Invoicing in Canada is not just asking for payment. If you are GST/HST registered, the Canada Revenue Agency sets what your invoice must show so your client can claim an input tax credit, and the tax rate follows your client’s province, not yours. This guide covers the required fields by invoice size, the place of supply rule, and a worked example across four provinces.
Rates last reviewed: October 2026. Figures are checked against the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) guidance on charging and collecting GST/HST and the CRA place of supply rules.
What does the CRA require on a Canadian freelance invoice?
The CRA requires different information depending on the invoice total. Below $100 you need your business name, the invoice date and the total amount paid or payable. From $100 you also need your GST/HST registration number and the tax charged. At $500 or more you also need the buyer’s name, payment terms and a description of each supply.
Those tiers exist because your business client uses your invoice to support their input tax credit (ITC) claim. If the information is missing, the CRA can deny their credit. The thresholds rose from $30 and $150 to $100 and $500 on 20 April 2021, so older templates citing $30 and $150 are out of date.
| Information required | Under 100 dollars | 100 to 499.99 dollars | 500 dollars or more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your business name or trading name | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Invoice date (or date tax is paid or payable) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Total amount paid or payable | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| GST/HST charged, or a statement that the total includes GST/HST at the stated rate | No | Yes | Yes |
| Your GST/HST registration number | No | Yes | Yes |
| Indication of which supplies are taxable if taxable and exempt items share one invoice | No | Yes | Yes |
| Buyer’s name or trading name | No | No | Yes |
| Brief description sufficient to identify each supply | No | No | Yes |
| Terms of payment | No | No | Yes |
In practice, put the full top tier on every invoice, whatever the amount. It costs you nothing, it protects every client’s ITC claim, and it looks professional. Add the practical fields the CRA table does not list but your client needs to pay you: a unique invoice number, your business address and contact details, the client’s address, a due date, and how to pay. Build that full version once in LancerBill’s invoice generator and reuse it as your template.
Tip: Your GST/HST registration number is your 9-digit business number plus the program identifier, in the format 123456789RT0001. Type it once in your template and check it character by character. A mistyped registration number is the most common reason a client’s ITC claim gets questioned.
Do you need to charge GST/HST on your invoice?
You charge GST/HST only if you are a GST/HST registrant. If your worldwide taxable supplies stay at or below the $30,000 small supplier threshold, you are generally a small supplier, you do not have to register, and you must not charge GST/HST. Once you cross the threshold or register voluntarily, you charge tax on every taxable supply.
Charging GST/HST when you are not registered is not allowed, because you have no account to remit it through and your client cannot claim a valid ITC on it. Failing to charge it after you register leaves you liable for tax you never collected.
If you are close to the threshold, read our guide to when Canadian freelancers have to register for GST/HST and the $30,000 rule before you send your next invoice. It covers the single-quarter and four-quarter tests and the date your registration takes effect. For the wider picture of income tax and Canada Pension Plan contributions alongside sales tax, see self-employed taxes in Canada.
Two supply types change the answer even for registrants. A zero-rated supply is taxable at 0 percent, so you show 0 percent tax and your client claims nothing, but you can still claim ITCs on your related costs. An exempt supply carries no GST/HST and gives you no ITCs on related costs. Most freelance services, such as design, writing, development and consulting, are regular taxable supplies, not zero-rated or exempt.
Which GST/HST rate do you charge a client in another province?
For most freelance services, you charge the rate of the place of supply, which the CRA generally sets by the recipient address you obtain in the normal course of business. An Ontario client’s address means 13 percent HST, even if you work in Alberta. Your own province does not set the rate for a service billed to a client elsewhere.
The CRA’s own example makes the rule concrete: a supplier in Quebec designing a website for a company in Ontario, performed entirely in Quebec, charges Ontario HST at 13 percent because the recipient’s business address is in Ontario. If you obtain several addresses, use the one most closely connected with the supply.
The current GST/HST rates, per the CRA, are 5 percent GST in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Yukon, 13 percent HST in Ontario, 14 percent HST in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025, and 15 percent HST in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Show HST as one combined rate on the invoice. Do not split it into federal and provincial parts.
Run the rate for your client’s province in LancerBill’s GST calculator before you send the invoice, especially the first time you bill into a new province. Our Canada GST and HST rates by province guide holds the full table, and our guide to calculating GST backwards shows how to extract the tax again if a client pays you a tax-inclusive total.
Watch out: Nova Scotia is the stale-rate trap. Its HST fell from 15 percent to 14 percent on 1 April 2025, when the provincial portion dropped from 10 percent to 9 percent. Many templates and blog tables still show 15 percent. Billing a Nova Scotia client at 15 percent overcharges them and creates a correction on both sides.
Worked example: a 2,500 dollar project billed to four provinces
Assumptions, stated up front. Country: Canada. Date: October 2026. You are a GST/HST registered freelance designer, a sole proprietor based in Calgary, Alberta. The work is a taxable supply of design services. The fee is $2,500 CAD in every case. Only the client’s province changes, so only the place of supply and the rate change.
- Step 1, Ontario client. Place of supply is Ontario. HST is $2,500 multiplied by 13 percent = $325. Invoice total is $2,500 plus $325 = $2,825.
- Step 2, Alberta client. Place of supply is Alberta, a non-participating province. GST is $2,500 multiplied by 5 percent = $125. Invoice total is $2,500 plus $125 = $2,625.
- Step 3, Nova Scotia client. Place of supply is Nova Scotia. HST is $2,500 multiplied by 14 percent = $350. Invoice total is $2,500 plus $350 = $2,850.
- Step 4, New Brunswick client. Place of supply is New Brunswick. HST is $2,500 multiplied by 15 percent = $375. Invoice total is $2,500 plus $375 = $2,875.
| Client province | Tax and rate | Tax on a 2,500 dollar fee | Invoice total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | GST 5 percent | $125 | $2,625 |
| Ontario | HST 13 percent | $325 | $2,825 |
| Nova Scotia | HST 14 percent | $350 | $2,850 |
| New Brunswick | HST 15 percent | $375 | $2,875 |
The lesson in that table is the one competitors rarely show on one page: the same work, the same fee and the same freelancer produce four different invoice totals, a $250 spread between the lowest and highest, purely because of the client’s province. Your fee does not change. The tax you collect in trust for the CRA does. Quote the fee as plus GST/HST where applicable, so the rate difference never comes out of your margin. If you need to check what is left after costs on a project priced this way, run the fee through LancerBill’s profit margin calculator.
Rule of thumb: for freelance services, bill the tax of the address you bill to. Get the client’s full business address before you quote, not after you invoice.
What changes in Quebec, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba?
In those four provinces a separate provincial tax sits beside GST, and it is not part of HST. Quebec charges 5 percent GST plus 9.975 percent QST administered by Revenu Quebec under a separate registration number. British Columbia charges 7 percent PST, Saskatchewan 6 percent PST, and Manitoba 7 percent RST, each with its own registration and return.
Whether you must charge that provincial tax as an out-of-province freelancer depends on the province and on what you supply. Do not guess and do not fold it into one combined percentage. Show GST or HST and any PST, RST or QST as separate lines, each with its own rate and registration number where one applies.
Quebec deserves a special note. Expect French-language expectations on commercial documents and a QST registration number alongside your GST/HST number. If Quebec work becomes regular, take provincial advice once and build a second template.
How do you send, record and remit the tax on your invoices?
Send the invoice as a PDF by email when the work is delivered, state a clear due date such as Net 30, and keep every invoice for six years from the end of the last tax year it relates to. GST/HST you collect is held in trust for the CRA until you remit it.
One timing point catches freelancers out. The invoice date decides the reporting period: the CRA expects the tax you charged in the period that covers the invoice date, whether or not the client has paid you yet. A December invoice with January payment still belongs to the earlier period for most filers.
For the sending side, our guide to sending an invoice by email, with templates covers the message that goes around the PDF. If a client pays late, Canadian contracts commonly carry a stated late fee, and you can model one with LancerBill’s late payment fee calculator before you agree terms on the next project. Put the payment terms on the invoice itself: at $500 or more they are part of the CRA required information, not an optional extra.
Tip: Keep the tax you collect in a separate account or a clearly tracked pot from the day it arrives. It was never your revenue. Freelancers who spend the HST and reconstruct it at filing time are the ones who end up financing a tax bill with the next project’s deposit.
What are the most common Canadian invoicing mistakes?
The mistakes that cause real cost are charging your own province’s rate instead of the client’s, using Nova Scotia’s old 15 percent rate, omitting your registration number on invoices of $100 or more, writing a vague description such as services on an invoice of $500 or more, and charging GST/HST before you are registered.
Work through this decision check before every first invoice to a new client. One, are you registered, or still a small supplier? Two, what is the client’s province and full business address? Three, is the supply taxable, zero-rated or exempt? Four, does a separate PST, RST or QST question arise? Five, does the invoice total cross $100 or $500, pulling in the extra required fields? Answer those five in order and the invoice writes itself.
Finally, describe the work properly. Website design, October sprint, 20 hours identifies the supply and supports the client’s ITC claim. Services rendered does neither.
Key takeaways
- CRA invoice requirements scale by total: basic fields under $100, your GST/HST registration number and tax charged from $100, and the buyer’s name, description and payment terms at $500 or more.
- Only GST/HST registrants charge the tax. Small suppliers at or below $30,000 in worldwide taxable supplies generally do not register and must not charge it.
- For services, the rate follows the place of supply, generally the client’s address: 5 percent GST, 13 percent HST in Ontario, 14 percent in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025, and 15 percent in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island.
- On the same $2,500 fee, the invoice total runs from $2,625 in Alberta to $2,875 in New Brunswick. Quote your fee plus GST/HST so the difference never hits your margin.
- Show PST, RST and QST as separate lines, never folded into HST. Keep invoices for six years and hold collected tax in trust until you remit it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I invoice as a freelancer in Canada without a registered business?
Yes. As a sole proprietor you invoice under your own legal name, or a registered trade name, with your address and contact details. You only add a GST/HST registration number once you are registered, which is generally required after your worldwide taxable supplies pass $30,000 under the small supplier tests.
What GST/HST rate do I charge a client in another province?
For most services, the rate of the place of supply, which the CRA generally sets by the recipient address you obtain in the normal course of business. An Alberta freelancer billing an Ontario business charges 13 percent HST, not 5 percent Alberta GST. Goods follow where they are delivered instead.
Does my invoice need my GST/HST number on it?
Yes, once the invoice total reaches $100, if you are a registrant. From $100 to $499.99 the CRA requires your business name, the date, the total, your GST/HST registration number and the tax charged. At $500 or more the buyer’s name, a description of each supply and the payment terms are also required.
Do I charge GST/HST to clients outside Canada?
Many services supplied to non-resident clients are zero-rated at 0 percent, provided the supply is made outside Canada under the place of supply rules and the client is not in Canada in connection with the service. Show 0 percent on the invoice, keep evidence of the client’s non-resident status and address, and check the CRA export rules for your service type.
How long must I keep copies of my invoices in Canada?
Generally six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to, per the CRA. Your records must let you show how much GST/HST you collected, how much you paid on business purchases, and the net tax you remitted. The CRA can ask you to keep them longer.
What if I forgot to charge GST/HST on an invoice?
If you are a registrant, you are generally liable for the tax on a taxable supply even if you did not collect it. Issue a corrected invoice where the contract allows, tell the client promptly, and include the tax in the return for the period covering the original invoice date. Take advice before absorbing a large amount yourself.
Sources: Canada Revenue Agency guidance on charging and collecting GST/HST, GST/HST rates and place of supply rules, and input tax credit information requirements, cited inline. Rates last reviewed: October 2026. This guide is for general information only and is not financial, tax or legal advice.