

Many couriers register voluntarily from day one, because:

• Business customers expect a GST/HST number on the invoice and can claim the tax back.
• Registered businesses can claim input tax credits for the GST/HST they pay on vans, fuel, phones and repairs.
• Registering late means working out tax on sales you have already made.

In Québec, QST registration is with Revenu Québec, and the small-supplier rules follow a similar logic. Provincial PST registration in BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba is separate again, and depends on whether you sell anything that tax applies to.

Which province's tax applies?

This is where couriers get caught. For GST/HST purposes, a courier service is generally treated as a freight transportation service, and its place of supply is generally the province where the freight's destination is. In plain terms: a delivery that ends in Ontario is generally taxed at Ontario HST, even if your office is in Québec; a delivery that ends in Gatineau is generally taxed with GST and QST, even if you dispatched it from Ottawa.

Some practical consequences:

• Your invoice can carry different tax for different orders to the same customer, depending on where each delivery ended.
• Cross-border deliveries to the United States can be zero-rated under specific conditions. Do not assume; ask.
• A courier based in a GST-only territory delivering into an HST province generally charges HST on those deliveries.

Some couriers simplify by taxing every invoice at their home province's rate. That is easier, and it is often wrong. Ask your accountant which rule fits your work before you choose.

Does PST apply to courier work?

In British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the provincial tax generally targets the sale of goods and a defined list of services. A stand-alone courier or delivery service is often outside it, but there are exceptions, for example delivery charges that are part of a sale of taxable goods by the seller, or goods and materials you sell yourself (packaging, boxes). If you only move other people's goods, you may not need a PST number at all. If you also sell supplies, you probably charge PST on those.

What you charge tax on

• Your delivery fee and its surcharges (fuel, rush, waiting time, after hours) are generally part of the same taxable supply.
• Goods you collect payment for on behalf of a merchant, such as cash on delivery for a sofa, are the merchant's sale. The tax on the goods is the merchant's matter; your fee for collecting is yours.
• Tips passed in full to the driver are generally not part of your taxable fee, but treat them consistently.
• Discounts reduce the taxable amount when they are on the invoice.

Exempt and special customers

A few customers will tell you they do not pay some or all of these taxes:

• Exemptions that cover only some taxes. For example, a federal government department in Québec generally pays GST but not QST.
• Deliveries to First Nations reserves for status Indians or bands may be relieved of tax under specific conditions and documentation.
• Customers outside Canada may be zero-rated for some services.

Record the exemption, its number and its expiry on the customer, and apply it per tax rather than switching tax off for the whole customer.

Getting the setup right

Before your first invoice:

1. List the provinces you deliver into, not just where you are based.
2. Register for GST/HST, and for QST if you deliver into Québec and your advisor says so.
3. Decide with your accountant which address decides the tax: delivery, pickup or your business location.
4. Decide what is taxable: transportation, storage, goods and materials.
5. Choose whether your prices include tax or have it added on top. For business customers, tax on top is usual.
6. Keep your records. The CRA generally expects you to keep books and records for six years.

How NemiRoute handles it

NemiRoute adds tax on the invoice from settings you control, and is built for exactly this list: GST/HST, QST, BC PST, Saskatchewan PST and Manitoba RST. You choose your home province, which address decides the tax (delivery address is the recommended default), and enter your registration numbers. A tax is only charged when its registration number is saved; if one you need is missing, the settings page names it and automatic invoices pause until you add it. A "what is taxable" table maps each category (transportation, storage, goods and materials) to each tax, with GST/HST and QST on everything taxable and the provincial PSTs on goods only by default. Customers can be exempt from all taxes or only some, with the number and expiry recorded. A calculator shows the tax on a sample delivery before you save, and you can override a rate from a date if your accountant tells you to. See billing and payments for the invoicing side.

For your books, invoices and payments export as files that QuickBooks and Xero import, with your own tax codes per tax. It is a file export, not a live sync, so agree the mapping with your accountant once.

Next step

Take the setup list above to your accountant, then put the answers into your software once. Start free to try the tax calculator with your own provinces, or book a demo. For collecting tax on cash payments, see Cash on delivery done right, and for comparing tools, the buyer's checklist for courier software in Canada.