Quebec GST/QST Guide

Quebec has Canada's most complex sales tax system: 5% federal GST plus 9.975% Quebec Sales Tax (QST or TVQ), for a combined rate of 14.975%. Unlike other provinces, Revenu Québec administers both the GST and QST. Businesses file separate returns for GST (ITCs) and QST (ITRs), requiring dual compliance.

Montreal builds more aircraft, trains more AI researchers, and ships more video games than any other city in Canada — and every one of those industries sells into a tax system found nowhere else in the country. Quebec is the only province where the provincial government, not the Canada Revenue Agency, administers the federal Goods and Services Tax. Revenu Québec runs both the 5% GST and the 9.975% Quebec Sales Tax (QST, or TVQ in French) out of the same office, under the same registration, through the same portal. Nowhere else in Canada does a single provincial authority hold the keys to a federal tax.

That dual administration is easy to mistake for Harmonized Sales Tax, but Quebec has never harmonized. GST and QST are two separate taxes, each calculated on the pre-tax selling price — QST is not layered on top of a GST-inclusive amount, and the two are not blended into one rate the way HST is in Ontario or Nova Scotia. Add 5% GST to 9.975% QST and a $100 sale carries $14.98 in tax ($5.00 GST plus $9.98 QST) for a total of $114.98, which is also expressed as a combined rate of 14.975%.

This guide covers how the GST-plus-QST model actually works, how to register for both taxes at once with Revenu Québec, how filing and payment flow through the combined return, and how businesses in Montreal, Quebec City, Laval, Gatineau, Longueuil, and Sherbrooke recover the tax they pay on inputs — a process split, uniquely, between Input Tax Credits and Input Tax Refunds.

Single combined return via Revenu Québec (TPZ-101). Monthly (> $12K tax), Quarterly ($3K–$12K), Annual (< $3K). Payments to Revenu Québec.

CRA assigns GST/HST filing frequency based on your annual taxable sales. Enter your estimated annual taxable sales below to see your required filing frequency.

Quebec is frequently lumped in with the Atlantic provinces and Ontario as a 'high combined-rate' jurisdiction, but the mechanics are fundamentally different. HST is a single harmonized value-added tax collected under one rate and one statute. Quebec's system is two distinct taxes — the federal GST and the provincial QST — that happen to be administered by the same authority and reported on the same combined return.

The reason this distinction matters is calculation and compliance. Both GST (5%) and QST (9.975%) are computed independently on the same pre-tax base price. QST is not calculated on a GST-inclusive figure, so there is no tax-on-tax effect in the current system. A $100 sale generates $5.00 of GST and $9.98 of QST — both drawn from the same $100 base — for $14.98 total tax and a $114.98 final price. Expressed as a single figure, that is a combined rate of 14.975%, but it is arithmetically two separate calculations added together, not one blended rate.

Revenu Québec is what makes this workable for businesses. Rather than registering with the CRA for GST and a separate provincial body for QST, Quebec businesses complete one registration and file one combined return — form FPZ-500 — covering both taxes for the same reporting period. That single-window approach is unique among the provinces and is the reason Quebec's system, while more complex in its math, is not more complex in its paperwork than a two-authority alternative would be.

• HST provinces: one tax, one rate, one CRA-administered return
• Quebec: two taxes (GST + QST), each computed on the base price, one Revenu Québec-administered combined return
• GST and QST are never compounded on each other under the current (post-2013) calculation method
• Quebec is the only province where a provincial tax authority — not the CRA — administers the federal GST

Because Revenu Québec handles both taxes, registration is a single process rather than two separate applications. A business becomes required to register once its worldwide taxable supplies exceed $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters — the same threshold that applies federally, applied here to both GST and QST at once. Businesses below that threshold are small suppliers and may register voluntarily to start recovering tax on their purchases.

Registration is completed on form LM-1, Application for Registration, submitted to Revenu Québec either on paper or, more commonly, through the Clic Revenu online portal. One LM-1 submission establishes both a GST account and a QST account simultaneously — there is no need to file a second application with a separate agency, which is the practical benefit of Quebec's single-administrator model.

In practice, registration follows a consistent sequence: confirm the business has crossed (or intends to voluntarily pass) the $30,000 threshold; gather basic business identification, ownership, and estimated revenue details; complete the LM-1 through Clic Revenu; and receive registration numbers covering both GST and QST that appear on every invoice going forward. Once registered, the business must charge both taxes on taxable supplies starting from the effective registration date, even if that date falls in the middle of a reporting period.

• Confirm the $30,000 threshold has been met or will be voluntarily exceeded
• Gather business identification, structure, and estimated revenue information
• File form LM-1 through Clic Revenu (or by paper)
• Receive combined GST and QST registration numbers from Revenu Québec
• Begin charging both taxes and issuing compliant invoices

Revenu Québec assigns each registrant a filing frequency — monthly, quarterly, or annual — based on the business's level of annual taxable supplies, in the same way the CRA assigns frequencies elsewhere in Canada. Whatever frequency is assigned applies to both taxes together, since GST and QST are reported on the same document rather than on two separate schedules.

That document is the combined return, form FPZ-500, filed through Clic Revenu. A single submission reports GST collected, QST collected, GST recoverable, and QST recoverable for the period, and nets out to a single amount owing or refundable to the business. This is a meaningful simplification compared to jurisdictions with genuinely separate provincial and federal filings — Quebec businesses deal with one return, one due date, and one payment, even though two distinct taxes sit inside it.

Payment is made directly to Revenu Québec, again through Clic Revenu or the authority's other approved payment channels, rather than to the CRA. Businesses that fall behind on registration, filing, or remittance deal exclusively with Revenu Québec for both the federal and provincial components — there is no scenario in Quebec where a business owes GST to the CRA and QST to a separate provincial office.

Quebec is one of the recoverable-tax provinces: registered businesses can claim back the tax they pay on eligible business inputs, in full, rather than absorbing it as a cost. What sets Quebec apart is that recovery is split into two named mechanisms rather than one. The GST paid on business purchases is recovered through Input Tax Credits (ITCs) — the same term used everywhere in Canada. The QST paid on the same purchases is recovered through Input Tax Refunds (ITRs) — a QST-specific term that exists only in Quebec.

The two mechanisms cover the same transactions and the same eligibility rules in practice — a purchase used in commercial activity generates both an ITC for its GST component and an ITR for its QST component — but they are tracked and claimed as distinct line items on the combined FPZ-500 return. A business cannot describe QST recovery as an 'ITC'; the correct term, and the one Revenu Québec expects on the return, is ITR.

A concrete example makes the split clear. A Quebec business buys $10,000 of equipment for its commercial operations. GST on that purchase is $500.00 (5% of $10,000), and QST is $997.50 (9.975% of $10,000), for total tax of $1,497.50 and a full purchase price of $11,497.50. On its next combined return, the business claims the $500.00 as an ITC and the $997.50 as an ITR — two separate recovery amounts, both fully refundable against tax collected, both reported on the same FPZ-500.

Quebec runs its own specified QST registration system for suppliers with no physical presence in the province, running in parallel with the federal digital economy rules the CRA applies for GST. Non-resident vendors selling digital products or services — software, streaming, apps, e-books, subscriptions — to consumers in Quebec must register under this specified system and begin collecting QST once their revenue from Quebec consumers exceeds $30,000, the same threshold used for ordinary GST/QST registration.

The rules extend to platform operators, not just the underlying vendor. Digital platform operators, accommodation platforms, and distribution platforms that facilitate sales into Quebec are treated as the party responsible for collecting and remitting QST on those transactions, even when the actual seller is a third party using the platform. As of 2025, these digital economy QST measures are fully enforced, meaning Quebec actively expects registration and collection compliance from foreign SaaS companies, streaming services, e-commerce marketplaces, and short-term rental platforms serving Quebec customers.

This creates a genuinely dual compliance obligation for large non-resident platforms: they may already be registered for GST collection nationally under the federal digital economy rules, but they still need a separate specified QST registration with Revenu Québec specifically to collect the 9.975% provincial component on Quebec sales.

• Non-resident digital product/service suppliers: register once Quebec consumer revenue exceeds $30,000
• Digital platform operators: deemed responsible for collecting QST on facilitated sales
• Accommodation platforms: covered under the same specified QST framework
• Distribution platforms: same $30,000 registration threshold applies

QST is a Quebec-specific tax, and Quebec businesses do not charge it on every sale by default — the applicable tax follows the customer's location, not the seller's. A Quebec-based business shipping goods to a customer in Ontario generally charges Ontario's HST, not Quebec's GST and QST; a sale to a customer in Alberta generally carries only the 5% GST. QST is charged when the place of supply rules point to Quebec as the destination of the sale, which is typically the case for Quebec-resident customers and goods delivered within the province.

Sales exported outside Canada entirely are zero-rated for both GST and QST — no tax is charged, but the seller can still recover GST and QST paid on the inputs used to produce that export through ITCs and ITRs. This zero-rating is a significant advantage for Quebec's export-heavy sectors, where a large share of output leaves the province or the country entirely.

Getting the place-of-supply call wrong in either direction creates problems: charging QST on an out-of-province sale overcharges the customer and complicates their own recovery, while failing to charge the destination province's tax under-collects and leaves the seller liable for the shortfall. Businesses selling across provincial lines from a Quebec base need billing systems that apply the destination's tax rules, not a blanket Quebec rate.

These official resources provide authoritative information on sales tax rules, registration, and compliance in Quebec.