How to File Your GST/HST Return: Step by Step

A GST/HST return reconciles the tax for a particular reporting period. Start by checking the period and your accounting method, then match the return to your sales, purchase records and payments. The regular method and Quick Method do not use the same revenue or expense calculations.

This guide is for a small business with a GST/HST account administered by CRA. An account administered by Revenu Québec uses that agency's filing service.

Before You Start

Gather your RT account number, reporting dates, sales report, tax collected or collectible, purchase invoices, eligible input tax credits (ITCs), adjustments and instalments already paid. Check the method and reporting frequency on your account. Separate GST/HST from provincial sales taxes such as BC PST.

Reconcile the totals before opening the filing form. A bank deposit total can include loans, transfers or taxes, and it can omit sales that were invoiced but not yet paid.

The Filing Process

Filing Methods

For periods beginning in 2024 or later, most registrants must file electronically. Charities and selected listed financial institutions have exceptions. CRA compares the permitted filing methods:

The stand-alone NETFILE form, software transfer and TELEFILE require a GST/HST access code. Filing inside your CRA account does not require that separate code. Check the method's support for your schedules and rebates.

Line-by-Line Breakdown

These are regular-method amounts. CRA's line instructions govern the return.

The electronic form combines tax and increasing adjustments on line 105 and eligible ITCs and decreasing adjustments on line 108; it does not display every intermediate paper-return line. It calculates the relevant totals. If you choose the optional detailed sales fields, lines 90 and 91 populate line 101; line 102 concerns associates' sales. Follow the form's instructions rather than entering the same revenue twice.

Input Tax Credits

ITCs recover eligible GST/HST paid or payable for commercial activities. A tax amount on a receipt is not automatically claimable: personal use, exempt activity, documentation requirements and specific restrictions matter. Claim only the eligible amount and retain the support. The ITC reference explains common cases and links to CRA's requirements.

Net tax is not always the final balance

After line 109, payments, rebates and self-assessed tax can change the result. The CRA general registrant guide distinguishes:

• 110: instalments and other annual-filer payments for the period.
• 111: rebates whose application specifically permits a claim here; complete the required rebate application too.
• 112: on paper, 110 + 111. It is not a miscellaneous-credit field and does not appear on the electronic return.
• 205 and 405: applicable self-assessed tax, including specified real-property purchases or other self-assessment situations. Read the rules before entering an amount.
• 113A/B/C: paper-return subtotals. The final refund is line 114 and the amount owing is line 115; the electronic form calculates the relevant result.

A regular-method worked example

A BC consulting corporation has $50,000 of taxable sales subject to 5% GST in its annual reporting period, $600 of eligible ITCs, no adjustments, no rebates and no self-assessed tax. It already paid a $400 instalment for the period.

Line 101  Revenue                    $50,000
Line 103  GST collectible             $2,500
Line 104  Increasing adjustments          $0
Line 105  Total tax and adjustments   $2,500
Line 106  Eligible ITCs                 $600
Line 107  Decreasing adjustments          $0
Line 108  ITCs and adjustments          $600
Line 109  Net tax                     $1,900
Line 110  Instalment paid               $400
Final amount owing                   $1,500

This example shows why a positive line 109 is not necessarily the payment still due. The $400 payment changes the balance, not the period's sales tax calculation.

If You Use the Quick Method

Do not copy the regular-method example. Under a valid Quick Method election, eligible line 101 revenue includes GST/HST and excludes specified supplies. The applicable remittance rate is used for line 103, with tax on ineligible supplies handled separately. Most operating-cost and inventory ITCs are already reflected in that rate and cannot be claimed again. Certain capital-purchase ITCs can remain available. An eligible 1% credit is handled through the adjustment calculation.

Eligibility, election deadlines, excluded businesses and remittance rates matter. CRA's Quick Method guide supplies the calculation, and the Quick Method reference explains its scope.

Filing Deadlines

Use the reporting period shown on your account. Revenue helps determine the assigned frequency, but an election can change it. CRA's reporting deadlines are:

The sole-proprietor exception requires all of those conditions. Listed financial institutions have separate rules. CRA's next-business-day rule applies when a deadline falls on a recognized weekend or holiday. Annual filers may also need instalments during the year.

Registration requires a return for every reporting period. File a nil return only when there are no amounts to report; having no net tax owing does not make every field zero. File on time even if you cannot pay the full balance.

Step-by-Step: Filing Through My Business Account

The current CRA account filing instructions follow this sequence:

1. Sign in and choose your Business account, or the Representative account if acting for a client.
2. Select GST/HST and the correct RT account.
3. Choose File a return on that account's overview.
4. Select the return type, reporting period and applicable schedules or rebates.
5. Enter the reconciled amounts using the instructions for your accounting method.
6. Review the complete return and correct any wrong field.
7. Certify and submit once it is correct.
8. Save the confirmation number and a copy of the submitted figures. Arrange any payment separately.

The confirmation means the return was accepted for processing, not that every tax treatment has been approved. Retain the work supporting the amounts.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Confusing GST/HST NETFILE with personal-income-tax NETFILE software.
• Claiming regular-method operating ITCs while using the Quick Method.
• Reporting only cash received when tax on an unpaid invoice is already collectible.
• Using line 109 as the payment without accounting for instalments or other applicable lines.
• Choosing the sole-proprietor filing extension for a corporation.
• Filing an all-zero return when there are sales or credits but the net balance happens to be zero.
• Changing an earlier period by silently putting its correction into a new return. Use the applicable CRA adjustment process.

How Ledg helps

Ledg keeps GST/HST and PST amounts separate and totals the recorded tax for a selected period. Review eligibility, adjustments and the method before using those totals in a return. You submit through CRA's service; Ledg's bookkeeping summary is not a filed GST/HST return.