GST/QST for Quebec small businesses: the $30,000 test, rates, filing periods and the Quick Method

A small Quebec business deals with two sales taxes at once: the 5% GST and the 9.975% QST. This guide covers the questions owners actually ask, in the order they meet them: do I have to register, from which invoice, how do I charge the taxes, when are returns due, and is the Quick Method worth it. Every threshold and date below comes from Revenu Québec's pages, checked on September 27, 2026.

The $30,000 small-supplier test, precisely

You are a small supplier as long as the taxable supplies made worldwide by you and your associates stay at or under $30,000 in a calendar quarter and over the four preceding calendar quarters. Three details change the arithmetic:

• zero-rated supplies count toward the $30,000;
• the GST and QST themselves, financial services and sales of capital property (a building or a car, for example) do not;
• associates generally means persons you control or who control you, such as your corporation.

A small supplier generally need not register or collect these taxes unless an activity-specific rule applies or it registers voluntarily. Public service bodies have separate thresholds.

From which invoice you start charging

Hypothetical examples. Amounts are before tax and the supplies are assumed taxable at ordinary Quebec rates, with no earlier threshold crossing. How the threshold is crossed determines the effective date.

• Within a single quarter. A renovation contractor bills $12,000 in April 2026, $14,000 in May and a $9,000 job in June. The June invoice takes the quarter to $35,000, so the contractor stops being a small supplier immediately: that June invoice and every later one carry GST and QST.
• Over four quarters. A graphic designer bills $6,000, $7,500, $8,000 and $9,500 in the four quarters of 2026. No single quarter reaches $30,000, but the four together reach $31,000 on December 31, 2026. The designer stops being a small supplier at the end of the following month, January 2027, so taxable supplies after that point carry both taxes.

Registering before you have to

Voluntary registration lets you claim input tax credits (ITCs, for GST) and input tax refunds (ITRs, for QST) on what you buy to make taxable supplies, which matters when your clients are businesses that recover the tax anyway. It also brings collection, returns and record-keeping obligations, and a registration must be kept for at least one year. A business carrying on a commercial activity in Quebec that registers for the QST must register for the GST/HST as well.

Some activities require registration despite low sales. Taxi services are one example; QST also has specific rules for certain tobacco, tire and vehicle sellers. Check the complete official activity list rather than relying on sales alone.

Apply for QST registration before the first taxable Quebec supply made otherwise than as a small supplier. Apply for GST registration before the 30th day after the first taxable Canadian sale made in that capacity. That administrative deadline does not postpone when collection begins.

Charging the taxes correctly

Revenu Québec expects the QST to be calculated on the selling price, not on the price plus GST:

• two steps: 5% GST on the price, then 9.975% QST on the same price;
• one step: a combined 14.975% on the price.

A cash register that cannot handle three decimals may round to 9.97% or 14.97%, but none of the rounded or combined rates may appear on the receipt. Only fractions of half a cent or more round up to the next cent.

Your filing frequency and return deadlines

These general rules use expected annual taxable Canadian sales, including associates. Charities and garment manufacturers have special rules; confirm the assigned frequency for the actual account.

• $1,500,000 or less: annual (with or without instalments); you may elect monthly or quarterly.
• Over $1,500,000 and up to $6,000,000: quarterly; you may elect monthly.
• Over $6,000,000: monthly, with no election.

A change of frequency is requested on form FP-2620-V and normally stays in place for at least a year.

Returns are due one month after the end of a monthly or quarterly period and, as a rule, three months after the end of an annual period. The exception most sole proprietors fall under: an individual with business income excluding property income, an annual frequency and a December 31 fiscal year files by June 15 of the following year but must remit any GST and QST owing by April 30. Annual filers who are required to pay instalments pay them on the last day of the month following each quarter of the fiscal year.

For reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2024, every registrant other than a charity must file electronically: in My Account for businesses or My Account for individuals, through the express service with a clicSÉQUR express code, or through a financial institution that accepts the return with the payment.

The Quick Method: who qualifies and what changes

The Quick Method replaces the tracking of tax paid on most purchases with a flat remittance percentage.

• Eligibility: annual worldwide taxable sales (including zero-rated sales and associates' sales), for any four consecutive fiscal quarters within the last five, of no more than $400,000 including GST and HST, and $418,952 including QST. Exclude exempt supplies, financial services, real/capital property and goodwill from the eligibility total.
• Excluded: among others, firms providing legal, accounting or actuarial services, tax or financial consulting, bookkeeping, or tax-return preparation.
• How it works: collect at the ordinary rates, then apply the remittance rate to separate eligible bases: GST-inclusive sales for GST and QST-inclusive sales for QST. Exclude zero-rated and specified capital sales from that base, even though zero-rated sales count toward eligibility.
• What you give up: ITCs and ITRs on most operating expenses. You can still claim them on property that qualifies for capital cost allowance, such as a vehicle or office furniture.
• The catch: the tax you collect but do not remit is income for income-tax purposes.

The 1.8% GST/3.4% QST rates require qualifying purchases for resale or incorporation in goods for sale to cost at least 40% of annual taxable sales, excluding basic groceries and purchases on which tax is not required. Other eligible businesses supplying mostly services generally use 3.6%/6.6%. The 1% reduction requires the method from the fiscal year's first day or registration date; annual caps are $30,000 GST-inclusive and $31,421 QST-inclusive eligible sales.

Elect using FP-2074-V, effective on a reporting period’s first day. Monthly/quarterly filers elect by that period’s return deadline; annual filers by the first day of the second fiscal quarter. The election normally lasts at least a year. Compare your purchase profile: savings are not guaranteed.

Set up your records on day one

Under the regular method, separate collected taxes and recoverable input taxes from sales and eligible expenses. The Quick Method needs different adjustments, including retained tax in income. Non-recoverable purchase tax is not an ITC or ITR. Keep supporting invoices: CRA’s general rule is six years from the last relevant year, with longer requirements in some situations and for unfiled GST/HST periods.

Checklist

1. Track sales by calendar quarter, including your associates' sales, so you see the $30,000 crossing coming.
2. Identify the loss-of-small-supplier date, when collection begins and each tax’s registration deadline; update invoices for that effective date.
3. Check your assigned frequency on the confirmation of registration and diarize the matching deadlines.
4. If you meet both Quick Method eligibility tests and your activity is not excluded, compare it with regular accounting before electing.

To see how sales taxes interact with your income-tax return, read our self-employed tax guide for Quebec; for help with registration or late periods, see GST/QST registration and filing support.

General information for Quebec businesses, not advice on your particular situation.

General information only; this guide does not constitute personalized tax advice.