In short
- For an ordinary Canadian sole proprietor, the GST/HST small-supplier threshold is C$30,000 of worldwide taxable supplies, before expenses, tested both within one calendar quarter and across four consecutive calendar quarters. Count your own service turnover and other relevant businesses, not a shop’s sales merely because you pack its goods.
- Crossing the threshold in one quarter can require tax on the supply that crosses it. The rolling-quarter trigger has a different start date.
- Zero-rated taxable supplies count toward the threshold. A foreign customer does not automatically make your Canadian packing service tax-free.
- Small-supplier status concerns GST/HST; you still report business income to the CRA.
- AirPost is a peer-to-peer fulfilment network: online shops have their orders packed and dropped at a parcel point by verified people near their customers, who earn a fee per parcel from home. No warehouse, no minimum order volume.
Is the C$30,000 test based on profit or on sales?
Use revenue from taxable supplies before deducting expenses. A packing business can have modest profit while its taxable service turnover approaches the registration threshold. Platform commission, supplies and other business costs may matter for income tax, but they do not turn gross taxable supplies into a net-profit threshold. Keep a separate turnover total for GST/HST instead of borrowing the net-income figure from your tax estimate.
CRA’s registration guidance tells a sole proprietor to include worldwide taxable supplies from all businesses and relevant associates. Several activities under your own name do not each receive a separate C$30,000 allowance. Employment salary is a different category from taxable business supplies. If you also freelance or sell your own products, identify that turnover before concluding that the parcel service alone remains below the limit.
Which AirPost amounts are actually your taxable supplies?
AirPost’s sender arrangement is a service: a shop retains its products, sends stock and packaging, and pays you an agreed fee for handling orders. The shop’s retail revenue is not your packing-service turnover simply because the goods leave your home. Keep the distinction in your agreement and your records. Record the amounts charged for your own services, including any separately agreed services that belong to your business.
AirPost’s Canada-to-Canada page retrieved on 14 October 2026 showed approximately C$13.70 for a small Canada Post parcel and C$15.85 for a medium parcel. The displayed prices include the label platform fee and exclude the sender fee. Adding one of each gives C$29.55. Where the shop buys those labels directly, the C$29.55 is the shop’s transport spending, rather than your service turnover. This comparison uses published prices; it does not estimate how many orders you will receive.
AirPost’s payout commission is 3% according to the shared constant checked on 14 October 2026. Deducting that charge from a withdrawal does not reduce the gross consideration for the service you supplied. Work from your fee records and invoices rather than bank deposits after deductions. If you incur and recharge costs yourself, ask how that reimbursement or agency arrangement is classified; the direct shop-paid-label example does not settle that different case.
What are the two different ways to cross the threshold?
| Turnover result | When small-supplier status ends | Charging and registration consequence |
|---|---|---|
| C$30,000 or less under both tests | You remain a small supplier under the ordinary test | No mandatory registration from that test; voluntary registration may be available. |
| More than C$30,000 in one calendar quarter | On the supply that takes the quarter over the threshold | Start charging on that supply; register within 29 days of the effective registration date. |
| More than C$30,000 across up to four consecutive quarters, without crossing in one quarter | At the end of the month following the quarter in which the rolling total crosses | Registration must be effective no later than the first taxable supply after that; register within 29 days of the effective date. |
Calendar quarters begin on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October. They are not arbitrary three-month periods measured from your first order. Put every supply into the correct calendar quarter, then add that quarter and the preceding three for the rolling test. Keep an eye on the current quarter as well: checking only the four-quarter total at quarter-end can miss the immediate single-quarter trigger.
The threshold is exceeded when the relevant total goes above C$30,000. Exactly C$30,000 does not by itself exceed it. That distinction matters for the supply that takes the single-quarter total over the line. Monitor the amount before accepting or invoicing the next taxable service if you are close. You need time to apply the correct treatment, rather than discovering afterward that the invoice should have included tax.
How does the rolling-quarter deadline work in practice?
Use the quarter-end and the following month to identify the date, without inventing a new annual reset. For example, if the rolling test is first exceeded in the quarter ending 30 September, while no single quarter exceeded the threshold, small-supplier status ends on 31 October. If your first taxable supply afterward is on 2 November, the effective registration date must be no later than that supply. This is a calendar illustration of CRA’s rule, not a revenue forecast.
The single-quarter outcome would be different. If a supply on 20 September itself takes that quarter above the threshold, the relevant date is that supply; there is no following-month buffer from the rolling test. Keep the supply date, the running quarter total and the registration effective date together. Calling both situations the annual C$30,000 rule hides the part that decides when you must start charging.
Do services for a foreign shop count toward C$30,000?
CRA includes zero-rated supplies in the worldwide taxable-supplies threshold. Zero-rated means taxable at a zero rate; it is different from an exempt supply. A service therefore can count toward registration even if its particular tax treatment permits no GST/HST charge. Do not remove a fee from the turnover tracker just because the shop’s address is outside Canada or the parcel recipient is in another country.
The tax treatment of a particular packing, storage or handling service requires the actual facts. Goods physically in Canada, the customer’s registration position, the agreement and the nature of the service can matter. This article does not classify every foreign-shop arrangement as zero-rated. Keep the customer and service information needed for a CRA enquiry. AirPost’s sender copy itself flags that storing stock for a shop outside Canada may require CRA notification; that prompt is not a sales-tax ruling.
The ordinary threshold also excludes specified revenue such as financial services and sales of capital property. That does not give you permission to remove ordinary packing fees. Classify unusual transactions on their own terms and keep the supporting explanation. A bookkeeping category called other income is not enough to prove that an amount falls outside the taxable-supplies test.
Should you register voluntarily before reaching the limit?
Voluntary registration can be available to a small supplier carrying on a commercial activity. CRA’s small-supplier memorandum explains the consequences: a registrant generally charges tax on taxable Canadian supplies other than zero-rated ones, files returns and remits net tax owing. Registration can also allow eligible input tax credits. It creates an ongoing reporting task, so compare the actual business purchases and customer arrangements before choosing it.
Without registration, you cannot treat the GST/HST you pay on supplies as an input tax credit merely because the purchase supports your business. With registration, keep the documents required to support any eligible credit and distinguish taxable sales from tax collected. A registration number is useful evidence of an account, but it does not make all your costs eligible or tell you which provincial rate applies to every service.
What should your tracker contain before your next order?
Record the supply
Enter its date, customer, service description and consideration before GST/HST.
Assign the quarter
Use the calendar quarter and maintain a running current-quarter total.
Combine relevant businesses
Include your other worldwide taxable business supplies and applicable associates.
Refresh the rolling total
Add the latest four consecutive quarters and preserve the underlying entries.
Record the trigger and effective date
When exceeded, identify which test applied and the charging and registration dates it produces.
A separate tracker keeps this question distinct from your Canadian income-tax reporting and CPP on business profit. Begin with the service described on AirPost’s sender page, then confirm the treatment of your own agreement. Your account can hold service fees while the GST/HST tracker follows supplies; the balance alone is not the statutory test.
Frequently asked questions
Is the GST/HST small-supplier threshold C$30,000 per calendar year?
The ordinary test looks at a single calendar quarter and four consecutive calendar quarters. A rolling total can cross a year boundary; it does not reset just because January starts.
Does the C$30,000 test use income after expenses?
It uses relevant taxable supplies before expenses. A platform commission or packing-supply cost does not reduce that turnover test.
When must I register after crossing the GST/HST threshold?
CRA generally requires registration within 29 days of the effective date. Identify that effective date first, because single-quarter and rolling-quarter triggers have different timing.
Do zero-rated services count toward the threshold?
Yes. CRA includes zero-rated supplies in the test. Whether your particular foreign-customer service is actually zero-rated requires a separate assessment.
Does a small supplier still report side-hustle income?
Yes. GST/HST registration and business-income reporting are separate obligations. Report the service income and allowable expenses on the appropriate income-tax return.
Sources
- CRA: when to register, C$30,000 tests and 29-day registration; checked 14 October 2026
- CRA GST/HST memorandum 2-2: small suppliers, voluntary registration and obligations
- CRA RC4022: taxable and zero-rated supplies, input tax credits and records
- AirPost: CA → CA approximate CAD label prices including platform fee; retrieved 14 October 2026
Set up a sender service with an agreed fee and clear cost ownership. Track your taxable service turnover from the first order so you can spot the registration trigger in time.
Start with a clear sender fee