GST/HST invoice requirements: what an invoice must show

What a GST/HST invoice must show depends on its total. Under $100, it needs your business name, the date and the total. From $100 to $499.99, add your GST/HST registration number and the tax charged (or a note that the price includes it). At $500 or more, also add the customer's name, a description of what you sold, and the payment terms.

Those three tiers come from the CRA's input tax credit rules. They exist because your customer needs your invoice to claim back the GST/HST you charged them. If the invoice is missing something, it's your customer who loses the credit, and a business customer who keeps losing credits on your invoices will notice.

The CRA raised the thresholds on April 20, 2021, from $30 and $150 to $100 and $500. Older articles and some invoice templates still show the old figures.

The requirements by tier

What the invoice shows	Under $100	$100 to $499.99	$500 or more
Your business or trading name	Yes	Yes	Yes
Invoice date (or the date the tax was paid or payable)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Total amount paid or payable	Yes	Yes	Yes
The GST/HST charged, or a statement that the total includes it, with the rate	No	Yes	Yes
Which items are taxable and which are exempt, if there's a mix	No	Yes	Yes
Your GST/HST registration number	No	Yes	Yes
Your customer's name or trading name	No	No	Yes
A brief description of what you sold	No	No	Yes
Payment terms	No	No	Yes

The tier depends on the total of the invoice, including tax, not on any single line.

In practice, most businesses put everything on every invoice. It costs nothing to include your registration number on a $40 sale, and one template that covers the $500 tier covers the other two as well.

How to show the tax

The CRA's guide for GST/HST registrants adds a few rules about how the tax appears:

• Show the rate and the amount. Either show the price and the GST/HST as separate lines, or state clearly that the total includes GST/HST, along with the rate.
• Show HST as one rate. In an HST province, show 13% or 15%, not the federal and provincial parts separately.
• Tell customers whether tax is included. That can be on the invoice, the receipt, a contract or a posted sign.

Your registration number is the 15-character GST/HST account: your 9-digit business number, then RT, then four digits, for example 123456789 RT0001.

What else belongs on an invoice

The CRA's list covers what your customer needs for their input tax credits. It doesn't cover what you need to get paid and keep your books straight. Most businesses also add:

• An invoice number, unique and in sequence, so you and your customer can refer to it and you can spot a missing one
• Your address and contact details, and the customer's address
• A due date, not just "net 30", so there's no argument about when it's late
• How to pay: e-transfer address, bank details for direct deposit, or a payment link
• A purchase order or job number, if the customer uses them. Large customers often won't pay an invoice without one
• Quantities and unit prices on each line, so the customer can check the work against the quote

None of these are GST/HST requirements, but an invoice that's missing them tends to get paid late.

The invoice date matters for your own return

The date on your invoice usually decides which GST/HST return the tax goes on. The CRA says you're liable for the tax on the day you're paid or the day payment is due, whichever comes first, and an invoice generally makes payment due. So it counts whether or not you've been paid. If you invoice on September 29 and your quarter ends September 30, that HST is due with the September quarter, even if the customer pays in November. How to file a GST/HST return covers the rest of that return.

Three examples

A $68 sale. A bike shop in Halifax sells a $59.13 tube and tire lever kit, plus 15% HST of $8.87, for $68.00. Because the total is under $100, the receipt only needs the shop's name, the date and the $68.00 total. Most point-of-sale systems print the HST and registration number anyway, which is what a business customer would want.

A $452 invoice. A bookkeeper in Ontario invoices a client $400 for the month, plus 13% HST of $52, for $452. The invoice needs her business name, the date, the $452 total, the $52 HST at 13% (or a line saying "Total includes HST at 13%"), and her registration number. The client's name isn't required at this tier, but she'd include it anyway.

A $5,650 invoice. A landscaping company in Ontario invoices a property manager:

• Spring clean-up and aeration, 12 properties: $5,000.00
• HST at 13%: $650.00
• Total: $5,650.00

To meet the $500 tier, the invoice shows the company's name and registration number (123456789 RT0001), the invoice date, the property manager's business name, the description above, the $650 HST at 13%, the total, and "Payment due within 30 days".

A mix of taxable and exempt items

If one invoice includes items taxed differently, the CRA requires it to show which is which once the total reaches $100. A common way to do that is a code on each line:

• T for taxable at the full rate
• Z for zero-rated (taxable at 0%, such as basic groceries)
• E for exempt (no tax, such as many health care services)

Then show the tax only on the T lines. A pharmacy receipt that lists prescription medication (zero-rated) next to shampoo (taxable) is the everyday example.

Common mistakes

• No registration number on invoices of $100 or more. Your customer can't claim the input tax credit without it.
• A made-up number, or a business number without the RT part. Customers can check your number with the CRA's GST/HST registry, and an invalid number is a reason to deny their credit.
• Charging tax before you're registered. You can't collect GST/HST until you have a registration number. If you're near the $30,000 small supplier limit, see do I need to register for GST/HST?
• Splitting HST into federal and provincial lines.
• Rounding each line differently from the total. Work out the tax on the taxable subtotal, not on each line, so the invoice adds up.
• Using the wrong province's rate. The rate depends on the province the sale is treated as made in, which is often where your customer is rather than where you are. Check the CRA's place-of-supply rules if you sell across provinces. The GST/HST calculator has every province's rate.

The same rules apply to receipts you keep

This all works in reverse. When you claim input tax credits on your own purchases, the receipts you keep have to meet the same tiers. A $640 receipt for tools that doesn't show your business name won't fully support the credit. If a supplier's receipt is short of what you need, ask for a full invoice at the counter, which is easier than chasing it in April.

A free template

A free invoice template that covers all three tiers is at /invoice-template. It has the registration number, the tax line and the payment terms already laid out, so you fill in the job and the amounts.

Where Spark Books helps

Spark Books sends invoices in your business's name. When the customer pays, it spots the deposit on your uploaded bank statement and marks the invoice paid, and the GST/HST you charged flows into the figures for your return. On the purchase side, receipts you photograph are attached to the card or bank transaction they paid for, so your input tax credits have paper behind them. It's free, with no card.