Tax Rates

Canadian tax overview

Canadian businesses may be required to collect and remit federal and provincial taxes:

• GST (Goods and Services Tax) — 5% federal tax applied across Canada
• HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) — combines GST and provincial tax in participating provinces (e.g. 13% in Ontario, 15% in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, and Newfoundland & Labrador)
• QST (Quebec Sales Tax) — 9.975% applied in Quebec alongside federal GST
• PST (Provincial Sales Tax) — applies in British Columbia (7%), Saskatchewan (6%), and Manitoba (7%)

You must register for a GST/HST account with the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) if your annual revenue exceeds CAD $30,000. Once registered, you’ll receive a Business Number (BN) with a GST/HST programme account (e.g. 123456789 RT 0001).

Adding a tax rate

Go to Settings → Tax Rates → New Tax Rate. Enter:

• Name — e.g. “GST 5%”, “HST Ontario 13%”, “QST 9.975%”, “Zero Rated”
• Rate — the percentage (e.g. 5 for 5%)
• Tax type — Input (on purchases) or Output (on sales), or both

Applying tax rates to invoices

When adding line items to an invoice or bill, select a tax rate from the Tax dropdown on each line. Ledger calculates the tax amount and shows it as a separate line in the totals.

Tax-exclusive vs tax-inclusive

• Tax exclusive — the price you enter does not include tax; tax is added on top
• Tax inclusive — the price you enter already includes tax; Ledger back-calculates the tax component

Set your preference in Settings → Branding Themes → Show taxes as.

System tax rates

Some tax rates (like Zero Rated and Exempt) are system-defined and cannot be deleted. They appear with a lock icon.