About Sales Tax Calculator
Calculate HST, GST, PST, and QST for every Canadian province, plus US state sales tax. See tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive totals instantly. Free, updated for 2025.
How to use
- Choose your country with the Canada / United States toggle at the top. Canada mode covers every province and territory; United States mode covers all 50 state base rates plus Washington DC. The calculator switches its tax logic and dropdown automatically when you flip the toggle.
- Pick your province (Canada) or state (US) from the dropdown. In Canada the calculator applies the correct tax type — HST for harmonized provinces, GST + PST for separate-tax provinces, GST + QST for Quebec, or GST only for Alberta and the territories. In the US it applies that state's base sales tax rate, or shows 0% for the no-sales-tax states.
- Enter the purchase or sale amount before tax using the slider or number field. This is your base amount — it can be a single item price or a full invoice total.
- Toggle between Add Tax to Price (tax-exclusive) and Extract Tax from Total (tax-inclusive). Tax-inclusive is useful for working backwards from a final price: a $113 total in Ontario contains $13 of HST, and a $107.25 total in California contains $7.25 of state sales tax on a $100 sale.
- Read the tax breakdown, which separates each component. Ontario shows a single 13% HST line; British Columbia shows 5% GST and 7% PST separately; Quebec shows 5% GST and 9.975% QST. US results show one State Sales Tax line, with a reminder that city and county taxes can stack on top of the state base rate.
- Open the comparison table to see how every province or every state ranks on the same amount. The same $1,000 sale costs $1,130 in Ontario but $1,050 in Alberta; in the US it costs $1,072.50 in California but $1,000 in Oregon — location-driven gaps that matter for pricing and large purchases.
Frequently asked questions
How does US sales tax differ from Canadian GST/HST?
The US has no national sales tax and no VAT. Sales tax is set entirely at the state level (plus county and city add-ons), and it is a single-stage tax charged only on the final retail sale to the end customer. Canada's GST/HST is a federal value-added tax: every business in the supply chain charges it and recovers the tax it paid through Input Tax Credits. A US business cannot 'claim back' the sales tax it pays on inventory the way a Canadian business claims ITCs — instead it buys inventory for resale tax-free using a resale or exemption certificate. So in the US, sales tax is a final-stage tax collected once; in Canada, GST/HST is collected and netted at every stage.
Which US states have no sales tax?
Five states have no statewide sales tax: Oregon, Montana, New Hampshire, Delaware, and Alaska. Alaska is a special case — it has no state rate, but many local boroughs and cities levy their own sales tax, so a purchase there is not always tax-free. The other four are genuinely sales-tax-free at the retail level. Every remaining state charges a base rate, ranging from 2.9% in Colorado up to 7.25% in California, before county and city taxes are added. The calculator shows the base state rate; in the no-tax states it returns $0.00 in state tax.
What is sales tax nexus and when do I have to collect?
Nexus is the connection that obligates a business to register, collect, and remit sales tax in a given US state. Physical nexus comes from an office, warehouse, inventory, or employees in the state. Economic nexus comes from sales volume — after the 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair Supreme Court decision, most states require out-of-state sellers to collect tax once they cross a threshold, commonly $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions into that state per year. If you have nexus, you must register with that state's department of revenue and charge its rate; if you don't, you generally don't collect there. This is the US counterpart to Canada's $30,000 GST/HST registration threshold.
Are US sales tax rates origin-based or destination-based?
It depends on the state. Most states are destination-based — you charge the rate of the buyer's location (where the product is shipped or delivered). A minority of states are origin-based for in-state sales — you charge the rate of the seller's location. For interstate and online sales, nearly all states apply destination-based sourcing, so you collect the buyer's state rate once you have nexus there. Canada's GST/HST is also destination-based: a seller in Alberta shipping to an Ontario customer charges 13% HST, the Ontario rate.
What is the HST rate in Ontario, and how do HST and GST+PST provinces differ?
Ontario charges 13% HST, which blends the 5% federal GST with an 8% provincial portion into one tax. HST provinces (Ontario at 13%; New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and PEI at 15%) collect a single harmonized tax that is fully recoverable as an ITC for businesses. GST + PST provinces — British Columbia (5% + 7%), Saskatchewan (5% + 6%), Manitoba (5% + 7%) — charge two separate taxes, and the PST portion is generally NOT recoverable. Quebec charges 5% GST plus 9.975% QST. Alberta and the three territories charge GST only at 5%.
Can I recover sales tax paid on business purchases?
In Canada, yes — the GST/HST you pay on business expenses is claimed back as an Input Tax Credit (ITC), so you only remit the net of tax collected minus tax paid. QST works the same way through Revenu Quebec. The exception is PST in BC, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, which is not an ITC and stays a real cost. In the US there is no equivalent credit mechanism — a business does not file to recover sales tax it paid. Instead, it avoids paying sales tax on goods bought for resale by giving the supplier a resale certificate. Tax paid on supplies used internally (not resold) is simply a business cost.
When do I have to register to collect sales tax?
In Canada, you must register for GST/HST once your taxable revenue exceeds $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive quarters; below that you are a small supplier and registration is voluntary (though voluntary registration lets you claim ITCs). In the US there is no single national threshold — each state sets its own rules, and you register state by state wherever you have physical or economic nexus. Once registered in either country, charge the correct rate on every taxable sale — use this calculator when preparing your
invoices or
receipts so the amount is right.
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