Introduction
The HST Calculator helps you figure out how much tax you owe on a purchase in any Canadian province or territory. This tool adds HST, GST, or PST to a price, or works backward to find the pre-tax amount from a total you already paid. Just enter your dollar amount, pick your province, and get a clear breakdown of every tax applied. If you're looking specifically for a GST-only calculation, our GST Calculator is another helpful option.
If you run a small business, the Business / Quick Method tab lets you enter sales across multiple provinces at once. It builds a full tax report and estimates your remittance using the CRA Quick Method. This is useful for business owners who collect tax in more than one province and want a fast way to see what they owe at filing time.
All Canadian tax rates are built in and kept up to date, including HST provinces like Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, GST+PST provinces like British Columbia and Quebec, and GST-only territories like Yukon and Nunavut. No sign-up is needed, and results appear right away.
How to Use Our HST Calculator
Enter a dollar amount and pick your province to see how much tax you owe or how much tax is already included in your total. The calculator shows a full breakdown of GST, PST, and HST instantly.
Simple HST Calculator
Calculation Direction: Choose "Before Tax" if you have a price without tax and want to add it. Choose "After Tax" if you have a total with tax and want to find the original price. If you need to reverse-engineer tax from a total in other contexts, you might also find our Reverse Tax Calculator useful.
Enter Amount: Type the dollar amount you want to calculate tax on. This can be any price or total.
Province / Territory: Pick the Canadian province or territory where the purchase is made. Each province has different tax rates, and the calculator will use the correct one.
Business / Quick Method Calculator
Province-by-Province Sales: Enter your pre-tax sales for each province where you made sales. Leave a province blank if you had no sales there.
Use Quick Method: Turn this on if your business uses the CRA Quick Method of accounting. Turn it off to see the full tax amount collected.
Quick Method Remittance Rate: Enter the remittance rate that applies to your business. A typical rate for service businesses in an HST province is 8.8%.
1% Credit Eligible Sales: Enter the amount of sales eligible for the 1% Quick Method credit. The CRA allows this credit on the first $30,000 of eligible sales.
Press Calculate to see your results. Press Reset to clear all fields and start over.
What Is HST and How Does It Work in Canada?
HST stands for Harmonized Sales Tax. It is a tax that combines two smaller taxes into one: the federal GST (Goods and Services Tax) and the provincial PST (Provincial Sales Tax). Not every province uses HST. Some provinces, like Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, charge a single HST rate. Others, like British Columbia and Quebec, keep GST and PST separate. A few provinces, like Alberta, only charge the 5% GST and have no provincial sales tax at all.
The HST rate changes depending on which province you are in. For example, Ontario charges 13% HST, while Nova Scotia charges 15%. When GST and PST are charged separately, you pay each tax on the price of the item before tax. The total tax you pay depends on where the sale happens, not where you live.
Who Pays HST?
Almost everyone pays HST or GST/PST when they buy goods or services in Canada. There are a few things that are tax-free or taxed at a lower rate, like basic groceries, prescription medicine, and some children's clothing. But most items you buy in a store or online include sales tax on top of the listed price. Understanding how much of your total goes to tax can also help when budgeting your overall spending.
HST for Businesses
If you run a business in Canada and earn more than $30,000 per year, you must register for a GST/HST account with the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency). You collect tax from your customers and send it to the government. The Quick Method is a simpler way for small businesses to calculate how much tax to send. Instead of tracking every dollar of tax paid and collected, you multiply your total sales (including tax) by a flat remittance rate. This saves time and paperwork. The first $30,000 in eligible sales also gets a small 1% credit.
Current Canadian Sales Tax Rates by Province
- Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut: 5% GST only
- British Columbia: 5% GST + 7% PST = 12%
- Manitoba: 5% GST + 7% PST = 12%
- Saskatchewan: 5% GST + 6% PST = 11%
- Quebec: 5% GST + 9.975% QST = 14.975%
- Ontario: 13% HST
- New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island: 15% HST
- Nova Scotia: 14% HST
Use the calculator above to find the exact tax on any amount. You can calculate tax forward (add tax to a price) or backward (find the pre-tax price from a total). The business tab lets you enter sales from multiple provinces at once and estimate your tax remittance using the Quick Method.