For Canada, there are a lot of different taxes which are designed for both individuals and all types of businesses, and as a result, the reports which mention the annual revenue collection also tell about these income taxes of the country. It has been reported that the annual revenue which is reported by the Canadian Government, and at the same time, by the governments in the Canadian Provinces has a big part which comes from these Income Taxes for businesses/ individuals of Canada.
Not only that, it was reported in 2018 that for the fiscal year that ended on 31st March 2018, the taxes that came as revenue to the federal government were increased by three times when the numbers were compared and reported for revenue from the Canadian Personal Income Taxes and the revenue from the Canadian Corporate Income Taxes. All the activities that are related to the tax system including the likes of collecting taxes, tax law changes, tax policies in Canada, tax credit activities, etc. are under the services provided by the Canadian Revenue Agency.
What is the GST HST Credit
For Canadian residents, the GST is The Goods and Services Tax, which is paid on a large number of goods and/or services that are provided in the country. This is true for many Canadian provinces, and at the same time, in some provinces, this tax collection gets to be a blended part of another tax, which comes under the category of provincial sales tax. As a result, this blend of GST and the provincial tax for sales is known as the Harmonized Sales Tax, or as it is also called popularly, the HST.
It must be noted that the provinces where the Harmonized Sales Tax, or HST, is a part of the taxes paid are New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador regions, Ontario, and also including Prince Edward Island. For the Canadian taxpayer groups, there is a tax-free payment which is called the GST/ HST Credit, and this tax credit in Canada is a quarterly payment which has aim to help families whose incomes are low (or with modest family income). The GST/ HST Credit in Canada also helps these families to offset the HST or the GST that they pay, so their incomes are not affected badly.
It must be noted that this GST/ HST Credit in Canada is helpful for individuals and families of modest or low incomes, and the tax credit that comes under the GST/ HST Credit payment helps them cover the complete amount of the HST or GST that they have paid for that year. The payments that are made to these families as part of their GST/ HST Credit are funded by the Federal Government. To add to that, this quarterly credit payment gets higher after there are other payments added from the various provincial and/ or territorial benefit programs. These payments from other Canadian Provincial/ Territorial Benefit Programs depend on each region, as the CRA does not represent every territory or province in Canada for their resident’s benefit programs.
Who Gets GST HST Credit in Canada
There are various eligibility requirements that need to be met by the applicant if they want to get the tax credit payment:
- The minimum age requirement for receiving this quarterly tax credit is 19 years old. For those who are not under 19 years of age, at least one of the following conditions must be met:
- The person either has or had a spouse or a common law partner during that time.
- The person is a parent or was a parent who lives (or lived) with their child.
- The applicant must be a Canadian resident for purposes related to income tax during the month before the revenue agency (the CRA) makes a credit payment, and at the same time, be a Canadian resident at the start of the month when the CRA is going to make a credit payment.
GST/ HST Credit Eligibility Period for a new resident
If a new resident becomes 19 years old in the month of September, and they became a new resident in that same month, then after landing in Canada, if the new resident applies for the GST/ HST Credit in September, then the new resident is going to be eligible to receive the next payment of credit by the CRA, which will be made at the beginning of next month or October. At the time of filing taxes, an applicant is automatically checked to be considered for the credit payments of GST/ HST Credit.
There are other criteria and categories that are used by the CRA to provide lower (or modest) income families with credit payments to cover their GST/ HST payments. This includes the parents who are a part of the shared custody of their child, and these parents are also eligible for a total of half of the GST/ HST credit for the child. This is going to be applicable to the credit payments that are provided as part of the related Canadian Provincial/ Territorial credit payments.
How to Apply for GST HST Credit
For the residents of Canada who have low incomes, there is not a separate application that they need to fill in most cases, if they want to be eligible for the GST/ HST Credit for that year. Instead of this, the residents are automatically considered if they complete the process of filing their taxes for that year, and it must be noted, that this must be completed even when there is no income to be reported by the resident.
But for the new residents who have landed in Canada, there is no requirement to complete their first tax return before receiving their GST/ HST Credit. They have to fill out a form to be eligible for the Canadian GST/ HST Credit, and this is affected in both situations: when the Canadian resident has children, and if the Canadian resident has no children. If the new resident has children, then the Form RC66, Canada Child Benefits Application will have to be filled and signed by them.
This will help in applying for all the benefits for the family and child including the GST/ HST Credit for that year. If the new resident has no children, then Form RC151, GST/ HST Credit & Climate Action Incentive Payment Application for Individuals Who Become Residents of Canada will be filled and signed by the resident. This will be followed by the completed form which will be required to be mailed at the tax center as per the Canadian Territory or Province, where the family lives.
How to Claim GST/ HST Credit
If the resident has completed the application for the Canada Child Benefit or CCB, then it is possible that the child portion for the GST/ HST Credit is being paid to them at that time. But if the resident had not applied for the CCB benefit, or they had one more child, or if the child has now started to live with them, then they will need to register the child’s details if they want to get the benefit of the GST/ HST Credit. This can be done with the steps mentioned:
- Go to the digital service of “My Account” which shows details about the personal tax benefits and personal income tax information.
- Sign in to the “My Account” (this can be done by using the CRA User ID & Password, or by using a sign-in partner listed, or by using a provincial partner).
- Click on the heading “Apply for Child Benefits”.
- The next step is to confirm the marital status, citizenship, contact information, and other details.
- Now, all the various details of the child (name, gender, birthdate & birthplace) are going to be added.
- Check the application’s status for the new child on the same page as “My Account”.
GST/ HST Canada Payment Dates
The GST/ HST Credit payments are non-taxable amounts that are paid to the receiver (individuals and families with modest or low incomes) four times every year, and this is done to help them offset the GST/ HST amount that they paid during the year. It must be noted that for eligible low or modest-income individuals and families, the Canadian Revenue Agency or CRA completes the process of sending the credit payments to them on the fifth day of these months: July, October, January, and April.
If the payments are late or not received on these dates which are mentioned, then the applicant must wait for a total of ten (10) more working days before they can contact the CRA for the missing payments. As of now, the Canada GST HST Credit Dates 2024 starting from the year 2023 have been mentioned below:
- 05th January 2023
- 05th April 2023
- 05th July 2023
- 05th October 2023
- 05th January 2024
- 05th April 2024
In this time duration, and in any year, if the GST/ HST Credit which is calculated in July is going to be less than the amount of $50 for every quarter, then the CRA is going to pay the credit amount for the complete payment period of GST/ HST Credit in the month of July of that year. Also, if the 5th day is a Sunday, Saturday, or a Federal Statutory Holiday, then the credit amount for the GST/ HST Credit is paid on the last business day before this 5th (which is on weekends or holidays).
GST and HST Calculator Canada
To find out the final GST/ HST Credit, the calculations are made with the use of terms like ‘Base Year’ and ‘Payment Period’. The first term ‘Base Year’ is that tax return year which is used for taking information for calculations about the credit payment amount. After the GST/ HST Credit Payment is calculated, the amount is paid using the duration of the ‘Payment Period’, and this period is a 12-month period (or 1 year).
This ‘Payment Period’ starts from the month of July (from 01st July) from the year that follows the base year, and it continues to end by the end of June (30th June) of the next year. This can be seen in the table below which shows the base year and payment periods by taking examples:
| Base Year | Payment Period | |||
| July-September Quarter | October-December Quarter | January-March Quarter | April-June Quarter | |
| 2020 | 2021 | 2021 | 2022 | 2022 |
| 2021 | 2022 | 2022 | 2023 | 2023 |
| 2022 | 2023 | 2023 | 2024 | 2024 |
There is also a confirmation sent by the CRA if the tax return of a base year makes a person eligible for the payments of the GST/ HST Credit, and this notice is sent in July of the year which follows the base year of tax return in Canada. To add to that, this confirmation notice by the CRA also tells the exact amount that is going to be paid as GST/ HST Credit and the information that was used to finalize it.
The GST/ HST Credit amount is also found by the adjusted family net income amount (as a result after removing the Registered Disability Savings (RDSP) Plan income along with the Universal Child Care Benefit (or UCCB) amount, and this is followed by the last step of adding the repaid payments of UCCB & RDSP plans.
GST/ HST Credit Payments
To get an idea about the GST/ HST Credit amount that the CRA will pay, the following information is given for the base year (tax return year) of 2022, and for the payment period of this base year’s GST/HST Credit from July 2023 till June 2024:
| Category | GST/ HST Credit (Expected Amount) |
| Single | $496 |
| Married (or Common Law Partner) | $650 |
| For a Child under 19 | $171 |
The Grocery Rebate payments which were recently introduced (in the 2023 Federal Budget) are also shown in the table below. It must be noted that the Grocery Rebate is aimed at giving relief from inflation to Canadian families, but at the same time, this amount is finalized by the Adjusted Family Net Income of 2021 and the family’s financial condition in 2023 January.
| Category | Grocery Rebate Amount |
| Single | $234 |
| Married (or Common Law Partner) | $306 |
| For a Child under 19 (for each child, if there are many) | $81 |
GST/ HST Credit Amount Recalculation
The CRA has to change the credit amount if any of the situations below apply any changes to the present situation of the eligible person or family, and this change results in a revised GST/ HST Credit amount. The CRA sends a redetermination notice which shows the annual credit after the revisions are made based on the date from which the change in situation has been reported. These situations include:
- Reassessment of the tax return which affected the net income (of either the person or their spouse)
- If marital status changes
- Change in the Number of Children under care
- If the GST/ HST Credit receiver dies
If it is found after a payment that the GST/ HST Credit has been overpaid to the person or the eligible family, then the CRA will send a notice for the due amount which needs to be repaid. Until it is completed and verified, the CRA will keep all the future payment amounts of the tax refunds or the GST/ HST Credit. There are other provincial programs and/ or territorial benefit programs (in which the CRA helps directly) which are related to the GST/ HST Credit, for which the eligible person or family do not need to complete registration separately.
This is because if the eligibility for the GST/ HST Credit is completed, then the payments for these provincial and/ or territorial programs are combined with the GST/ HST Credit payments (excluding the Ontario Sales Tax Credit). These programs include:
- New Brunswick Harmonized Sales Tax Credit
- BC’s Plan for Climate Action Tax Credit
- Newfoundland & Labrador’s Plan for Seniors’ Benefit
- Newfoundland & Labrador’s Plan for Income Supplement
- Northwest Territories Cost of Living Offset
- Ontario Sales Tax Credit
- Nova Scotia’s plan for Affordable Living Tax Credit
- Prince Edward Island’s Scheme for Sales Tax Credit
- Yukon Government Carbon Price Rebate for Individuals
- Saskatchewan Low Income Tax Credit
Estimated GST/ HST Tax Credit
Payment Chart for July 2023 – June 2024 (base year of 2022) for Single person:
| Adjusted Family Net Income (in CAD) | No Child (in $ per year) | 1 Child (in $ per year) | 2 Children (in $ per year) | 3 Children (in $ per year) | 4 Children (in $ per year) |
| Below 10,544 | $325/ year | $821/ year | $992/ year | $1,163/ year | $1,334/ year |
| 12,000 | $354.12 | $821 | $992 | $1,163 | $1,334 |
| 15,000 | $414.12 | $821 | $992 | $1,163 | $1,334 |
| 20,000 | $496 | $821 | $992 | $1,163 | $1,334 |
| 25,000 | $496 | $821 | $992 | $1,163 | $1,334 |
| 30,000 | $496 | $821 | $992 | $1,163 | $1,334 |
| 35,000 | $496 | $821 | $992 | $1,163 | $1,334 |
| 40,000 | $496 | $821 | $992 | $1,163 | $1,334 |
| 45,000 | $362.75 | $687.75 | $858.75 | $1,029.75 | $1,200.75 |
| 50,000 | $112.75 | $437.75 | $608.75 | $779.75 | $950.75 |
| 55,000 | $0 | $187.75 | $358.75 | $529.75 | $700.75 |
| 60,000 | $0 | $0 | $108.75 | $279.75 | $450.75 |
| 65,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $29.75 | $200.75 |
| 70,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Payment Chart for Married/ Common Law
| Adjusted Family Net Income (in CAD) | No Child (in $ per year) | 1 Child (in $ per year) | 2 Children (in $ per year) | 3 Children (in $ per year) | 4 Children (in $ per year) |
| Below 42,335 | $650/ year | $821/ year | $992/ year | $1,163/ year | $1,334/ year |
| 45,000 | $516.75 | $687.75 | $858.75 | $1,029.75 | $1,200.75 |
| 50,000 | $266.75 | $437.75 | $608.75 | $779.75 | $950.75 |
| 55,000 | $16.75 | $187.75 | $358.75 | $529.75 | $700.75 |
| 60,000 | $0 | $0 | $108.75 | $279.75 | $450.75 |
| 65,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $29.75 | $200.75 |
| 70,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |