Here two sales taxes coexist: a federal one and a provincial one, each with its own registration and its own returns. It is administrative, and it decides what you invoice.
The point where everything is decided: the invoice
That is the document making it all concrete, and it must be exact.
A compliant invoice carries your registration numbers, the ones matching the taxes you charge, along with the amount of each tax presented separately.
Two errors come back. The first is stating a global amount without detailing the taxes, which prevents the client from recovering what they are entitled to. The second is charging a tax without being registered, which is not a simplification but an irregularity.
The client's location changes the calculation
That is the most misunderstood rule, and the most frequent in practice.
A client established here, a client in another province and a client abroad do not fall under the same treatment. For a creator working largely at a distance, that means two identical jobs can be invoiced differently.
Three elements to obtain before issuing: the client's place of establishment, their status, and their registration numbers where they exist.
The applicable rules depend on your situation, on the nature of the service and on the client, and are checked with the administration or with an accountant, never on a colleague's example.
What that changes in your organisation
Four habits are enough, and they are set up in a day.
A single file where every job carries the client's name, their province, their status, the amount invoiced and the corresponding taxes.
Continuous invoice numbering, with no gap and no duplicate.
A calendar of returns, with the deadlines marked, including for periods with no income.
And keeping the documents for the required period, including quotes and proofs of payment.
Thresholds and registrations
That is what to check before, not after.
The obligation to register depends on revenue thresholds, and voluntary registration is sometimes possible before reaching them.
Two points matter as much as the threshold itself: the date from which the obligation takes effect, and the treatment of invoices already issued before registration.
There is also a local particularity: the provincial administration also handles, in certain cases, the application of the federal tax. That simplifies the process and changes who you deal with.
These elements are checked with the competent administration or with an accountant, before the first significant invoice.
What is tracked from the first invoice
| Item | Why track it | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| The amount invoiced over twelve months | It determines the obligations | Every month |
| Taxes charged and paid | They are reported separately | At each transaction |
| Expense records | They open entitlements | At each purchase |
What is set up in one evening
A dedicated account, a five-column table and one folder per quarter. Nothing more is needed in the first year, and it is enough to pass a review.
What to ask a professional
The registration threshold, the applicable rates, the deadlines and the treatment of clients outside the province, to be confirmed with an accountant.
The reflex that simplifies everything
Just one, and it holds for the whole life of the business.
The taxes you collect are not your money. They pass through your account and leave again.
So move them out of the current account as soon as they are received, into a second account, and do not look at them until the return.
The creators who run into trouble are almost never those who invoice least: they are those who spent a sum that did not belong to them, and who have to rebuild it at the worst moment of the year.
Sources
Checked on 27 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.
