HST
CRA offers many payment options.
For all payments, indicate your 15 digit HST number (ending RT0001, in most cases) and the period it applies to (year or quarter).
If paying by cheque, make your cheque payable to “Receiver General of Canada” and send it to:
Canada Revenue Agency
PO Box 3800 STN A
Sudbury ON P3A 0C3
If you are running a short-term residential operation (less than 1-month stays, such as AirBnB) then you are required to charge HST if the revenues are over $30,000. If you already have an HST number, say for an existing business, you must charge HST on short-term rentals, even if the revenues are less than $30,000.
If you report over $30,000 of self-employment earnings (before expenses) and do not register, CRA may assign you a business number retroactively, and you will be responsible to pay back GST/HST taxes to the time the number was activated.
Unless you have over $1.5 million in sales, we recommend registering as an annual filer (as opposed to a quarterly filer) – this will save you administrative work and accounting fees.
You will receive your HST number in about business 10 days.
Note: If you owe over $3,000 in HST for the year, you must make instalments quarterly or monthly. If you do not, CRA will charge you interest on the balance owing.
Individuals with business income – June 15th
Corporate annual filers – three months after the fiscal year end
Monthly and quarterly filers – one month after the end of the reporting period
If the due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline is extended until the subsequent Monday.
Annual filers who owe at least $3000 in GST/HST must remit quarterly instalments; otherwise, CRA will charge instalment interest based on he expected quarterly payment due dates.
We recommend you keep track of how much GST/HST you collect during the year, so that you have an accurate record when you file your GST/HST return.
If our office is preparing your HST return, we can calculate the amount of GST/HST you paid on your expenses, provided your expenses were all incurred in one province. (If outside of Ontario, please indicate which province.)
However, if you worked out of province or outside Canada, you should track those expenses separately.
When your HST return is prepared, your input tax credits (aka the HST you paid on business expenses) will be calculated and will often reduce (or even eliminate) the final instalment owing.
If our office is preparing your GST/HST return, please indicate the amount of the HST instalments you paid during the year.
Attach your remittance voucher, or else clearly mark on the cheque your legal business name, 15 digit business number (ending RT0001, in most cases) and the period it applies to (year or quarter).
Paying quarterly instalments means you send in money to CRA 4 times during the year, but only file an HST return annually. If you owe $3,000 of HST in a given year (HST collected exceeds HST paid out by over $3,000) then you must make quarterly instalments of HST.
Unless you have over $1.5 million in sales, we recommend registering as an annual filer (as opposed to a quarterly filer) – this will save you administrative work and accounting fees.
The quick method can be beneficial in cases where minimal business expenses are incurred.
If you would like to use the quick method, you must register as a quick method filer with CRA, and must meet certain criteria in order to qualify.
You can cancel an HST number by phoning CRA’s business inquiries line at 1-800-959-5525, or by completing form RC145 and mailing it to CRA. Once you cancel your number, you will be required to file one final HST return.
Business numbers cannot be cancelled online.
Note that you may not cancel your number if your sales are over $30,000.