How Canada's sales tax actually splits up
Every taxable sale in Canada carries the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST) at 5%, and on top of that, most provinces and territories add their own tax. That provincial layer shows up in one of three shapes: five provinces — Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island — have harmonized their provincial tax with the federal GST into a single Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), collected and administered by the CRA as one line on the receipt. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba instead run their own separate Provincial Sales Tax (PST) or, in Manitoba's case, Retail Sales Tax (RST) — a second tax charged alongside GST, not blended into it. Quebec goes a step further with its own Quebec Sales Tax (QST), administered entirely by the provincial agency Revenu Québec rather than the CRA. And four jurisdictions — Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon — charge no provincial or territorial sales tax at all, so only the 5% GST applies there.
Whichever shape a province uses, the arithmetic for the shopper works out the same: every tax component is calculated on the same pre-tax price and added together — nothing is ever calculated on top of another tax. An HST rate is simply a province's decision to pre-add its own rate to GST and collect the sum as one number instead of two.
The formula
Adding tax to a pre-tax price is one multiplication:
e.g. Ontario (13% HST): Total = Price × 1.13
Where a province charges GST and a separate PST/RST/QST, each is worked out independently on the same pre-tax price and then summed — never compounded on top of each other:
PST (or RST/QST) = Price × provincial rate
Total = Price + GST + PST
Reversing the calculation — recovering the pre-tax price from a total that already includes tax — just runs the first formula backwards:
Tax amount = Total − Pre-tax price
The divisor is simply 1 plus whatever combined rate applies: 1.05 in the four GST-only jurisdictions, 1.11 in Saskatchewan, 1.12 in British Columbia and Manitoba, 1.13 in Ontario, 1.14 in Nova Scotia, 1.14975 in Quebec, and 1.15 in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and PEI.
Worked example — a $250 purchase, three ways
Take the same $250 pre-tax price and run it through three different tax systems to see exactly how the pieces differ.
- Ontario (HST, 13%): Total = $250 × 1.13 = $282.50. The receipt shows one $32.50 HST line — there is no separate GST or provincial figure to see.
- Saskatchewan (GST + PST): GST = $250 × 5% = $12.50. PST = $250 × 6% = $15.00, calculated on the same $250, not on $262.50. Total = $250 + $12.50 + $15.00 = $277.50, shown as two separate tax lines.
- Quebec (GST + QST): GST = $250 × 5% = $12.50. QST = $250 × 9.975% = $24.9375, rounded to $24.94, also calculated on the pre-tax $250. Total = $250 + $12.50 + $24.94 = $287.44.
Reverse case: someone hands you a receipt totalling $282.50 from that same Ontario purchase, with no other detail. Pre-tax price = $282.50 ÷ 1.13 = $250.00, and the HST portion is $282.50 − $250.00 = $32.50 — exactly what this calculator's reverse mode returns for Ontario.
GST, HST and PST/RST/QST rates by province and territory (2026)
Every rate below is the standard consumer rate applied to a typical taxable sale. A jurisdiction using HST shows its GST and provincial shares as the two components that were pre-blended into that single rate, not as separate lines a receipt would show.
| Province / territory | GST | Provincial component | Combined rate | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | 5% | — | 5.0% | canada.ca, Apr 2026 |
| British Columbia | 5% | 7% PST | 12.0% | gov.bc.ca, Jul 2026 |
| Manitoba | 5% | 7% RST | 12.0% | gov.mb.ca, read Sep 2026 |
| New Brunswick | 5% (in HST) | 10% (in HST) | 15.0% | canada.ca, Apr 2026 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 5% (in HST) | 10% (in HST) | 15.0% | canada.ca, Apr 2026 |
| Northwest Territories | 5% | — | 5.0% | canada.ca, Apr 2026 |
| Nova Scotia | 5% (in HST) | 9% (in HST) | 14.0% | NS Gov't, Oct 2024, eff. Apr 2025 |
| Nunavut | 5% | — | 5.0% | canada.ca, Apr 2026 |
| Ontario | 5% (in HST) | 8% (in HST) | 13.0% | canada.ca, Apr 2026 |
| Prince Edward Island | 5% (in HST) | 10% (in HST) | 15.0% | canada.ca, Apr 2026 |
| Quebec | 5% | 9.975% QST | 14.975% | Revenu Québec*, Sep 2026 |
| Saskatchewan | 5% | 6% PST | 11.0% | saskatchewan.ca*, Sep 2026 |
| Yukon | 5% | — | 5.0% | canada.ca, Apr 2026 |
* Revenu Québec's and Saskatchewan's own pages blocked automated verification in the research session behind this page (HTTP 403); both rates were instead confirmed via search-engine snippets quoting those official pages, and are well-established, widely-corroborated figures — see the audit trail below for the full caveat.
Nova Scotia's HST cut, and British Columbia's 2026 PST expansion
Nova Scotia cut its provincial HST share from 10% to 9% — dropping the province's combined rate from 15% to 14% — effective April 1, 2025, so the lower rate has applied for the whole of 2026. British Columbia is moving in the opposite direction for a narrow slice of the economy: starting October 1, 2026, its 7% PST extends to specific professional services — accounting, bookkeeping and assurance; architectural, engineering and geoscience services (charged on only 30% of the price for that group); security services; and some non-residential real estate services such as property and strata management. This calculator applies BC's general 7% PST rate that covers ordinary retail goods and services; it does not attempt to model that narrower, service-specific expansion.
Point-of-sale rebates and what isn't taxed at all
A published rate isn't the whole story at the till. Some goods and services are zero-rated or exempt from GST/HST entirely, and five of the HST provinces — Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island — rebate the provincial portion of HST automatically at the register on qualifying children's clothing and footwear and on printed books (Ontario and Nova Scotia also rebate it on diapers, and Ontario on car seats and booster seats). None of that is modelled here: this calculator answers "what does this jurisdiction's standard rate come to on this amount", not "what will this specific item actually ring up as".
FAQ
Are GST and PST, RST or QST calculated on top of each other, or added separately?
Neither is compounded. GST and any provincial PST, RST or QST are each calculated independently on the same pre-tax price, then added together — no tax is ever charged on top of another tax. For example, a $100 sale in Quebec: GST is $100 × 5% = $5.00, and QST is calculated on that same pre-tax $100, not on $105, giving $100 × 9.975% = $9.98, for a total of $114.98. The five HST provinces skip this step because the federal and provincial portions are pre-blended into a single harmonized rate charged as one line.
What is the actual difference between HST and paying GST plus PST separately?
In Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, the federal government collects one blended Harmonized Sales Tax that already contains the province's share — Ontario's 13% HST, for instance, is 5% federal plus 8% provincial charged as a single tax. In British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Quebec, GST and the province's own sales tax are two separate taxes — Quebec's QST is even administered by a separate agency, Revenu Québec, rather than the CRA. The total a shopper pays works out the same either way, but a receipt in an HST province shows one tax line and a receipt in a GST-plus-PST province shows two.
Why do Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon only charge 5% sales tax?
These are the only four jurisdictions in Canada with no territorial or provincial sales tax at all, so the 5% federal GST is the only sales tax that applies — the lowest combined rate anywhere in the country. Every other province and territory adds its own tax, whether harmonized into an HST or charged separately as PST, RST or QST.
How does the reverse calculation work if I only know the tax-included total?
Divide the total by one plus the combined tax rate to get the pre-tax price, then subtract that from the total to get the tax amount: pre-tax price = total ÷ (1 + combined rate). For a $113 total in Ontario, where the combined HST rate is 13%, the pre-tax price is $113 ÷ 1.13 = $100.00, and the tax portion is $13.00. This calculator's reverse mode does exactly this for whichever province or territory you pick.
Does this calculator account for British Columbia's 2026 PST changes?
No — from October 1, 2026, BC extends its 7% PST to specific professional services (accounting, architectural, engineering, geoscience, security, and some non-residential real-estate services), with a reduced 30% base for the architectural, engineering and geoscience categories. This calculator applies BC's general 7% PST rate used for ordinary retail goods and services; it does not model that industry-specific expansion.
Does this calculator know about GST/HST exemptions or point-of-sale rebates?
No. Some goods and services are zero-rated or exempt from GST/HST entirely, and Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island rebate the provincial portion of HST at the register on qualifying children's clothing, footwear, diapers and books (plus car seats and booster seats in Ontario specifically). This calculator applies each province or territory's standard rate to whatever amount you enter — it has no idea what you're buying, so treat it as the standard-rate case, not a guarantee for every product.
This page is general information based on published 2026 federal and provincial sales tax rates, not tax or financial advice. If a specific item's tax treatment matters to you, check with the retailer or a licensed accountant.