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GST/HST Quick Method Calculator
Find out in 30 seconds whether the quick method would save your business money. Enter your annual sales and the expenses you paid GST/HST on, and the calculator compares your remittance under both methods and shows the break-even point.
Regular method
Quick method
Difference
Show the math
The quick method saves money when your HST-bearing expenses are low relative to sales. The amount you keep is added to your business income for income tax, so the real benefit is a little smaller than the figure shown. Capital purchases such as computers and vehicles are left out above because you can claim input tax credits on them under both methods.
Key Takeaways
- You still charge customers the full rate: 13% in Ontario. The quick method only changes how much of it you send to CRA.
- Service businesses in Ontario remit 8.8% of tax-included sales: businesses that buy goods for resale remit 4.4%. The first $30,000 of sales each year also gets a 1% credit.
- You give up input tax credits on day-to-day expenses: so the method pays off when your HST-bearing expenses are low relative to sales. Rent, software and subcontractors are the usual culprits that tip the balance.
- Not everyone can elect it: sales must be $400,000 or less including tax, and accountants, bookkeepers, lawyers, financial consultants and several other groups are excluded outright.
- The saving is taxable: the amount you keep is added to your income, so the real benefit is after income tax.
How the Quick Method Works
Under the regular method you remit the tax you collected minus the tax you paid on business purchases, called input tax credits. Under the quick method you skip the input tax credits and instead remit a fixed percentage of your sales including tax. CRA sets the percentage below the actual tax rate to approximate a typical business’s credits.
Ontario remittance rates
- Services: 8.8% of tax-included sales. This covers consultants, trades, agencies, software, health practitioners and most other businesses that sell time or expertise.
- Goods for resale: 4.4% of tax-included sales. This applies if purchases of goods for resale are at least 40% of your total sales. Retailers, restaurants and convenience stores usually qualify.
- 1% credit: on the first $30,000 of tax-included sales each fiscal year, worth up to $300.
Businesses in other provinces use different rates: 10% and 5% in the 15% HST provinces, 9.4% and 4.7% in Nova Scotia, and 3.6% and 1.8% in GST-only provinces. The rates also change if you make a lot of sales to customers in another province, so check CRA guide RC4058 if that describes you. For the full rules, see our guide to the GST/HST quick method, part of our GST/HST guide for Canadian small businesses.
A Worked Example
A Toronto marketing consultant bills $150,000 a year and pays HST on $25,000 of expenses: coworking rent, software and a part-time contractor.
- Regular method: collects $19,500 of HST, claims $3,250 of input tax credits, remits $16,250.
- Quick method: 8.8% of $169,500 is $14,916, less the $300 credit, for a remittance of $14,616.
- Result: the quick method keeps about $1,634 more. It would stay ahead until HST-bearing expenses passed roughly $37,600, or about 25% of sales.
Swap in a renovation contractor with $150,000 of sales and $70,000 of materials and subcontractors, and the picture flips. The regular method wins by about $4,200 because the input tax credits on materials are worth more than the quick method discount.
Who Can Elect the Quick Method
You can use the quick method if your worldwide taxable sales, including GST/HST and including any associated businesses, were $400,000 or less in any four consecutive fiscal quarters out of the last five. You also need to have been in business for at least a year, unless you are a new registrant with a reasonable expectation of staying under the limit. If you are not yet registered, start with whether you need to register for GST/HST.
These businesses cannot use it, regardless of size
- Professional services: accountants, bookkeepers, financial consultants, tax preparers, lawyers and law offices, notaries, actuaries.
- Financial institutions: banks, insurers, investment dealers and other listed financial institutions.
- Public sector: charities, public institutions, municipalities, school boards, hospitals, universities and colleges, and non-profits that receive 40% or more of their funding from government.
Yes, that means we cannot use it ourselves. Bookkeeping and accounting firms are on CRA’s exclusion list.
How to Elect, and When
- Timing: the election takes effect at the start of a reporting period. Annual filers must elect by the first day of their second fiscal quarter. Monthly and quarterly filers must elect by the due date of the return for the period in which it starts.
- How: through My Business Account, or by filing form GST74 with CRA.
- Commitment: once elected, you must stay on the quick method for at least one year before revoking it.
- Bookkeeping: you still record HST collected and paid as usual. The quick method calculation happens on the return, and your books need a year-end adjustment to move the retained amount into income.
Things the Calculator Does Not Cover
- Capital purchases: you can still claim input tax credits on capital property such as computers, equipment and vehicles under the quick method, so they are left out of the comparison.
- Sales outside your province: if you sell to customers in other provinces the remittance rate changes for those sales.
- Zero-rated and exempt sales: exports and exempt services such as most health care are excluded from the calculation.
- Quebec: QST has its own quick method administered by Revenu Québec.
Rates and thresholds reflect CRA guide RC4058 as of October 2026. This page is general information, not advice for your specific situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Service businesses remit 8.8% of their tax-included sales. Businesses that mainly sell goods they bought for resale remit 4.4%. Both get a 1% credit on the first $30,000 of tax-included sales each fiscal year, worth up to $300. You still charge customers the full 13% HST.
Accountants, bookkeepers, tax preparers, financial consultants, lawyers, notaries and actuaries are excluded regardless of their size, along with financial institutions, charities, municipalities, hospitals, schools and most publicly funded non-profits. Everyone else must have tax-included sales of $400,000 or less.
Yes. Your invoices look exactly the same. The quick method only changes the calculation on your GST/HST return: instead of remitting the tax collected minus input tax credits, you remit a fixed percentage of your tax-included sales and keep the difference.
Yes. The difference between the HST you collected and the amount you remitted is business income, so it is added to your taxable income for the year. The real saving is therefore the figure in the calculator less income tax at your marginal rate.
Through CRA My Business Account or by filing form GST74. Annual filers must elect by the first day of their second fiscal quarter; monthly and quarterly filers by the due date of the return for the period the election starts. Once elected, you must stay on it for at least a year before revoking.
Want a Second Opinion on Your Numbers?
The quick method is one of a handful of small elections that quietly add up over the years. If you would like someone to run your actual figures, review your filing frequency and make sure the election is filed correctly, get in touch. Targeted Accounting handles GST/HST filings for growing Canadian businesses as part of our monthly bookkeeping.