Small Supplier $30K Threshold

What a small supplier is

A small supplier is defined in ETA s.148 as a person whose total worldwide taxable supplies, including those of its associates, have not gone over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over the last four consecutive calendar quarters. An ordinary small supplier that is not registered generally does not collect GST/HST or claim ITCs. Voluntary registrants and special mandatory-registration categories have different obligations. Going over $30,000 on either test ends small-supplier status, and registration becomes mandatory.

The two tests run side by side, and each has its own end date. Most confusion about "when do I have to register" comes from mixing them up.

The two tests and when each one bites

• Single-quarter test: GST/HST must be charged on the very supply that pushed the quarter past $30,000, and on every taxable supply after it. There is no grace period.
• Four-quarter test: ETA s.148(1) treats a person as a small supplier throughout a quarter and the first month after it if the four quarters before that quarter stayed at $30,000 or less. In practice the business keeps small-supplier status for the rest of the quarter in which the rolling total went over, plus one more month.
• Either way, the 29 days run from the effective date of registration, not from the day the total went over. Under the four-quarter test that effective date comes after the month of grace.

Example: tracking the rolling total

A BC corporation that started selling in January 2026 tracks rolling taxable revenue each quarter:

Quarter              Sales  4-qtr total  Status
Q1 2026 (Jan-Mar)   $8,000       $8,000  small supplier
Q2 2026 (Apr-Jun)   $9,000      $17,000  small supplier
Q3 2026 (Jul-Sep)  $14,000      $31,000  total passes $30,000
Q4 2026 (Oct-Dec)  $12,000      $43,000  registrant from Nov 3

Four-quarter test failed in Q3 2026.
Small-supplier status ends:    October 31, 2026
  (end of the month after the quarter in which
  the rolling total passed $30,000)
First sale after that:         invoice dated November 3, 2026
Effective date:                no later than November 3, 2026
Register with CRA by:          December 2, 2026 (29 days)
The November 3 invoice and every taxable sale
after it must include GST/HST.

If instead a single $40,000 invoice had been issued on August 20, 2026, the single-quarter test would have failed on that invoice. GST/HST must be charged on the August 20 invoice itself, the effective date is August 20, and registration is due by September 18, 2026.

What counts toward the $30,000

The measure is gross revenue from taxable supplies, before expenses. It is not profit, and it is not limited to Canadian sales. Amounts count when they become due, which for most businesses is the invoice date, or when they are paid if payment comes first.

• Associated persons are added together. A shareholder operating two corporations at $20,000 each has a combined $40,000, and neither corporation is a small supplier.
• Worldwide means worldwide. CRA's own example is a company with $20,000 of Canadian sales and $500,000 of foreign sales: it is over the threshold and must register.
• Employment income never counts. The ETA's definition of "service" in s.123(1) leaves out anything an employee supplies to an employer in the course of employment, so a salary is not a supply at all. Someone with a $70,000 salary and $12,000 of freelance invoices over four quarters has $12,000 toward the threshold.
• For a consultant, developer, designer, or other service provider selling to Canadian or foreign clients, nearly all revenue counts.

Who must register at any revenue level

The $30,000 test does not apply to everyone. CRA requires registration even for a small supplier in these cases:

• Taxi businesses. A driver who supplies taxable commercial ride-sharing services is treated as a taxi business and must register and charge GST/HST on fares.
• Non-residents who sell admissions in Canada to a place of amusement, a seminar, an activity, or an event held in Canada.
• Non-residents who sponsor a convention in Canada where more than 25% of the attendees are residents of Canada.

Public service bodies have a higher threshold of $50,000 instead of $30,000. Charities and public institutions can also qualify as small suppliers under a separate gross revenue test of $250,000.

Quebec: the QST uses the same $30,000 test

A business in Quebec runs the same two tests for the Quebec sales tax. Revenu Québec treats a person as a small supplier while its worldwide taxable supplies, zero-rated supplies included and associates included, stay at $30,000 or less in a calendar quarter and over the four preceding quarters. The totals leave out the GST/HST and QST themselves, financial services, sales of capital property, and the goodwill of a business.

Status ends the same way: immediately on the supply that takes a single quarter over the limit, or at the end of the month after the four-quarter total goes over. Revenu Québec, not CRA, administers the GST/HST for businesses physically located in Quebec, so crossing the threshold means registering for both the GST/HST and the QST with Revenu Québec.

Staying a small supplier or registering early

Registering before the $30,000 line can pay for itself, mainly because of Input Tax Credits. A registrant recovers the GST/HST it pays on business purchases. A small supplier pays the same tax and simply absorbs it.

Business expenses for the year:            $20,000
GST paid on them (5%):                      $1,000

Registered:      $1,000 claimed back as ITCs
Not registered:  $1,000 stays a cost

A registered customer using the purchase wholly in commercial activity may recover the tax as an ITC if the conditions are met. Registration alone does not guarantee the customer a full credit.

A voluntary registration is usually effective on the date of the request, and it can generally be backdated up to 30 days before that day. The registrant must stay registered for at least one year before it can cancel, and it takes on every obligation of a mandatory registrant from the effective date. See voluntary registration.

Registering once you cross

1. Use CRA's Business Registration Online. A corporation that already has a Business Number adds a GST/HST (RT) program account to it. A business without a BN gets one in the same process.
2. Choose a reporting period. A business with annual taxable supplies of $1,500,000 or less is assigned annual filing and can elect quarterly or monthly.
3. Decide whether to elect the Quick Method. A business with annual worldwide taxable supplies of $400,000 or less, including GST/HST, can remit a flat rate of its tax-included sales instead of claiming ITCs on operating costs. The 3.6% service rate applies where both the permanent establishment and eligible supplies are in non-participating provinces; cross-province supplies need the Quick Method rate matrix. Bookkeepers, accountants, lawyers, actuaries, and people who provide financial consulting, tax consulting, or tax return preparation cannot use it.

After registration the business charges GST/HST on its taxable sales, tracks ITCs on its purchases, files a GST/HST return (Form GST34) by the deadline for its period, and remits the net tax or claims the refund. Most annual returns are due three months after the fiscal year-end, and monthly or quarterly returns one month after the period ends. The full timetable is in the GST/HST overview, and the registration mechanics are in GST/HST registration.

Keeping an eye on the total in your books

At the start of each calendar quarter, add up the taxable sales invoiced in the four quarters just ended, before GST/HST and without the "No" rows in the table above. Then check the quarter in progress on its own, because one large contract can fail the single-quarter test months before the rolling total gets near $30,000. Do the same arithmetic for any associated corporation and add the two. Count amounts when due or when paid before becoming due; invoice dates alone can miss advance payments.

Common mistakes

• Counting net revenue (after expenses) instead of gross taxable supplies.
• Excluding out-of-country sales. Zero-rated exports still count toward the threshold.
• Forgetting associated corporations. Two $20,000 corporations under common control have a combined $40,000, so neither one is a small supplier.
• Applying a calendar-year view ($30,000 per fiscal year) instead of the rolling four-quarter view.
• Missing the single-quarter trap. A one-off large project in a single quarter triggers immediate registration even if annual revenue is modest.
• Counting salary from a job. Employment income is not a supply and never enters the total.
• Reading the 29 days as starting on the day the total went over. They start on the effective date of registration.
• Leaving GST/HST off the first sale after status ends because the account number has not arrived yet. The effective date is fixed by the rule, not by when CRA issues the number.

Related concepts

Losing small-supplier status triggers mandatory registration. A business under the threshold can still elect voluntary registration to recover ITCs. Whether a sale counts depends on how it is classified, and whose sales are added together depends on association. Review the overview for the broader framework.