This HST calculator works as a sales tax calculator for all 13 provinces and territories: it adds sales tax to a before-tax price or takes it out of a tax-included total. It splits the result into its parts: the federal GST, the provincial part of the HST, and the PST or QST where a province charges one. It also compares the same amount across the country and shows the multiply and divide factors that do the job without a calculator. Nothing typed in leaves the browser.
How do you use this HST calculator?
- Pick the direction. “Add tax to a price” starts from a before-tax price. “Remove tax from a total” (reverse HST) starts from a receipt total or a tax-in price and finds the price before tax.
- Enter the amount, in dollars and cents.
- Choose the province or territory where the sale takes place. The calculator defaults to Ontario.
- Open “Rebates and older receipts” if the item is on Ontario’s or New Brunswick’s point-of-sale rebate list, or if a Nova Scotia receipt predates the April 2025 rate cut.
- Read the results: the total or before-tax price, the tax and its parts, the same amount in every province, a quick-reference list of common prices, and the factor to multiply or divide by. The province table can be downloaded as CSV.
What are the GST, HST, PST and QST rates by province?
Canada has three sales tax setups. Alberta and the territories charge only the federal GST. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec charge the GST plus their own provincial tax, shown as separate lines on a receipt. Ontario and the four Atlantic provinces combine both into one harmonized sales tax (HST), which already contains the federal part.
| Province or territory | Tax charged | Federal part | Provincial part | Combined rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | GST only | 5% | 0% | 5% |
| British Columbia | GST + PST | 5% | 7% | 12% |
| Manitoba | GST + RST | 5% | 7% | 12% |
| New Brunswick | HST | 5% | 10% | 15% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | HST | 5% | 10% | 15% |
| Northwest Territories | GST only | 5% | 0% | 5% |
| Nova Scotia | HST | 5% | 9% | 14% |
| Nunavut | GST only | 5% | 0% | 5% |
| Ontario | HST | 5% | 8% | 13% |
| Prince Edward Island | HST | 5% | 10% | 15% |
| Quebec | GST + QST | 5% | 9.975% | 14.975% |
| Saskatchewan | GST + PST | 5% | 6% | 11% |
| Yukon | GST only | 5% | 0% | 5% |
How to read this table: the combined rate is the federal part plus the provincial part. In HST provinces both parts are collected as one tax by the Canada Revenue Agency; in the GST + PST and GST + QST provinces the provincial tax is a separate tax with its own line on a receipt. Rates are the standard rates from the CRA table and the provincial finance departments; the sources and the date they were last checked appear in the sources box on this page.
What is the HST in Ontario?
Ontario’s HST is 13%, charged as one tax but made up of the 5% federal part (the GST) and an 8% Ontario part. On a before-tax price, the HST is the price × 13%, and the total is the price × 1.13. The calculator opens with Ontario selected, so it works as an HST calculator for Ontario straight away.
Take a laptop priced at $249.99 before tax in Ontario:
- HST: $32.50
- Total at the till: $282.49
- Federal part: $12.50
- Ontario part: $20.00
The same laptop would cost $262.49 in Alberta and $287.49 in New Brunswick, before any provincial rebates.
Which items skip the Ontario part of the HST?
Ontario refunds its 8% part at the till for everyone on a short list of items, so only the 5% federal part is charged:
| Item | Charged in Ontario | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Books (printed books, audio books, printed scripture) | 5% | Includes a book sold with a related CD or website access for students |
| Children’s clothing | 5% | Up to girls’ Canada Standard Size 16 and boys’ size 20; costumes and sports protective gear excluded |
| Children’s footwear | 5% | Up to girls’ and boys’ size six; skates, ski boots and cleats excluded |
| Children’s car seats and booster seats | 5% | Must meet Transport Canada safety standards |
| Diapers (cloth and disposable), inserts, training pants | 5% | Incontinence products are zero-rated instead |
| Print newspapers | 5% | Not flyers, magazines or inserts |
| Prepared food and beverages | 5% | Only when the before-tax total of qualifying items is $4 or less |
How to read this table: the rebate removes the 8% Ontario part, leaving the 5% federal part. Everything else in the same purchase is still charged the full 13%. Where a store charges the full HST on a qualifying item, Ontario’s page says the rebate can be claimed from the CRA with form GST189.
For $60 of children’s clothing, the tax is $3.00 instead of $7.80, a saving of $4.80. Switch on the rebate option in the calculator to see this for any amount. New Brunswick has a similar point-of-sale rebate of its 10% part on printed books, audio recordings and scriptures, and the calculator covers it as well.
How do you calculate reverse HST?
To take HST out of a total, divide the total by one plus the rate. In Ontario that means dividing by 1.13; the answer is the before-tax price, and the difference is the tax. This is what a reverse HST calculator does, and it matters when a price is quoted “tax in,” when a receipt shows only a total, or when a business needs to record how much of a sale was tax.
A restaurant bill of $56.50 in Ontario, tax included:
- Before-tax price: $50.00
- HST inside the total: $6.50, of which $2.50 is the federal part and $4.00 is the Ontario part
- The common mistake: taking 13% of the total gives $7.35, which overstates the tax by $0.85
The mistake happens because 13% was charged on the $50.00 price, not on the total. As a share of a tax-included total, Ontario’s HST is only 11.5%.
How much of a tax-included total is tax in each province?
| Province or territory | Combined rate | Divide the total by | Share of a tax-included total that is tax | Tax inside a $100 total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island | 15% | 1.15 | 13.04% | $13.04 |
| Quebec | 14.975% | 1.14975 | 13.02% | $13.03 |
| Nova Scotia | 14% | 1.14 | 12.28% | $12.28 |
| Ontario | 13% | 1.13 | 11.5% | $11.50 |
| British Columbia, Manitoba | 12% | 1.12 | 10.71% | $10.71 |
| Saskatchewan | 11% | 1.11 | 9.91% | $9.91 |
| Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut | 5% | 1.05 | 4.76% | $4.76 |
How to read this table: divide any tax-included total by the factor in the third column to get the before-tax price. The fourth column is the share of the total that is tax, which is always smaller than the rate itself. Multiply a total by that share to get the tax directly, give or take a cent. Quebec’s line is a cent above its share because the GST and QST are rounded separately: $86.98 before tax would ring up at $100.01, so the price that rings up to exactly $100.00 is $86.97.
In Ontario, a tax-included total of exactly $100.00 has no whole-cent price behind it: $88.50 plus tax rings up at one cent more, and a price one cent lower rings up at one cent less. The calculator flags cases like this with a rounding note rather than hiding the cent.
How much sales tax is on a $1,000 purchase in each province?
The same before-tax price of $1,000 in every province and territory, with the tax split into its federal and provincial parts:
| Province or territory | Federal tax | Provincial tax | Total tax | Price with tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island | $50 | $100 HST part | $150 | $1,150 |
| Quebec | $50 | $99.75 QST | $149.75 | $1,149.75 |
| Nova Scotia | $50 | $90 HST part | $140 | $1,140 |
| Ontario | $50 | $80 HST part | $130 | $1,130 |
| British Columbia | $50 | $70 PST | $120 | $1,120 |
| Manitoba | $50 | $70 RST | $120 | $1,120 |
| Saskatchewan | $50 | $60 PST | $110 | $1,110 |
| Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut | $50 | None | $50 | $1,050 |
How to read this table: the federal column is the same everywhere, because every province’s sales tax starts from the same 5% federal rate. The whole gap between the cheapest and the dearest province, $100 on this purchase, is provincial tax. Where the sale is taxed depends on where the goods are delivered or the service is provided, not only on where the buyer lives.
How does the maths work?
Adding tax. Each tax is the before-tax price × its rate, rounded to the cent. In the GST + PST and GST + QST provinces, the two taxes are separate, so each is rounded on its own and then added. The HST is a single tax, so it is rounded once: on $1.10 in Ontario the HST is $0.14, not the $0.15 that rounding the two parts separately would give. The calculator then shows the federal part rounded and the provincial part as the remainder, so the two always add up to the HST line.
Removing tax. The before-tax price starts as the total ÷ (1 + combined rate), rounded to the cent. In the GST + PST and GST + QST provinces, where each tax is rounded on its own, that can land a cent away from the price that actually rings up to the total, so the calculator checks the neighbouring cents and uses the whole-cent price whose taxes add back to the total exactly. The tax is the total minus that price, so price plus tax always equals the total entered, and it is split into its parts on the before-tax price. When no whole-cent price reproduces the total exactly, one part absorbs the leftover cent and a note explains it.
No tax on tax. Every provincial tax in Canada is now calculated on the before-tax price, not on the price plus GST, so the combined rate is a simple sum of the parts. The Canada Revenue Agency notes that results from its own sales tax calculator “may differ from final totals by a cent or two” because of rounding; stores that round per item rather than per receipt can drift the same way.
The calculator’s tests reproduce every province’s tax on sample prices by hand, confirm that adding tax and then removing it returns the original price for every amount from one cent to thirty dollars in every province and territory, and check the federal and provincial splits against the official rates.
Did Nova Scotia’s HST change?
Nova Scotia cut its HST from 15% to 14% on April 1, 2025, by lowering the provincial part from 10% to 9%. The federal part stayed at 5%. Tax that became payable on or before March 31, 2025 was charged at 15%, which matters when reversing an older receipt.
A Nova Scotia receipt for $230.00, tax included:
| Rate used | Before-tax price | HST inside | Federal part | Nova Scotia part |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15% (before April 1, 2025) | $200.00 | $30.00 | $10.00 | $20.00 |
| 14% (current) | $201.75 | $28.25 | $10.09 | $18.16 |
How to read this table: the same total splits differently depending on the rate in force when the tax became payable. Using today’s rate on an old receipt would understate the tax by $1.75 here. The calculator’s Nova Scotia option switches between the two rates.
Common mistakes with sales tax calculations
- Subtracting the rate from a total. Taking 13% off a tax-included Ontario total removes too much. Divide by 1.13 instead.
- Adding PST on top of GST-included prices. Both taxes apply to the before-tax price; there is no tax on tax.
- Using the buyer’s home province for everything. The rate generally follows where the goods are delivered or the service is performed. An online order shipped to Alberta is charged the 5% GST, even from an Ontario store.
- Forgetting zero-rated and exempt items. Basic groceries, prescription drugs and many medical devices carry no GST/HST, and some services are exempt. The calculator uses the standard rate, so skip it for those items.
- Missing the point-of-sale rebate. In Ontario, children’s clothing, diapers and books should ring up at 5%, not 13%.
- Applying Ontario’s prepared-food rebate to a bigger order. It only applies when the qualifying food and drinks total $4 or less before tax.
- Using the old Nova Scotia rate, or the new one on an old receipt. Check the date the tax became payable.
Where does sales tax fit in a budget?
Sales tax is easy to leave out of a budget because shelf prices in Canada are usually shown before tax. On a monthly shopping total, the difference between a GST-only territory and a 15% HST province adds up quickly, which is one reason newcomers comparing cities can use the newcomer budget calculator for the first months in Canada alongside this tool. For large purchases, sales tax changes the comparison: on a car lease it is charged on each payment rather than all at once, which the car lease vs buy calculator is built to compare, and the mortgage calculator shows the provincial sales tax some provinces charge on mortgage default insurance premiums, which is paid in cash at closing.
Lower-income households get part of their GST/HST back through quarterly payments, now called the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (the GST/HST credit before July 2026); the GST payment dates and CGEB schedule page lists when those deposits arrive. Buyers of a newly built home may qualify for a rebate of part of the GST/HST paid, covered in the guide to the first-time home buyer GST rebate. Sales tax is separate from income tax: for that, see the federal and provincial income tax brackets.
When is it worth talking to a professional?
This calculator is built for everyday purchases and quick checks. Businesses have more to track: whether they need to register for the GST/HST, which rate to charge on sales to other provinces, input tax credits on business purchases, and filing deadlines. The Canada Revenue Agency’s GST/HST pages and business enquiries line cover the rules, and an accountant can set up invoicing and filing correctly. Quebec businesses also deal with Revenu Québec for the QST, and businesses in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba register separately for the provincial tax. For a disputed charge on a receipt, the store’s customer service or the provincial finance ministry is the first stop.