# Do I need to register for GST/HST? The $30,000 small supplier rule

When a Canadian business must register for GST/HST: the $30,000 small supplier threshold, the single-quarter and four-quarter tests, and voluntary registration.

Published: 2026-10-04 · Spark

---

Most Canadian businesses have to register for GST/HST once their taxable sales pass $30,000. Below that, you're a **small supplier** and registration is optional. The details — which $30,000, over what period, and from what date — are where people get caught, usually by registering late and owing tax they never charged.

## The small supplier threshold

You're a small supplier if your total revenue from taxable supplies is **$30,000 or less** both in a single calendar quarter and over the last four consecutive calendar quarters. Public service bodies, such as charities, have a $50,000 threshold instead ([CRA, when to register for and start charging the GST/HST](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/when-register-charge.html)).

Three things about that number:

- **It's worldwide taxable supplies**, not just Canadian sales, and it includes the supplies of businesses associated with yours ([CRA, GST/HST memorandum 2-2, small suppliers](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/2-2/small-suppliers.html)). Two companies with the same owner can't each stay under $30,000 and both be small suppliers.
- **It's revenue, not profit.** A business that sells $40,000 and keeps $5,000 is over.
- **It's calendar quarters** — January to March, April to June, July to September, October to December — not your fiscal year.

If you exceed $30,000, you must register. There are also businesses that must register regardless of the threshold: taxi drivers and commercial ride-sharing drivers have to register from their first fare ([CRA](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/when-register-charge.html)).

## Test 1: a single calendar quarter over $30,000

If your sales in one calendar quarter go over $30,000, you stop being a small supplier immediately. Your effective date of registration is **no later than the day of the sale that took you over**, and you must charge GST/HST on that sale ([CRA](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/when-register-charge.html)).

The CRA's example: a business with $2,000 in its first quarter, $10,000 in its second and $38,000 in its third. Somewhere in that third quarter, a sale took it past $30,000 for the quarter — and from that sale on, it charges GST/HST.

This is the test that catches businesses with one big contract. A renovation company that lands a $45,000 job in a single quarter is over on the first invoice that crosses the line, not at year end.

## Test 2: four consecutive calendar quarters over $30,000

If no single quarter is over $30,000 but the last four quarters together are, the rule is a little gentler. You stop being a small supplier **at the end of the month following the quarter** in which you crossed $30,000. Your effective date of registration is **no later than the day of your first sale after that**, and you have **29 days** from the effective date to register ([CRA](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/when-register-charge.html)).

A worked example with calendar quarters:

- April–June 2025: $6,000
- July–September 2025: $8,000
- October–December 2025: $9,000
- January–March 2026: $9,500

Total over four quarters: **$32,500**. The threshold was crossed in the January–March 2026 quarter.

- Small supplier status ends: **April 30, 2026** (the end of the month after that quarter)
- First sale after that: say May 4, 2026 — the **effective date of registration**, and the first sale you charge GST/HST on
- Register by: 29 days after May 4 — **June 2, 2026**

The CRA's own example works the same way: four quarters totalling $32,000, small supplier status ending April 30, and registration effective no later than the first sale in May.

The extra month is there so you can see it coming. Use it: a running total of the last four quarters' sales, checked every month, is all it takes.

## What happens if you register late

The obligation runs from the effective date, not from the day you get around to registering. The CRA is direct about it: if you were required to charge GST/HST and didn't, you're still liable for the tax, and you report it in the period you should have charged it ([CRA, which GST/HST return to use](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/calculate-prepare-report/which-gst-hst-return-use-your-situation.html)). If you should have started charging in May and register in October, you owe the tax on every taxable sale since May — whether or not you collected it. On $15,000 of Ontario sales at 13% HST ([CRA, GST/HST rates](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/charge-collect-which-rate/calculator.html)), that's $1,950 out of your own pocket unless you can go back to customers for it.

Business customers who are themselves registered can usually claim the tax back, so they may agree to pay it late. Consumers rarely will.

## Voluntary registration: should you register early?

You can register voluntarily even as a small supplier, as long as you make taxable supplies in Canada. If you do, you must charge, collect and remit GST/HST, file returns regularly, and **stay registered for at least one year** before you can cancel ([CRA, register voluntarily](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/account-register-voluntarily.html)).

**Reasons to register early:**

- **You get input tax credits.** Registrants can claim back the GST/HST on business purchases ([same page](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/account-register-voluntarily.html)). If you're buying equipment or paying for a fit-out in your first year, that can be real money.
- **Your customers are businesses.** A registered customer gets your GST/HST back as an ITC, so charging it costs them nothing in the end.
- **You'll cross $30,000 soon anyway.** Registering from day one avoids the scramble and the risk of registering late.

**Reasons to wait:**

- **Your customers are consumers.** They can't claim the tax back, so registering makes you 5% to 15% more expensive than an unregistered competitor, depending on the province.
- **Filing takes time.** You must file a return for every reporting period, even one with no sales and nothing to remit ([CRA, reporting requirements](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/file-gst-hst-return/reporting-requirements-deadlines.html)).
- **You can't leave quickly.** At least a year, once you're in.

A rough test: if most of your sales are to businesses, or you have significant GST/HST on start-up purchases, registering early usually pays. If you sell to the public and your costs are small, waiting until you have to usually does.

## Once you're registered

- **Charge the right rate** for where your customer is — 5% GST, or HST of 13% to 15% in the participating provinces ([CRA, GST/HST rates](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/charge-collect-which-rate/calculator.html)).
- **Put your GST/HST number on invoices.** Registered customers need it on the invoice to support their ITC claims ([CRA, RC4022](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/rc4022/general-information-gst-hst-registrants.html)).
- **Keep tax out of income and expenses** in your books — collected tax in one account, ITCs in another. See [chart of accounts](/guides/chart-of-accounts-for-small-business-canada).
- **Decide on the quick method.** Many small businesses can calculate their remittance as a flat percentage of sales instead. See [the GST/HST quick method explained](/guides/gst-hst-quick-method-explained).
- **File on time.** See [how to file a GST/HST return](/guides/how-to-file-a-gst-hst-return).

## Let the books keep count

Knowing when you cross $30,000 is a bookkeeping problem: it's a running total of sales by calendar quarter. Once you're registered, the return is a bookkeeping problem too.

[Spark Books](/books) sorts your uploaded bank and card transactions with the GST/HST split from the start, and prepares your return figures — regular or quick method — with the due dates. Spark prepares the numbers; you or your accountant file.

## The short version

- Over **$30,000** of taxable sales in one calendar quarter, or over four consecutive quarters: you must register.
- **Single quarter:** registered from the sale that takes you over. Charge tax on that sale.
- **Four quarters:** you stop being a small supplier at the end of the following month; register within 29 days of your next sale.
- Late registration means owing tax you never collected.
- Voluntary registration gets you ITCs, but commits you for at least a year.

[Spark Books](/books) is free bookkeeping for Canadian businesses — upload your statements and see your sales by quarter and your GST/HST position in one place. No card needed.