GST/HST Filing Deadlines and Penalties (2026)
How the CRA assigns your GST/HST filing frequency, how to change it with Form GST20, every 2026 deadline, and the penalty formula most sites get wrong.
EveryLastMile
Two things about GST/HST filing catch self-employed people out, and neither is the deadline itself.
The first: you can change how often you file, but only in one direction. The CRA assigns you a reporting period based on your revenue, and you may elect to file more often than assigned — never less. The election has a deadline, and that deadline is different depending on which way you’re moving.
The second: the GST/HST late-filing penalty is not the 5%-plus-1% formula you’ve read about. That’s the income tax penalty. GST/HST uses a different one, and it’s much smaller — 1% plus a quarter of a percent per month. Several sites currently state the wrong one, which either frightens people unnecessarily or, worse, makes them budget for the wrong number.
This guide covers both, plus every filing and payment deadline by reporting period, instalments for annual filers, the Quick Method, and how Quebec differs.
Key takeaways
- The CRA assigns your reporting period by revenue: $1.5M or less → annual; $1.5M–$6M → quarterly; over $6M → monthly. You may elect to file more often, never less.
- Change frequency with Form GST20 or through My Business Account. The election takes effect on the first day of a fiscal year — and the deadline is three months after the year starts if you’re moving to annual filing, two months after the effective date otherwise.
- Monthly and quarterly filers: file and pay one month after the period ends.
- Annual filers who are individuals with business income and a December 31 year end: file by June 15, pay by April 30 — the same split as your T1.
- The late-filing penalty is 1% of the amount owing plus 0.25% per complete month, to 12 months. Maximum 4%. No penalty if you owe nothing.
- Annual filers whose prior-year net tax was $3,000 or more must pay quarterly instalments.
Filing requirements in brief
You must register for GST/HST once your worldwide taxable revenue exceeds $30,000 — immediately if you cross it in a single calendar quarter (register within 29 days), or from the end of the month following the quarter if you cross it cumulatively over four consecutive quarters. Our T2125 vehicle expenses guide covers the registration mechanics and the input tax credit rules for vehicles.
Once registered, one rule governs everything else: you must file a return for every reporting period, whether or not you had any activity. A nil return is still a return. Missing it can trigger a demand to file and a $250 penalty on a return that showed zero.
Electronic filing is now mandatory for nearly all registrants. For reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2024, the CRA removed the previous $1.5 million threshold, so all registrants except charities and selected listed financial institutions must file electronically. Payments of $10,000 or more must also be made electronically.
How the CRA assigns your filing frequency
Your reporting period is determined by a figure the CRA calls your threshold amount.
| Threshold amount | Assigned period | You may elect instead |
|---|---|---|
| $1,500,000 or less | Annual | Quarterly or monthly |
| More than $1,500,000, up to $6,000,000 | Quarterly | Monthly |
| More than $6,000,000 | Monthly | — |
Charities may use any option regardless of revenue.
What the threshold amount actually measures
It’s not your gross sales, and it’s not the same test as the $30,000 registration threshold.
The threshold amount is based on the immediately preceding fiscal year’s total taxable sales and revenue, excluding:
- GST/HST and provincial sales tax you collected
- Revenue from goodwill
- Financial services
- Sales of capital real property
- Zero-rated exports
- Supplies made outside Canada
Then annualised: (total taxable sales and revenue − exclusions) ÷ days in the fiscal year × 365.
Critically, the calculation includes your associates — you sum each associate’s threshold amount with your own. A business that looks comfortably under $1.5M on its own can be assigned quarterly filing because of an associated company.
Three different thresholds appear in GST/HST and they measure different things. Worth keeping straight:
| Threshold | What it tests | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | Whether you must register | Worldwide taxable supplies |
| $1.5M / $6M | Your assigned filing frequency | Canadian taxable supplies, annualised, incl. associates |
| $400,000 | Quick Method eligibility | Worldwide, including GST/HST |
If you cross a threshold
The assigned period changes for the following fiscal year, driven by the annualised prior-year figure — not by an intra-year sales spike.
Dropping back below a threshold does not automatically return you to the less frequent period. If your revenue falls and you want to go back to annual filing, you have to elect.
How to change your GST/HST filing frequency
This is the part worth reading closely, because the deadline rule is asymmetric and the market states it loosely.
Two ways to file the election
- Form GST20, Election for GST/HST Reporting Period — uploaded as a PDF, or
- The “File an election” web form in My Business Account or Represent a Client.
Listed financial institutions use Form RC7220 instead.
The effective date
The election must take effect on the first day of a fiscal year. You cannot switch mid-year.
And the CRA will not accept an election if you have already filed returns for that fiscal period. Decide before you file, not after.
The deadline depends on which way you’re going
| Situation | Deadline to file the election |
|---|---|
| Changing from quarterly to annual filing | Three months after the beginning of the fiscal year in which the election takes effect |
| New registrant, election effective on the registration date | On or before the effective date of registration |
| All other cases — including moving to more frequent filing | Two months after the day the election takes effect |
For a calendar-year business: moving to annual filing for 2027 means electing by March 31, 2027. Moving from annual to quarterly for 2027 means electing by March 1, 2027.
An extra month, in the one direction where you’d expect less urgency. Note it and diarise it.
Which frequency should you choose?
The trade-off is cash flow against administration.
File more often if you’re routinely in a refund position. If your input tax credits regularly exceed the tax you collect — because you’re buying inventory, importing, exporting, or making large capital purchases — annual filing means lending the CRA money for up to a year. Quarterly or monthly filing gets it back sooner.
File annually if you’re routinely in a payable position. You hold the money through the year rather than remitting it quarterly. But watch the instalment rule below, which claws much of that benefit back once your net tax reaches $3,000.
For most self-employed service providers with modest expenses — consultants, tradespeople, agents, gig drivers — annual filing is assigned, and it’s usually the right answer. The admin saving is real and the cash-flow cost is small.
Filing and payment deadlines
| Reporting period | Filing deadline | Payment deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | One month after period end | One month after period end |
| Quarterly | One month after period end | One month after period end |
| Annual — individual with business income, Dec 31 year end | June 15 | April 30 |
| Annual — all others | Three months after fiscal year end | Three months after fiscal year end |
| Annual — listed financial institution | Six months after year end | Six months after year end |
The June 15 / April 30 split, again
If you’re an individual with business income and a December 31 fiscal year end, your GST/HST return follows the same split as your T1: file by June 15, pay by April 30.
All three conditions have to hold. A corporation doesn’t get it. Nor does an individual with a non-December year end.
And the same trap applies as on the income tax side: interest runs from May 1 even though your return isn’t late until June 16. If you owe, pay by April 30 regardless of when you intend to file. Our self-employed tax deadlines guide works through what that gap costs.
The weekend rule
Where a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a public holiday the CRA recognises, your return or payment is on time if the CRA receives it — or it’s postmarked — on or before the next business day.
2026 and 2027 calendar
Quarterly filers (calendar-year quarters):
| Period | Due |
|---|---|
| Oct–Dec 2025 | February 2, 2026 (Jan 31 is a Saturday) |
| Jan–Mar 2026 | April 30, 2026 |
| Apr–Jun 2026 | July 31, 2026 |
| Jul–Sep 2026 | November 2, 2026 (Oct 31 is a Saturday) |
| Oct–Dec 2026 | February 1, 2027 (Jan 31 is a Sunday) |
| Jan–Mar 2027 | April 30, 2027 |
| Apr–Jun 2027 | August 3, 2027 |
| Jul–Sep 2027 | November 1, 2027 (Oct 31 is a Sunday) |
Monthly filers: the last day of the following month, with the same roll-forward.
Annual filers, December 31 year end:
| 2025 fiscal year | 2026 fiscal year | |
|---|---|---|
| Individual with business income | Pay April 30, 2026, file June 15, 2026 | Pay April 30, 2027, file June 15, 2027 |
| Corporation or non-Dec-31 individual | File and pay March 31, 2026 | File and pay March 31, 2027 |
Corporate GST filing deadline
Corporations follow the general annual rule: file and pay three months after the fiscal year end. The June 15 / April 30 split is available only to individuals with business income, so an incorporated business never gets it.
A corporation with a June 30 year end filing annually is due September 30. Monthly and quarterly corporate filers follow the one-month rule identically to unincorporated registrants.
Most one-person corporations are assigned annual filing by default and must remit quarterly instalments where prior-year net tax was $3,000 or more. If you incorporated a business that used to file as a sole proprietorship, note that your GST/HST deadline moved from June 15 to three months after year end — a shift that catches people in the first year after incorporating.
Instalments for annual filers
Annual filing doesn’t always mean paying once a year.
The trigger: if your net tax for the previous fiscal year was $3,000 or more, you may have to make quarterly instalments in the current year. The test applies to the whole business including all branches and divisions. No instalments are required if the current year’s net tax will come in under $3,000.
The dates: within one month after the end of each fiscal quarter. For a December 31 year end: April 30, July 31, October 31, January 31.
Two ways to calculate:
- One quarter of last year’s net tax — the safe option.
- One quarter of a reasonable estimate of this year — lower payments if your revenue has dropped, but underestimating attracts instalment interest on the shortfall.
Instalment interest is charged on late or insufficient instalments even if you pay your full balance on time at filing. It’s the prescribed overdue rate, compounded daily.
One thing GST/HST does not have: an instalment penalty. The income tax system charges one on top of instalment interest, calculated on a two-step formula. GST/HST charges interest only. If you’ve read otherwise, that page has imported the income tax rule.
In your very first year there’s no prior-year net tax figure, so instalments generally don’t apply. They typically begin the year after.
Penalties and interest
The late-filing penalty
The formula is A + (B × C), where:
- A = 1% of the amount owing
- B = 25% of A
- C = the number of complete months the return is overdue, to a maximum of 12
In plain terms: 1% of what you owe, plus 0.25% for each complete month late, capped at 12 months. Maximum exposure is 4% of the amount owing.
No penalty applies if you owe nothing or are owed a refund. The penalty is a percentage of the amount owing, and a percentage of zero is zero.
Worked example. An Ontario contractor owes $15,000 and files five complete months late.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| A: 1% of $15,000 | $150.00 |
| B: 25% of A | $37.50 |
| B × C: $37.50 × 5 months | $187.50 |
| Total penalty | $337.50 |
Plus daily-compounded interest on the $15,000.
Compare that to the income tax penalty on the same amount and lateness: 5% plus 1% per month for five months is 10%, or $1,500. Four and a half times more. They are genuinely different penalties, and conflating them is the single most common error in this area.
The other penalties
- Demand to file: $250. Charged when you don’t file after the CRA issues a formal demand. It applies even if the return is nil or shows a refund — which is how a business with no activity ends up owing $250.
- Failure to file electronically: $100 for the first such return, $250 for each subsequent one.
Interest
Overdue GST/HST accrues interest at the basic rate plus 4 percentage points, compounded daily. The overdue rate has been 7% for Q1, Q2 and Q3 of 2026.
The rate is set quarterly, so confirm the current quarter before relying on any calculation. Interest applies to penalties as well as to the tax, and none of it is deductible.
If you simply don’t file
The CRA can issue a demand and, if that’s ignored, assess your net tax arbitrarily using its own estimates — which will not be generous. Unremitted GST/HST is also a trust-fund debt: you collected it on the Crown’s behalf, so it’s treated more seriously than ordinary tax debt, and directors of a corporation can be held personally liable.
Taxpayer relief
Form RC4288, Request for Taxpayer Relief, covers penalties and interest — never the underlying tax. Three grounds: extraordinary circumstances, CRA errors or delays, and inability to pay. There’s a rolling 10-year limitation, and relief is discretionary.
The Quick Method
The Quick Method lets you remit a flat percentage of your tax-included revenue instead of tracking input tax credits on every operating expense.
Are you eligible?
Worldwide taxable supplies, including GST/HST and including your associates, of no more than $400,000 in any four consecutive fiscal quarters over the last five. You must have been in business throughout the preceding 365 days, or be a new registrant projecting under $400,000.
Who can’t use it: anyone providing legal, accounting or actuarial services in professional practice; anyone providing bookkeeping, financial consulting, tax consulting or tax return preparation; listed financial institutions; municipalities; non-profit universities, colleges and school authorities; hospital authorities; charities; and non-profits with at least 40% government funding.
Note who is eligible: consultants, tradespeople, real estate agents, designers, gig drivers, and most other self-employed service providers.
The remittance rates
For a business making supplies only in its home province:
| 5% GST provinces | Ontario (13%) | Nova Scotia (14%) | NB, NL, PE (15%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Services | 3.6% | 8.8% | 9.4% | 10.0% |
| Goods for resale | 1.8% | 4.4% | 4.7% | 5.0% |
Nova Scotia’s column reflects the HST cut from 15% to 14% effective April 1, 2025. The goods-for-resale rates require the cost of resale goods to be at least 40% of your total taxable supplies. Rates differ where you supply into a different province than your permanent establishment.
The 1% credit
You get a 1% credit on the first $30,000 of revenue from eligible supplies (including GST/HST) each fiscal year — provided the election was in effect at the beginning of the fiscal year, or on the day you became a registrant. Unused portions cannot be carried forward.
What you keep
You give up input tax credits on operating expenses — the flat rate is deemed to account for them.
You keep input tax credits on capital purchases, including real property, equipment, and vehicles. That matters if you’re buying a car for the business: the Quick Method doesn’t cost you the vehicle ITC. Our vehicle CCA guide covers how that credit interacts with your capital cost.
Electing
Form GST74. For an annual filer, the election is due by the first day of your second fiscal quarter — April 1 for a calendar-year business. Monthly and quarterly filers elect by the due date of the return for the first period it applies to.
The election must stay in effect at least one year, and after revoking you must wait a year before electing again.
Quebec and QST
Revenu Québec administers both GST/HST and QST for most Quebec registrants. The practical upshot is better than the federal-plus-provincial split elsewhere: one combined return, one remittance.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| QST rate | 9.975% |
| QST registration threshold | $30,000 — one registration covers both taxes |
| Reporting period thresholds | Mirror the federal $1.5M / $6M bands |
| Combined return | Form FPZ-500-V |
| Filing deadlines | Mirror the federal rules, including the April 30 / June 15 split |
| Quick Method election | Form FP-2074-V |
Businesses that can’t use the combined return file FPZ-34-V for GST and VDZ-471-V for QST separately.
Quebec’s penalties are different, and harsher
Where the federal late-filing penalty tops out at 4%, Quebec’s structure is steeper:
| Failure | Quebec penalty |
|---|---|
| Failure to file | $25 per day, to a maximum of $2,500 |
| Failure to remit, up to 7 days late | 7% of the amount |
| Failure to remit, 8–14 days late | 11% |
| Failure to remit, 15 days or more | 15% |
| Failure to collect | 15% |
Fifteen percent for being two weeks late is a different order of magnitude from the federal 1%-plus-0.25%. If you file in Quebec, the remittance date matters far more than it does elsewhere in Canada.
Quebec’s Quick Method uses QST service rates of 3.4% and 6.6%, with the 1% reduction applying to the first $30,000 of GST-included sales and the first $31,421 of QST-included sales.
One Quebec-specific rule: a taxi business must register for GST and QST even as a small supplier — mirroring the federal position below.
Gig and platform workers
Ride-share drivers must register from the first dollar. The small supplier exemption does not apply to taxi and ride-sharing businesses, so if you drive for Uber or Lyft you must register for GST/HST regardless of how little you earn. No $30,000 grace period.
Food delivery is different. DoorDash, SkipTheDishes, Uber Eats and Instacart delivery is not passenger transport, so the ordinary $30,000 small supplier threshold applies. A delivery-only driver earning under $30,000 has no registration obligation.
This distinction matters if you do both. Driving passengers on Uber and delivering on Uber Eats through the same account puts you in the register-from-dollar-one category, because of the ride-share side.
Either way, your platform income slip arrives by January 31 under the reporting rules for digital platform operators, and the CRA receives the same data.
Records and input tax credit documentation
Claiming an input tax credit requires supporting documentation, and what’s required scales with the amount.
| Purchase amount | What the document must show |
|---|---|
| Under $30 | Supplier or intermediary name, date, total amount paid |
| $30 to $149.99 | The above, plus the supplier’s GST/HST registration number and the tax amount |
| $150 or more | The above, plus your name, a description of the supply, and the terms of payment |
That middle tier is where most people slip. A receipt without a registration number doesn’t support an ITC claim between $30 and $150, and a great many do not print one.
Keep records six years from the end of the year they relate to — the same period as your mileage log and vehicle records. Our free CRA mileage log template covers what the log itself has to contain.
What changed for 2026
- The GST/HST holiday is over. The temporary zero-rating of holiday essentials ran December 14, 2024 to February 15, 2025 and has not been extended. No temporary GST/HST relief measure is currently in effect.
- Bill C-15 received Royal Assent March 26, 2026. It contains GST/HST measures — clarifying the taxability of osteopathic services, and expanding the rental rebate to certain student and cooperative housing — but changed no filing deadline, threshold, penalty, interest rule, or the Quick Method.
- Bill C-4, Royal Assent March 12, 2026, eliminates GST on new homes up to $1 million for first-time buyers, phasing out to $1.5 million.
- Nova Scotia’s HST fell from 15% to 14% effective April 1, 2025, which changed the Quick Method rates for that province.
- Mandatory electronic filing has applied to nearly all registrants since periods beginning January 1, 2024.
Common mistakes
- Applying the income tax penalty to GST/HST. It’s 1% plus 0.25% per month, not 5% plus 1%.
- Assuming annual filing means paying once a year. The $3,000 instalment trigger catches a lot of annual filers.
- Treating June 15 as the payment date. Interest runs from May 1.
- Thinking you can elect to file less often. You can only elect more frequently than assigned.
- Confusing the three thresholds — $30,000 worldwide for registration, $1.5M Canadian including associates for frequency, $400,000 worldwide tax-included for the Quick Method.
- Missing the GST20 deadline direction rule — three months to move to annual, two months otherwise, effective only on the first day of a fiscal year.
- Skipping nil returns, and collecting a $250 demand penalty on a return that showed zero.
Getting the numbers right
Filing on time is a calendar problem. Filing something you can defend is a records problem — and for most self-employed Canadians the vehicle is the largest number on the return, on both the income tax and the GST/HST side.
EveryLastMile, an iOS mileage tracking app, records drives on-device using your iPhone’s motion and location sensors, so trips are captured whether or not you remembered. Each is classified business or personal from rules you set once, which produces the ratio rather than just the numerator, and a CSV export hands the whole year to your accountant.
Frequently asked questions
How do I change my GST/HST filing frequency?
File Form GST20, Election for GST/HST Reporting Period, or use the "File an election" web form in My Business Account or Represent a Client. The election takes effect on the first day of a fiscal year, and the CRA won't accept it if you've already filed returns for that period.
What is the deadline to change my GST filing frequency?
It depends on direction. Moving to annual filing: three months after the beginning of the fiscal year the election takes effect. New registrant electing from the registration date: on or before that date. Every other case, including moving to more frequent filing: two months after the day the election takes effect.
Can I file GST/HST less often than the CRA assigned?
No. You may elect to file more frequently than your assigned period, but never less. The assignment is based on your prior-year threshold amount, which includes your associates.
When is my GST/HST return due if I file annually?
If you're an individual with business income and a December 31 fiscal year end, file by June 15 and pay by April 30. Everyone else — including all corporations — files and pays three months after the fiscal year end.
When is HST due for quarterly filers?
One month after the end of the reporting period, for both filing and payment. A quarter ending September 30 is due October 31, moving to the next business day if that's a weekend or holiday.
What is the corporate GST filing deadline?
Three months after the fiscal year end for annual filers. Corporations cannot use the June 15 / April 30 split, which is available only to individuals with business income.
Why is my GST payment due April 30 but my return due June 15?
Because the extension applies to filing only, mirroring the income tax rule for self-employed individuals. Interest on any balance accrues from May 1 even though the return isn't late until June 16.
What is the GST/HST late-filing penalty?
A + (B × C), where A is 1% of the amount owing, B is 25% of A, and C is the number of complete months overdue, to a maximum of 12. In practice: 1% plus 0.25% per month, capped at 4%. This is not the income tax penalty of 5% plus 1% per month.
Is there a penalty if I file late but owe nothing?
Not the late-filing penalty — it's a percentage of the amount owing. But if the CRA issues a demand to file and you don't respond, the $250 demand penalty applies even to a nil or refund return.
What interest does the CRA charge on overdue GST/HST?
The basic prescribed rate plus four percentage points, compounded daily. That's been 7% for Q1, Q2 and Q3 of 2026. The rate is set quarterly, so check the current one.
Do I have to pay GST/HST by instalments?
If you file annually and your net tax for the previous fiscal year was $3,000 or more, yes — quarterly, within one month after each fiscal quarter ends. Not in your first year, since there's no prior-year figure.
Is there a GST/HST instalment penalty?
No. GST/HST charges instalment interest on late or insufficient instalments, but there's no separate instalment penalty. The penalty formula you may have read about belongs to the income tax system.
What is the Quick Method and should I use it?
It lets you remit a flat percentage of tax-included revenue instead of tracking input tax credits on operating expenses. It suits low-expense service businesses. It suits you less if you have substantial taxable operating costs, since you're giving up those credits. You keep input tax credits on capital purchases, including vehicles.
Do Uber and Lyft drivers have to register for GST/HST?
Yes, from the first dollar. The small supplier exemption doesn't apply to taxi and ride-sharing businesses, so the $30,000 threshold gives ride-share drivers no grace period.
How does GST/QST filing work in Quebec?
Revenu Québec administers both taxes, so you file one combined return — Form FPZ-500-V — covering GST and QST together. Deadlines mirror the federal ones, but Quebec's penalties are much steeper: $25 a day for failure to file, and 7%, 11% or 15% for late remittance depending on how late.